Approximately 100 people of many faiths and cultural backgrounds rallied today, Thursday 16th May, at 2pm on the street outside The Wellington Club, 88 The Terrace, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. They held a noisy but peaceful demonstration against the ongoing genocide being carried out by the State of Israel, condemning the Israeli ambassador who was hosting an invitation-only event to celebrate the establishment of the State of Israel.
“Palestinians refer to the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, with its violent acts that were immediately carried out by Zionist militias, The Nakba. This word means catastrophe,” says Dr. Margaret Franken, a member of Peace Action Wellington. “During The Nakba, dozens of entire villages were massacred and over 85% of Palestinians were displaced, while their lands and properties were confiscated. The Nakba did not end in 1948. It continues in different forms to the present day with the same goal of ethnically cleansing Palestinians.”
The protest group included members and supporters of numerous groups who have been actively calling for an end to the ongoing genocide: Alternative Jewish Voices, Student Justice for Palestine Pōneke, Peace Action Wellington, and Pōneke Anti-Fascist Coalition. These groups condemn Zionism which is a philosophy of colonialism, and condemn the State of Israel which is a colonial state formed by displacement and murder.
“It defies belief that the Israeli ambassador would be celebrating while his country continues carrying out genocide,” says Serah Allison, a member of International Socialist Organisation Aotearoa. “Israel is bombing and shooting and starving Palestinians, yet the representative of Israel has chosen to celebrate. Perhaps now is the time for our government to expel the Israeli ambassador?”
“What’s for lunch, Ambassador?” asked Marilyn Garson, co-founder of Alternative Jewish Voices. “Far from being independent, Israel is entirely dependent on American military aid. And can we please stop calling Israel a Jewish state? Half of the people over whom Israel projects its force are not Jewish.”
It would benefit Jews all over the world if Israel was to stop calling itself the “the Jewish state”, because then Jews would no longer be so directly, and in many cases unfairly, associated with the crimes of the State of Israel. However as soon as Israel stops calling itself “the Jewish state” the false rationale under which it has been oppressing, dispossessing and killing non-Jewish peoples will start to crumble away. I fear that Israel will remain “the Jewish state” for so long as it continues to exist.
But the Islamic Republics of Pakistan and Iran, together with Muslim-majority nations and the State of Palestine can oppress, dispossess and kill their religious minorities while the secular west reserves its condemnation for Israel alone? That’s a very perverse moral reckoning you have.
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