“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free”

By
John Minto
-
99
2347

It’s astonishing that the deep-seated racists in the pro-Israel lobby can have the media and MPs rushing around to see which ones will or won’t use the chant “From the river to the sea Palestine will be free”. 

For heaven’s sake – more than 10,000 Palestinians have been slaughtered in Gaza including 3,900 children but instead of Labour and National calling for a ceasefire they get embroiled in a pathetic sideshow while the genocidal slaughter continues. 

It’s time for Labour and National to grow some spine and condemn Israeli war crimes as roundly as it condemned the killing of Israeli civilians. 

PSNA supporters will be chanting “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” at rallies and marches up and down the country this coming weekend.

This chant has been used for at least 50 years in protests for Palestinian human rights in New Zealand – long before the formation of Hamas.

It’s deeply worrying that the level of media engagement on Palestine/Israel is so low that irresponsible statements by Act leader David Seymour and the pro-Israel lobby – statements which have been debunked again and again over many years – continue to be repeated and amplified in the media. 

Instead of asking MPs whether they will use this chant the media should be asking politicians why they won’t make a stand to stop the slaughter and call for a ceasefire. If it were European kids being slaughtered in their thousands the media would be demanding why Luxon says he hasn’t seen advice there have been breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza. 

They would never accept the rubbish responses Labour and National are giving for not condemning Israeli war crimes. 

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The simple fact is Labour and National have condemned the killing of Israeli civilians but refuse to condemn the genocidal massacres of Palestinians playing our every day. 

The priority of our spineless major parties is not to offend Israel and the tiny, right-wing racist cabal in the pro-Israel lobby who throw around false smears of anti-semitism like confetti to stifle criticism of Israeli war crimes.

Israel is a racist, apartheid state “from the river to the sea” – as declared by every credible human rights organisation such as Amnesty Internationaland Human Rights Watch. Palestinians, no matter where they live in historic Palestine, face discrimination and oppression. The largest and most respected human rights group in Israel, B’Tselem, refers to Israel as “A regime of Jewish supremacy from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea: This is apartheid”

All Palestinians deserve equal rights in their colonised homeland “from the river to the sea” and attempts by the pro-Israel lobby to “police” the public debate to ultimately suggest some peoples’ rights are inherently more important than others are a needless distraction.

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99 COMMENTS

  1. We expect pro Israel comments from the Tories and ACT but now the gutless Labour politicans are singing the same song. “From the river to the sea…”

  2. Yes indeed.
    Our government should be repulsed by what is going on. It cannot be that hard to take a position that condemn what happening over there. It is a real shame that the UN is so ineffectual.
    Society deserves better.

    I would have liked to see a peaceful, one man one vote democratic solution for the area between the river and the sea. But that options appears very remote without this type of violence.

    The multi government ideology will probably always deliver a sub optimal solution. What was created in South Africa has at least the potential to create a better society in that part of the world. Unfortunately, there are still many bigots at play in that society also. At least there is no longer a proliferation of “freedom” movements with aims to overthrow the government by force. No good comes from this.

    • Furthermore, the Israeli government has never had the slightest interest in a two state solution (which would have ghettoised Palestinians in framented parts of that land from the river to the sea, because even that was unacceptable to them. All Palestinians deserve full equal rights, including the right if return. That’s what ‘from the river to the sea’ means.

      • Well it depends. Some see it as a call for the extermination of the Jews.
        Given that this is what is being expressed on the streets of many major European cities right now, I can understand why Jews might see it that way.

  3. Binary thinking seldomly leads to peaceful solutions.
    The South African situations taught and continues to teach us all that much at least.

  4. It amazes me how much time and effort the Israeli propaganda machine puts into poisoning the internet with their toxic take on the conflict in the ME.

    Even TDB is being swamped with these zio-bots. All coming out of the woodwork with the same “talking points”.

    Hey don’t forget Israel is apparently the only civilised country in the ME. So civilised the have relegated Palestinians to the status of animals. Animals which must be culled for the creation of a Greater Israel Reich.

    • Binary thinking and grandstanding is virtuous, yeah right!
      Maybe she will mature over time. Experience is a great antidote for stupidity and bias, but it always need time, intelligence and independent thinking…….

    • Agreed – one of a vanishingly small minority that can actually think. And by thinking, she called it right – as usual.

  6. Well done, David Seymour, for calling her out. This chant is a shameless call for erasure of Israel and genocide of the Jewish people. Swarbrick’s a disgrace.

    • Apparently ‘free gaza’ is anti semitic as well..

      Tricky for those who stand up for Palestinians.

      ‘From the river to the sea Palestine will be free’

      The saying was around long before Hamas came into being!

    • The depth of your dishonest idiocy defies belief.
      Calls for the dissolution of the state of Israel is not the same as a call for destruction or expulsion of Jewish people from the area. It is a call for the dismantling of a state based upon racial and ethnic discrimination.
      The conflation is one of the fundamental lies told by the Zionist movement.

