Weekly protests are extending further around the country as Israel runs riot and our government’s policy of appeasement towards Israel fails dramatically

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Details of our weekly solidarity protests around the country are listed at the end of this letter sent to the Prime Minister yesterday.

 

Rt Hon Christopher Luxon

Prime Minister

Parliament Buildings

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Wellington

c.luxon@ministers.govt.nz

 

Kia ora Mr Luxon,

We write to you as a matter of utmost urgency, with a rapidly deteriorating situation in the Middle East. 

The policy of appeasement towards Israel over the past year by western countries has failed miserably.  Israel has expanded its attacks and has abandoned all pretence of any sort of negotiated settlements. 

Our government is holding on desperately to a hopelessly weak and indefensible policy towards the Middle East. I have no doubt you know this. 

Israel is running riot with endless bombing and killing as it spreads murder and mayhem.  The majority of victims in Gaza, Lebanon and the West Bank are women and children – tens of thousands of children. 

You and I know this would never be tolerated if the victims were European.

The situation has now become even more desperate and deadly with

    • Israel has refused to allow any food or supplies to be delivered since the beginning of this month to northern Gaza.  It has again unleased its firepower with absolute impunity on refugee camps and other civilian areas with the openly stated aim of ethnic cleansing of the majority of the 400,000 Palestinians who remain there.
    • Israel’s delivery of its threat to turn Lebanon into another Gaza, with attacks throughout the country, including Christian areas.
    • Israel’s endless attempts to widen the war across the region into Iran with repeated violations of its sovereignty until Iran responded – though without a single Israeli casualty.
    • Israel’s blatant attacks on UNIFIL positions and demands that UNIFIL withdraw from its mission to allow Israeli military advances further into Lebanon to achieve regime change for a Lebanese government subservient to its interests.

 

Despite all that has happened over 12 months you have issued only platitudes “calling an all sides to exercise restraint” and condemnation of all parties Israel decides that is its enemies.

You have failed to condemn Israel for anything it has ever done against the Palestinian victims of its settler colonial project and yet you have condemned every act of Palestinian resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation, genocide, and ethnic cleansing.

Other countries, the UK, France, Spain, Norway, and Ireland have spoken out and taken, albeit token, action to remind Israel that it is operating outside international law.

History will condemn your 12 months of complicit silence but action now can make a real difference and saves tens of thousands of innocent lives. A minimum list of actions includes:

    1. Condemn Israeli action against the Palestinian people in Gaza and the West Bank as war crimes
    2. Join South Africa’s case of proving genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice
    3. Implement the recent obligations specified by the ICJ under the Geneva Conventions towards ending Israeli occupation of the Palestinian Occupied Territories.
    4. Identify and ban imports of products from illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories
    5. End procurement of goods and services from companies identified by the United Nations as complicit in building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements
    6. Direct the Superfund, ACC and Kiwisaver providers to divest from companies on the UN list
    7. Investigate the export of Rakon Industry components which are incorporated into US weapons which almost inevitably end in the industrial-scale killing of Palestinians.
    8. Immediately close the Israeli embassy as Israel’s propaganda and lobby outlet in New Zealand
    9. Clearly and publicly state that NZDF personnel in the Middle East will neither participate in nor provide assistance to either US or Israel attacks or preparations for attacks on Iran
    10. Publicly join other countries in condemning the Israeli military attack on UNIFIL and demand of Israel that it will cease to demand UNIFIL withdraw from any of its positions in Lebanon
    11. Reiterate New Zealand’s participation in UNTSO and demand that Israel allow UNTSO continue its work unmolested
    12. Demand Israel revoke its declaration that the UN Secretary General is persona non grata in Israel.
    13. Note and support this UN report https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/10/un-commission-finds-war-crimes-and-crimes-against-humanity-israeli-attacks

Please respond to this letter urgently.

