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

By
Dr David Robie
-
49
1712
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. Free Palestine from the jordan river to the mediterranean sea. I was also at the Aotea protest and it was awesome I thought there were more than 1000 IMO

  2. “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.

    *

  3. 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 ….

  4. A thousand protesters out of a city of one million means 999,000 didn’t care enough or couldn’t be bothered.

    • Or it may mean that they are in a state of fear, which is not an irrational fear. After all, if a regime is so barbarous as to condone or be complicit in genocide, then what might it do to the people who protest against it? However we have to put our fears aside and act regardless of the personal consequences. Whether one alone, one hundred or one thousand we need to take a stand. speak out, march and do whatever is necessary to reclaim our integrity as a nation and bring this atrocity to an end.

      • I disagree- it is an irrational fear that a New Zealander would be disappeared for protesting in New Zealand.

        • As you know I was unlawfully arrested, handcuffed and detained for holding signs reading “Lest we forget Gaza” and “Remember Surafend”. So the fear of regime is not irrational. The point is that we should not submit to fear, we should tackle the regime and its iniquities, abuses and atrocities of the regime without hesitation and without flagging. “Disappearing” citizens marks the end point of a totalitarian regime. Right now people are worried about losing their career, their lifestyle, maybe even their “reputation” by confronting the genocide. While I have some sympathy for them, I also believe, as you may, that they need to get their priorities right, because if genocide goes unpunished it will come back to haunt them.

          • Excellent Geoff!

            Clearly you know what you are doing and would know how to make it a real pain in the arse for the local police farce if they do anything stupid.

            • No one wants to be a pain. The point is that if Police depart from the rule of law there will be a reaction from the public and the consequent risk of escalation of conflict between Police and the people. That can be in no one’s best interests. In recent days the Coromandel police station was attacked, causing significant damage, but thankfully no casualties. It is time for things to settle down and for everyone to return to the rule of law.

      • A state of fear? Seriously?
        New Zealand is hardly some sort of police state.
        The signs you had were not innocuous. As you well know they were highly provocative, especially on ANZAC day. Which was of course your intent.

        • Wayne, all across the country carved in stone memorials are the names of those New Zealanders who died in the two world wars. Many are listed as having fallen in Palestine. On ANZAC day we honour their sacrifice. None died fighting for Israel.

        • They are only ‘highly provocative’ to friends of Jeffrey Epstein like yourself or Juliet Moses, Wayne.

        • It is true that the Surafend massacre has been hidden from history in New Zealand. It is also true that the government would prefer us not to think about the Gaza genocide. So, to the New Zealand government and the New Zealand Police (and it seems to “Wayne”) even the suggestion that we should acknowledge and reflect on these events is “highly provocative”.
          Anzac Day has always been contentious, even among returned servicemen. Some have used the day to promote militarism, and some to advocate for peaceful resolution of conflicts. There are times when the militarists are in the ascendancy, and times when the pacifists are tolerated or even welcomed. Until this year we had arrived at a de facto compromise whereby Anzac Day was celebrated but anti-war people were allowed to signify dissent. The conduct of the New Zealand Police on Anzac Day 2024 suggests that compromise has now been repudiated by the colonialist side.
          Let’s be clear. From their very beginnings the Anzac forces have committed heinous war crimes in many theatres of war. If you try to make April 25 into a day when the criminals are idolized and the victims ignored then you will have one hell of a fight with all right thinking New Zealanders.
          Australia, New Zealand’s Anzac partner, has now sentenced lawyer David McBride to more than five years in prison for exposing Anzac war crimes in Afghanistan. One of the Anzac criminals, Australian Corporal Ben Roberts-Smith took an old man in handcuffs to the top of a cliff and then kicked him over the edge. When the man survived his fall, though terribly injured, Roberts-Smith sent a subordinate to administer the coup-de-grace with a bullet to the head. Roberts-Smith was awarded the Victoria Cross for gallantry while David McBride receives five years in prison.
          Wayne, there is something very sick about the regime you are defending. Worse than sick. It is absolutely vile, repugnant and reprehensible. You should be ashamed of yourself.

    • Been following the (non)media coverage, genius?
      We are constantly lied to. And covering up the ethnic cleansing of Palestine is the biggest historical lie in the world.

    • If we applied your logic to every progressive issue over the years then women would not have the vote, we would all still be working 12 hours six days a week, Jim Crow laws would still exist in the states and South Africa would still be an apartheid state. How does it feel to be on the wrong side of history?

  6. The outstanding young Israeli, Eden Golan, got the second highest number of public votes at Eurovision. The world knows the truth and the world is with Israel.

    • It was Eurovision, so not the world by any stretch. Half those that voted probably don’t have a f’ing clue

      The majority of the western world were against apartheid in South Africa, and yet you thought apartheid was wonderful so I am not clear why you of all people would listen “to the world”

    • The real “outstanding” Israelis are those brave few who have been beaten trying to defend aid being delivered to starving Gazans against the genocidal racist nutters destroying it.

      Right wing Israelis have been destroying aid from Jordan bound for the Kerem Shalom crossing. The Palestinian drivers were beaten and the aid was destroyed while Israeli security forces looked on.

      The Israeli peace activists who were trying to protect the aid were also beaten. Despite death threats and violence perpetrated against them these Israelis have vowed to go back to try and protect the aid.

      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ydXHIwubDBg
      http://www.youtube.com

    • Hahah, you losers tried to buy the votes but you failed. Your stolen money will never buy you respect, wins, a homeland, friend of Epstein.

    • Israel’s Willing Executioners

      https://www.unz.com/article/israels-willing-executioners/

      anonymous[139] • Disclaimer says:
      May 14, 2024 at 6:32 pm GMT • 2.9 days ago • 100 Words ↑

      There’s certainly an element of gleeful sadism in all this. All the worst traits of various people have bubbled t the surface. Guess we really didn’t know all these willing executioners as well as we thought we did. I’ve run into people who’ve expressed enthusiastic approval for all this bloodlust even though they have no skin in the game or any sort of connection to the actors involved, just idiot propagandized dirtballs. Some of these Muricans opine that those folks have been fighting each other for ‘thousands’ of years which shows the retarded level of understanding out there. Calling it a war is ridiculous since the available armaments are so lopsided that it’s just blasting away at fish in a barrel.

      Ashkenazi Jews
      Jewish diaspora of Central Europe

      Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim, constitute a Jewish diaspora population that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally spoke Yiddish and largely migrated towards northern and eastern Europe during the late Middle Ages due to persecution

      They are nothing to do with the original Moses’ Mob. They are European supplants.

  8. 1000 dim protestors marked the wrong day. The Nakba was on 29 November 1947, the day Palestine’s Arabs rejected their land.

  9. 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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