    • The idea that we have anti-semites in New Zealand is laughable. Growing up here I wasn’t even aware that there was a Jewish culture, it just didn’t feature in this country in the 70s an 80s. Racist’s reserved their hatred for Maori and Pacific Islanders and there just wasn’t any way for anti-semitism to develop.
      I didn’t even discover anti-semites existed until I got on the internet.

      It’s also nothing compared to the astonishing levels of hatred people in Israel direct toward the Palestinians either. I have a friend on facebook in Israel and I can barely look at his posts now but it indicates that the most vile, disgusting stuff is being passed around amongst the Israeli population at the moment – no doubt originating from the propaganda machine being directed at the Israeli people

    • Ben Gurion on Ethnic Cleansing.

      “Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves … politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves… The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country. … Behind the terrorism [by the Arabs] is a movement, which though primitive is not devoid of idealism and self sacrifice.”
      — David Ben Gurion.

      “We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return.”
      David Ben-Gurion,

      “We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population? ‘Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said ‘ Drive them out! ‘ “
      Yitzhak Rabin,

    • My late mother in law was half Jewish and had to forced labour by the Nazis and walked with a limb the rest of her life because of the evil of the Nazis .My wife’s grand father was betrayed to the Gestapo and deported to Auschwitz death camp Thus our family are descended from a victim and survivor of the
      Holocaust .My wife and I are appalled at the genocide being waged on the Palestinians including baby’s children pregnant women women the elderly and me.n including targeting hospitals ambulances in schools UN shools Churches and Mosques with people being denied water food with over 11000 deaths in Gaza with many more under the rubble and pandemics about to. Spread because iof the above Last Wednesday I gave a signed letter to the NZ ambassador to Germany Graig Hawk to pass onto Christopher Luxton to expel the Israeli embassy until they agree to to a cease fire open all huma Italian Corridors and stop bombing the civilian population which is in breach of the Geneva convention A cease fire is more likely to secure the release of the Israeli and Thai hostages Peter Marra not afraid to use my real name NZ citizen Master of International Development Munich Germany

  7. Kia ora, tautoko. Let us call out the ongoing colonisation, murder and violence inflicted against the people of Palestine. Lets stand against racism. Lets stand against genocide. Let us continue hold our political leaders to account in Aotearoa. Lets stand for the freedom of Palestine “from the river, to the see”

    • Let’s stand for my preferred cause and f…. the misery that others may suffer. Yeah right, you may well be a truely righteous “anti-colonial” bigot, or just not that well informed.
      The one condition is terminal, the other can be easily remedied. Reach out to the oppressed and ask them.

  8. Yes, John. There are a lot of highly educated confused enablers of fascism and plain old bigotry out there that don’t know that they have been cohorted into promoting the ‘Big Lie’.

    These people are the same people who news influencers cling to when their handlers, which are usually their employers or sponsors support their ‘work’ and encourage them to attack.

    10,000+ murders in Gaza of Palestinians living in a concentration camp speak louder than a few media and political hacks. NZ just has too many of them. We need to slow down immigration from the European countries because this is where all this fascism is coming from.

    • Well I came from a European country to your poxy pacific land. God know why, it is dreadful
      Don’t worry I won’t be slamming the door on the way out. I’ll be glad to see the back of you ill-educated bigots

  9. Thanks for this John – shame the media continues with the western narrative. Whilst I heard numerous times about those civilians who were ‘kidnapped’ – half of whom were soldiers, we hear nothing of the 4000 Palestinian people who cross the border every day to work in Israel and who were taken to prison after the bombing on 7 October – there are 10,000 Palestinians in prison in Israel – some of them children.

    ‘From the river to the sea” is a recognition that apartheid began in 1948 when Israel was created through the ethnic cleansing of Palestine. It is not a call for genocide. To call for the destruction of Israel as an apartheid state is not a call for the destruction of Jews living there, any more than the call for the destruction of apartheid in South Africa was a call for the destruction of white people.

    Renowned Israeli historian, Ilan Pappe’s book ‘The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine’ revisits the formation of the State of Israel. Between 1947 and 1949, when over 400 Palestinian villages were deliberately destroyed, civilians were massacred and around a million men, women, and children were expelled from their homes at gunpoint.

    I read someone where that people had chanted ‘Gas the Jews’ this is appalling, but to suggest this happened in Aotearoa without naming where is rubbish, I am aware it was shouted out at a Sydney rally.

  10. Have you heard the Iranian chants coming from inside that country.
    “Stick the Palestinian flag up your ass!!”
    “Israel is not my enemy!”

    Teachers chanting the old chant “Death to the Jews! “ and the school kids responding “Death to the Palestinians!”