John Minto

National Chair

Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa

 

Nationwide rallies/marches/MP protests/vigils this week

 

These are on the PSNA Facebook events page here with the basic details listed below.

North Island

Opononi – Gathering for Palestine

Sunday 20 October

1.30pm

Opononi (outside the Four Square)

Kerikeri – Rally

Saturday 19 October

No Rally this weekend

Whangarei – Rally

Saturday 19 October

No Rally this weekend

Auckland – Picket

Friday 18 October

12:00 noon

New World Devonport –

35 Bartley Terrace, Devonport,

Waiheke – Market Stall – hosted by Stand With Palestine Waiheke!

Every Saturday

8:00 am – 1:00 pm

Ostend Market, Waiheke Island

Auckland – Banners around Tamaki Makaurau

Saturday 19 October

10:00 am

Text John on 021 899 659 for location

Auckland – Central Bike Ride for Palestine

Saturday 19 October

Meet at 12.45 to leave (ride to the rally) at 1.10pm

Western Park. Ponsonby Road

Auckland – Rally

Saturday 19 October

2:00 pm

Te Komititanga – Britomart Square, Tamaki Makaurau

Then travel to Browns Bay for the Prayer Vigil for Gaza

Auckland – Prayer Vigil @ Erica Stanford’s Office

Aotearoa Christians for peace in Palestine will hold a Prayer Vigil to mark a year since the Israeli airstrike on St Porphyrius Church in Gaza City

Saturday 19 October

4:00 pm

85 Beach Front Lane, Browns Bay, Auckland

https://www.facebook.com/events/s/vigil-for-gaza-st-porphyrius-c/1056552113142463/

Auckland – Movie – The Last Sky

Saturday 19 October

7:00 pm

Trades Hall auditorium – 147 Great North Road, Grey Lynn

Limited seats. Tickets essential

Admission by Koha

https://events.humanitix.com/the-last-sky

Director Nicholas Hanna will have a Q&A after the movie

Thames – Vigil to Stop the war on Children

(Hosted by The Basket – Social and Environmental Justice – Hauraki)

First Saturday of the month

Tauranga – Flag wave

Sunday 20 October

11:00 am

SH2 Bethlehem – By Woolworths

Hamilton – Rally for Palestine

Saturday 19 October

1:00 pm

Civic Square, Hamilton

Whaingaroa/Raglan

To be advised

Cambridge – Rally for Palestine

Every Saturday

11:00 am

Cambridge Town Hall

Rotorua – Rally for Palestine

Every Thursday

4:00 pm

Rotorua Lakes Council, Haupapa Street (Sir Howard Morrison Corner)

Gisborne – Farmers Market – Vigil to Stop the war on Children

Every Saturday

9:30 – 11:30 am

Gisborne Farmers Market

Napier – Rally for Palestine

Saturday 19 October

11:30 am

Marine Parade Soundshell Roundabout

Hastings – Rally for Palestine

Sunday 20 October

1:00 pm

Hastings Town Clock – Hastings CBD

Palmerston North – Rally for Palestine

Sunday 20 October

2:00 pm

The Square, Palmerston North

New Plymouth – Flags on the Bridge

Friday 18 September

4:30 pm

Paynters Ave Bridge, New Plymouth

New Plymouth – Rally and March

Saturday 19 October

1:00 PM

The Landing, 1 Ariki Street, New Plymouth

Whanganui – Rally for Palestine

Saturday 19 October

11:00 am

Riverside Market, Whanganui

Carterton – Gathering for Gaza

Every Tuesday

12:00 midday

Memorial Square.

Martinborough – Vigil for Palestine

Every Wednesday

11:00 am

The square at the top of Kitchener St, Martinborough

Masterton – Gathering for Gaza

Every Sunday

9:30 am

Town Hall Lawn, Masterton

Featherston – Gathering for Gaza

Every Saturday

11:00 am

The Squircle (opposite the op shop).

