1000 protest in Auckland over Israel’s war on Gaza, honour Nakba victims

By
Dr David Robie
-
49
1723
Honouring the death of four-year-old Ali Amer Zaqout
Honouring the death of four-year-old Ali Amer Zaqout, one of more than 15,000 children killed in Israel's War on Gaza, in a rally marking Nakba Day in New Zealand . . . he "adored the sea, swimming, singing and playing the drums". Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report

David Robie also blogs at Café Pacific

From Asia Pacific Report:

About 1000 people in Aotearoa New Zealand gathered for a two-hour rally in central Auckland yesterday and marched down Queen Street and returned to Aotea Square to mark the Nakba three days early — and protest over Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.

They called for an immediate ceasefire in the war as the death toll passed more than 35,000 people killed — mostly women and children — and chanted “hands off Rafah” as the Israeli military intensified their attack on the southern part of the besieged enclave.

Israel’s Defence Force (IDF) also deployed tanks in northern Gaza months after claiming that they had “dismantled” the resistance force Hamas in the area.

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For the past seven months, protesters have staged rallies across New Zealand every week at more than 25 different towns and locations and they have rarely been reported by the country’s news media.

Ironically, today was also marked as Mother’s Day and many protesters carried placards and banners mourning the mothers and children killed in the seven-month war, such as “Every 15 min a Palestinian child dies”, “Israel/USA, how many kids did you kill today”, “Decolonise your mind — stand with Palestine”, and “Stop the genocide”.

Some protesters carried photographs of named children killed in the war, honouring their short and tragic lives, such as 13-year-old Hala Abu Sada, who “had a passion for the arts – she made educational and entertaining videos for deaf children”.

“Hala dreamed of becoming a singer.”

The Nakba – ‘ethnic cleansing’
Every year on May 15, Palestinians around the world, numbering about 12.4 million, mark the Nakba, or “catastrophe”, referring to the ethnic cleansing of Palestine and the near-total destruction of Palestinian society in 1948, reports Al Jazeera.

The Palestinian experience of dispossession and loss of a homeland is 76 years old this year.

Happy Mothers' Day in New Zealand on Nakba Day
“Happy Mothers’ Day” in New Zealand . . . but protesters mourn the loss of mothers and children as the death toll in Israel’s War on Gaza topped 35,000 on Nakba Day. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report

On that day, the State of Israel came into being. The creation of Israel was a violent process that entailed the forced expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from their homeland to establish a Jewish-majority state — the wishes of the Zionist movement.

The 1948 Nakba
The 1948 Nakba . . . more than 750,000 Palestinians were forced to leave their homeland and become exiles in neighbouring states. Many dream of their UN-recognised right to return. Image: Wikipedia

Between 1947 and 1949, at least 750,000 Palestinians from a 1.9 million population were forced out of their homeland and made refugees beyond the borders of the state.

Zionist forces seized more than 78 percent of historic Palestine, ethnically cleansed and destroyed about 530 villages and cities, and killed about 15,000 Palestinians in a series of mass atrocities, including more than 70 massacres.

The current resolution does not give Palestinians full membership, but recognises them as qualified to join, and it gives Palestine more participation and some rights within the UNGA.

Overwhelming UN vote backs Palestine
The UN General Assembly (UNGA) has overwhelmingly voted to support a Palestinian bid to become a full UN member by recognising it as qualified to join and recommending the UN Security Council “reconsider the matter favourably”.

Memberships can only be decided by the UN Security Council, and last month, the US vetoed a bid for full membership.

The current resolution does not give Palestinians full membership, but recognises them as qualified to join, and it gives Palestine more participation and some rights within the UNGA.

Voting yes for the resolution were 143 countries, including three UN Security Council permanent members, China, France and Russia and also Australia, New Zealand and Timor-Leste.

Nine countries voted against, with four Pacific nations, Federated States of Micronesia, Nauru, Palau and Papua New Guinea among those joining Israel and the US.

Twenty five countries abstained, including UNSC permanent member United Kingdom and three Pacific countries, Fiji, Marshall Islands and Vanuatu.

"Look up Nakba" . . . and The Key to returning home
“Look up Nakba” . . . and The Key to returning home to historical Palestine. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report
Palestinian children singing at Aotea Square today
Palestinian children singing at Aotea Square yesterday . . . a speaker said their future was in “good hands with our young people”. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report
Some of the pro-Palestinian protesters at Auckland's Aotea Square today
Some of the pro-Palestinian protesters at Auckland’s Aotea Square yesterday . . . the background banner says “IDF = Murder Machine”. Image: David Robie/Asia Pacific Report

49 COMMENTS

  1. “The Nakba never ended the colonizer lied” — HINDS HALL* https://www.bitchute.com/video/1IXp8txXVVYM/ ,,, (I’ve put up a bitchute link to the song as youtube is using some blocking technique to censor it ).