    Look it up.
    “Why are Iranians Supporting Israel” Harris Sultan.

    Come on people. Stop the binary thinking. Let’s find solutions and support those in need of care and reject violence as a means to oppress.

  11. Correct choosing who are worth sympathy is a colonial mindset that come from a racist ideology. Just because the Indigenous Palestinians are brown skin oriental people renders them in the eyes of the west as not worthy unlike the Israelis that have a fairer complexion and are the chosen ones deserve higher priority.

  13. She’s doing the Arab Cosplay thing so I presume that she is looking for Jihad and not peace.
    It’s the optics. If the statement is ambiguous, then use another. It’s clearly inflammatory.

  14. Politicians defending Hamas, promoting violence against a treaty referendum, saying nothing about trans rights thug punching an old lady, Little boy beaten to death by family member without as much as a tut tut from politicians…..It’s about time the white , heterosexual male’s, started listening and following the peace loving left leaning good folk of New Zealand. A lesson in leading by example I say….

  15. We know we’re biting hard into racism when the only retort Zionists and their puppet media have is to talk nonsense about the slogans we have that are winning people over. Kia kaha.

  16. The only way to peace is for all those who live in that region be they Jews or Arabs of one kind or another to acknowledge they both have roots there of one kind or another and to look forward not backwards an determine to live peaceably together for the good of those who follow.
    It is also now time for all countries to stop sending aid to countries involved in this conflict as it has been found that the aid has been ending up in the hands of now immensely rich Palestinians who do not live in Palestine but in other cities of the world and who are funding the Hamas and funding the weapons. They should now be made to return the Aid to those it was meant for.

    • The weapons trade is a parallel world in itself – separate from the real world and its practices that we think we know and understand. Huh.

    • If you cannot tell the difference between supporting the Palestinian cause and Hamas, I would advise against categorising a woman as a lesbian, when she makes no such claim herself.

      • Having a problem with Gaza being attacked because of Hamas is the equivalent of having a problem with Germany being attached in WW2 because of the Nazi’s – yup not all Palestinians in Gaza support Hamas (just as not all Germans were Nazi’s) but enough do for their to win the last election in Gaza in 2006.
        Re Chole maybe I am old school but a woman being engaged to another woman is a lesbian in my book . .
        https://www.1news.co.nz/2020/01/16/green-mp-chloe-swarbrick-gets-engaged/

        • You might call it a lesbian relationship, but the MP concerned says she loves “people”… or tell it to Alex, a previous partner.

      • At no point did I indicate that the word ‘lesbian’ was an insult- and why not post under your actual name you coward.

        • People who murder women and children from the safety of their airplanes as they drop bombs on them (or those who support that), do not get a free pass use the word coward james ,,,,,,,,,

          ,,,, Liar tools for Israel (like james) should be used to help tell some truth, imo.

          So about Hamas getting the credit (the blame) for Israels work ,,,, Israeli government lies debunked by their own media https://www.bitchute.com/video/IeZhK9fBhgOY/ ……

          …… More footage of Israel killing anything that moved from the music festival/rave ,, including killing A LOT of their own….. Video released by Israeli army shows helicopters firing indiscriminately on 7 October https://youtu.be/ed0-OxNO_bQ

          Casualty figures released by Israel have Harretz claiming around 1000 dead as opposed to 1400 ….. with the majority of those being in the armed services ,,, who died while fighting and killing. https://rumble.com/v3uy7ua-truth-about-october-7-revealed-hamas-targeted-soldiers-not-civilians.html …

          Compare that to Israel who are killing 75% women, children and elderly ,,, well over 80% civilians if we include Palestinian non-fighter men ,,,,

          Where is the evidence for Israel’s claims about 7 October? https://youtu.be/oWNqu0V6iIM ……

          …. But James ,,, Gaby,,, Bob the first,,, Anne E,,, Andy,,, Im right,,, Nathan etc etc etc are all fine with Israel murdering women and children in ‘self defense’ ,,,, the self defense of Reprisals.

          Support for Israel goes down whenever the results of their ‘self defense’ are seen ,,,,,

          Share this video ,,, especially to those who mistakenly support Israel ……. Do Not Turn Away. #Gaza https://www.bitchute.com/video/7VAvYoERpQM/

          … It wont make any difference to the James B’s, Anne E’s and Gabys of this world ,,, but they are the bad minority trying to infect the rest.

      • Israel would not make an exception ,,,,, and they would bury her under one ,,,, just like all the other thousands of women and children they have murdered and are doing that to.

        eh Bob? ……

  18. Origins of a saying

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/31/from-the-river-to-the-sea-where-does-the-slogan-come-from-and-what-does-it-mean-israel-palestine

    https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/2/from-the-river-to-the-sea-what-does-the-palestinian-slogan-really-mean

    Beginning – a unitary state, 1947-1967 Arab position. Anti-Zionist, not anti-semitism.