Wellington – Vigil for Palestine (by Aotearoa Healthcare Workers for Palestine)

Every Friday

6:00 pm

In front of Wellington Hospital

49 Riddiford Street, Newtown, Wellington

Wellington – Flags on the Bridge

(hosted by the Falastin Tea Collective)

Every Friday

7:15 – 8:15 am

Hill Street bridge Overbridge, Wellington

Wellington – Rally

(hosted by the Falastin Tea Collective)

Saturday 19 October

1:00 – 2:00 pm

Meet at Glover Park and Hikoi down Cuba Mall and back to Glover Park

South Island

Nelson – Rally for Palestine

Saturday 19 October

10:30 am

Rocks Road by the beach

Blenheim – Rally for Palestine

Saturday 19 October

11:00 am

Blenheim Railway Station

Christchurch – Nobela Protest

Thursday 17

11:45 am

Foodstuffs Headquarters

167 Main North Road, Northcote, Christchurch

Christchurch- Flag Waving for Palestine

Friday 18 October

4:00 pm

Bridge of Remembrance, Cashel Street, Christchurch

Christchurch – Rally and March

Saturday 19 October

1:00 – 2:00 pm

Bridge of Remembrance, Cashel Street, Christchurch

Timaru

No Rally this weekend

Dunedin – Rally and March

Saturday 19 October

No Rally this weekend

Queenstown
No Rally this weekend

Invercargill – Rally for Palestine

Sunday 20 October

1:00 pm

Wachner place Invercargill

50 COMMENTS

  1. No one can hide here,,, no one can pretend they didn’t know what was happening because the Israelis were shouting it in our faces,,,,

    Israeli Soldiers SICKENING War Crimes EXPOSED https://youtu.be/gEo813rYm8g

    Over the last year we have witnessed what is the greatest crime of the 21st century.And perversely it’s a crime that has been meticulously documented and presented to us by the people who are carrying it out.

    And they’re doing it and they’re recording it and they’re putting it on Facebook,,And we know the names of the soldiers and the commanders who did it,..

    …They go into the homes of Palestinians and they’re often clearly staying there,,And they just smash them up,, and they film themselves smashing them up,, They also delight in going through women’s underwear drawers and this is a sort of recurring obsession….

    Has Israel managed to destroy Hamas??,,,Israeli soldiers have posted thousands of videos online,, the IDF the Israeli Army repeatedly posts videos online,, scour those videos for the bodies of dead Fighters and there’s remarkably few

    As an absolute indictment of Western media,, the way this is covered (pushed),,, the idea that Hamas the al-Qassam brigades and so
    on use the civilian population as human Shields,,,, there is no evidence that they are positively using them as human shields in the sense that they’re hiding behind them,, or not allowing them to leave,,,or not telling them that they’re there…

    ‘ Al Qassam brigade’s own combat videos which are a stark contrast to the videos that the Israeli soldiers put online,,, there’s over 300 of them,,, and they very often show successful attacks on tanks and other armored vehicles… these attacks all take place in desolate abandoned Landscapes ,,, I have not seen a single civilian in them’..

    .. Now then there is the secondary point,, the UN International and Israeli human rights organizations have found the Israelis to
    be guilty of using human shields.. In the film we have footage of this,,, you can see it there,,, they are hiding behind people resting their guns on their shoulder,, they’ve got a man and he’s being forced to go and inspect empty buildings open’ ,,,, it’s clearly absolutely systematic now’,,,

    ‘the fact that the entirety of Western media and the Western political
    class continues to trot out this Mantra about it being Hamas that be hides behind human Shields,,, when all of the Abundant evidence suggests precisely the opposite’,, cowardly war criminal Israelis do that shit.
    ***************************************************

    “On October the 7th two babies are killed okay, which is Dreadful, it’s appalling, BUT at the end of August when the gazen health Ministry published detailed figures the first 14 pages, 701 names, were taken up with children under the age of one,, and that doesn’t include 7,000 people whom there was no documentation, it doesn’t include the large numbers of people who are still under the rubble … or who have died of because of lack of access to health care,,,, it’s very very likely that in the end the total number of dead and injured in the Gaza Strip will be more than a Quarter of a Million.’