    *”The title refers to student protesters renaming Columbia University’s Hamilton Hall as “Hind’s Hall” when they occupied it. Hind Rajab was a six-year-old Gazan girl who died in horrific circumstances – trapped for days in a car with the bodies of her family members killed by Israeli fire. The Israeli military also killed Red Cross emergency responders who tried to come to her aid.”….

    Israel supporters tell a lot of lies so they can stand with and for the murder of tens thousands,,,, in circumstances as cruel as Hind Radjabs terrible death.

    *

  2. After being unlawfully arrested in the nearby Coromandel township on Anzac Day, for silently holding up rather innocuous signs reading “Lest we forget Gaza” and “Remember Surafend”, today I decided to gauge the feeling in the “big smoke”, the town of Thames (Kauaeranga). My sign on this occasion, which I carried up and down the main drag (Pollen St) over the course of a few hours, pulled no punches. It simply read “Scott Simpson Complicit in Genocide”. (Simpson is the local electorate MP (National) and government whip). Yet in Thames I met with overwhelming support. (I know I had the support of most of those in Coromandel township as well, which may be why the New Zealand Police decided to arrest and detain me without charge). Of the many people who spoke with me only one supported Israel’s actions in Gaza, repeating the government’s lame argument that “Israel has a right to defend itself” (overlooking the blunt reality that no one has the right to commit genocide). But he was the exception. Everyone else acknowledged that genocide was being committed in Gaza and that the New Zealand government was complicit.
    My first conclusion, which I relayed to Scott Simpson’s office manager, was just that. The majority of New Zealanders, even those in a provincial town like Thames, believe that a genocide is taking place in Gaza and that the New Zealand government is complicit. Scott Simpson would do well to think about that.
    My second conclusion is that small demonstrations, even one person pickets, that directly target the individuals responsible for New Zealand’s policies on Israel and Palestine, can have an effect. Not least, it gives people the sense that it is kapai for them to tell it like it is, to know that they are part of the majority of the population and that they have no reason to fear expressing their abhorrence of what is happening in Palestine and which is being condoned, encouraged or assisted by the New Zealand government.

    • Hardly surprising that those dogs would do that, Geoff, sadly. Have you requested the information held by Police in regards their spurious arrest of yourself under the Privacy Act?

      • I don’t think there is anything more that we need to know about the arrest. The simple fact is that for political reasons the Police wanted to remove me from the Anzac Day commemoration, but because I was standing silently at the back of the gathering holding two innocuous signs, and because I and others were there at the invitation of the local council, they could find no grounds on which to arrest and charge me. To start with they tried to use the Trespass Act. It was then pointed out that they needed the authority of the council (the same council which had invited us to attend the ceremony) in order to remove us from council property under the Trespass Act. They then arrested me for “breach of the peace” despite the fact that there had been no disorder and no violence or threat or likelihood of violence. While I was being detained in handcuffs in the Coromandel police station, Police Headquarters wisely decided it would be better to immediately release me. However whether it was just coincidence or not, they followed up a few days later with various forms of intimidation and a show of force in Coromandel town by a contingent of outside police intended to “show who’s boss” in our rohe. At the end of the day, this can not be counted as a victory for the colonialist regime. No one is going to stop condemning the regime for its complicity in the Gaza genocide as a result of the Police actions on Anzac Day.

        • No, fair call. My point is simply that they should have internal records related to the events concerned- these should be exposed, to hurt those involved.

    • Well done Geoff,,,, I’ve been meaning to ask the circumstances of your (wrongful) arrest,,, just to check you hadn’t been standing in Luxon or Peters living room when peacefully protesting 😉 .

      I haven’t been arrested (yet) and have hung some signs on ‘the bucket fountain’ in Wellingtons cuba mall ,,,, and on the uber-zionist German embassy fence.

      In all cases of where I have been doing this the vast majority of the public have been positive with support for the messages and a sentiment that more needs to be said and done being the prevailing one.

      I suspect I may be arrested when I try and hang one inside the Beehive ,,, but we’ll see…..

      Those ‘tough on crime’ frauds and hypocrites need to know that we know,,, that they stand with mass murder and apartheid.

      Well done and respect to you once more ….

  3. 1000 dim protestors marked the wrong day. The Nakba was on 29 November 1947, the day Palestine’s Arabs rejected their land.

  4. I’ve hung the Germans dirty washing out on their own fence, for them and others to see ….. their ambassador can report back to Berlin that they are not fooling those who care to look at them …..

    They are returning to their past ,,, with their racist pyramid rankings of who are the worthy humans (ubermensch), and those who are below them ,, being shuffled around a bit,,, that seems to be all they’ve changed in that regard.

    The Germans know a thing or two about ‘cleansing ghetto’s’ ,,,, so it’s more than just weapons they are giving to Israel…..

    … They have Hands on experience …

    Nazi see Nazi do ,,,, zionists are Nazi’s Mrk 2

    90 second Video with Rammstein Deutschland sound-track..
    ‘German bunker embassy in New Zealand’ https://www.bitchute.com/video/j2QRadi9mpDZ/

    P.s … who else thinks Ursula von der Leyen looks like Eva Braun ,,,, suffering from AIDs :0

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