    Becoming – 1977, Likud’s concept of Israeli control of the West Bank. Anti Palestinian.

    Then Hamas 1988 charter – Anti-Zionism, not anti-semitism

    Then after the Oslo Accord, justice for Arabs within Israel, right of return for refuges and a Palestine state on 67 borders.

    Then in 2017 this was confused because Hamas agreed to an interim Palestinian state on 1967 borders, with right of return for refugees, but unlike the PA without recognising Israel as its long term goal was still anti-Zionist – a unitary state.

    For those who support a two state outcome, river to the sea is not even anti-Zionist, let alone anti-semitism.

    Of course when Likud and Hamas use it, it is either anti-Palestine or anti-Zionist.

  19. John – “From the River to the Sea” – is between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, modern day Israel…removing Israel…it is anti – Israel…she has been told this during the select committee on Hate Speech by the NZ Jewish Council last year.

    • Surely it means a piece of land for them that stretches from the Jordan to the right to the sea on the left – see wikipedia map https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordan_Valley. It doesn’t mean the whole of Israel and in talks that settle this matter the Israelis will make sure that they have what they need and reluctantly give the rights to a Palestine that enables them to live and grow food and have a small economy with sea access, not locked inland from a port.

  20. The idea of a nation state based on the exclusivity of a religion, cult or sect; the exclusivity of ethnicity or racial identity; of extreme political and/or economic ideology is just bloody ridiculous and doomed to failure. Especially in the 21st bloody Century.

    Jonestown = bad. Khalistan = bad (Only a handful of Sikhs are after one anyway despite all the shit stirring). Caliphate = bad.

    While Vatican = good (No wonder there are so many intelligent lapsed Miks well able to separate their faith from the sins of their child abusing superiors and Nazi protectors – possibly you included @ John).
    A state based on the monotheistic judaic faith = good (because they are the chosen people). Christians not quite so much and and Muslims not at all.

    We’re “progressing” towards feudalism. We might get there at the same time the planet has been burnt to a crisp.

    • You seem confused, the state of Israel includes a million Arabs. It also includes a million others not Jewish – they are not Jewish by religion and they do not have Jewish birth mothers – they merely have a grandfather or grandmother who was Jewish.

      Are you aware of the fight within Israel over the basic law and why?

      Are you aware anyone with an Irish grandparent can return to Eire (and play rugby for Eire) Anyone Kiwi with a UK grandparent gets a visa easily (or the right to play for England Wales or Scotland).

      Western Christendom/Christian kingdoms evolved into modern nation state democracy. Israeli/Jewish cultural tradition is based on their own founding national myth. It continued apart from Christian and Moslem regimes and when these cultural hegemony areas themselves became modern nation states (first in western Europe) Jews aspired to their own in their former homeland where some of them were still living amongst Palestinians.

      The threat of a Taleban takeover, or an Iranian Islamic theocracy, or Christian dominionisn (see Mike Johnson) or a Hamas ruled Palestine from the river to the Sea, or a Likud-Religious Zionist regime with sovereignty over the West Bank are all problems. As is Hindu Bharat nationalist rule in Kashmir, or Chinese rule of Tibet/NW China and Indonesian rule of Western Papua. But even so Afghanistan, Iran, USA, Israel, and Palestine have a right to be nation states alongside others, and a self governing autonomy for Kashmir, Tibet/NW China and Western Papua is also good.

  21. ‘From river to the sea’ invokes an image of peaceful and righteous existence for all people in the region. ‘Mowing the lawn’ on the other hand…

    • Why? What do you think would happen to Swarbrick under the Sharia rule Hamas tried to. Introduce a few years back?

  25. Swarbrick has incited hatred against and intimidated the Jewish population of NZ. Would she condone similar racist incitement against the Palestinians in this country? She has disgracefully betrayed her elected mandate and should go.

  26. Shimon Dotan’s “The Settlers” shows the intentions of Israel are very clear. The Jewish state (sic) will keep expanding as long as their are Jews willing to emigrate and settle there. Palestinians are just an inconvenience to be managed away.

  27. Atheists of the world unite against these religious abominations. There is no God. Strike down anyone who hides beneath a banner of belief and delusion.

    PS – strike down does not mean “exterminate” and neither does Chloe – anyone who makes this assertion is effing delusional and believes in “their” Gawd above all and has no regard for anyone else.

    Fuck you and fuck your God

  33. Israel was , strangely, one of the first works of the post-WW ll idealism under which we grew up.

    We really need to find our moral North. If that’s possible in these confused last days. Labour is laughable in that context.

    Israel conquered Palestine, it wants the Palestinians to ‘leave’ . It’s basic silly-arse policy since Ben-Gurion. They know how Nazi Germany sorted that out. Only reason … but everything else.

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