    Crowd funded prosecutions against western politicians partaking in the ‘Coalition of the Killing’?.

    Criminals should fear the law ……

    • A remarkable effort @ B Awakesky.
      I watched the youtube link you posted above and was left in tears.
      The IDF. What evil monsters they are. What deranged perverts and gun nut psychopaths. Our political support of Israel is a shocking wake up call to announce what monsters we rub shoulders with in our own country. And then there are the israelis.
      @ John Minto. You’re a wondrous hero. That’s what you are.

    • “From the Palestinian perspective, he died a hero’s death. He was not cowering in a tunnel. He was on the field of battle, carrying a weapon and fighting.” ……

      ….”Hamas is proving to behave more like mercury when struck — it fragments into smaller, separate globules, but retains the capacity to attack and damage the Zionist forces in Gaza. In this regard, I think Hamas shares an ironic similarity to the Jews in the Warsaw Ghetto who rose up against the Nazis in April 1943, only they are better armed and trained than the Jewish youths who battled the Germans. The Zionists, whether they know it or not, are creating a Palestinian version of Masada. While the Jews who fought against the Romans at Masada ultimately died, their sacrifice created a legend that Jews have celebrated through the Centuries. I think we are witnessing something similar taking place with the Palestinians. They are managing to survive against seemingly insurmountable odds.

      Unlike Masada, where the Jewish defenders committed suicide, the Palestinians are dying at the hands of the Zionist military forces. It would be one thing if the Israeli Occupation Force (IOF) was focused on battling armed insurgents, but the horrific reality is that the Zionists are engaged in active genocide and wantonly killing civilians. This is a stain on Israel that will mark it for generations to come, if it survives. Killing women and children is a soul destroying endeavor and will scar the consciences of many of the IOF soldiers. Remember, one of the reasons that the Germans started using gas to carry out large-scale executions of Jews in Poland is that a large number of the Nazi soldiers, who shot people they had stuffed into large pits — such as the massacre at Babi Yar — experienced severe psychological reactions and became combat ineffective. Even crazed fanatics can reach a limit where the guilt crushes their mind.

      Sinwar’s death, instead of diminishing the violence in Gaza and throughout the region, is likely to ignite further escalation. Hezbollah and the Houthis, for example, are likely to step up the intensity and lethality of their attacks in the coming weeks. If Israel, blinded by hubris, decides to up the ante and attack Iran, Iran will strike back with a ferocity Israel has never experienced. If that happens, I think the region will be engulfed in a major war.”….. https://sonar21.com/killing-sinwar-will-not-end-the-war-in-gaza/

      ***************************************************
      Look how useless the Iron dome is for defending anything that Iran wants to hit ,,, https://youtu.be/3U7wp2YsQJI

      If Israel gets the war their nutters are hell bent on getting,, then Israel will get wrecked ,,,,, and no doubt Iran will be harmed ….

      ,,,, BUT petrol will go to $10 per liter if the middle east goes up in flames ,,,, crashing our economy and the rest of the west …. and all you Zionist shills will become as popular as the Israeli snipers who shoot children in the head (to normal people that is, not Xenophon who loves em) ,,,,

      I bet you wont be taking any of the credit ,,,, or reminding people that YOU wanted this war,,,, if you get your wish for this NZ wrecking war that you’ve positively drooled for.

      Fucking Israel and their fucking dick-head enablers will be the sentiment if your vultures (zionist chickens) come home to roost.

    • Xen, Any mentions on Israelis getting slaughtered by Hezbollah? Murdering Nasrallah hasn’t stopped their military-wing successes on the battlefield even Iran top leader is dead doesn’t stop them continuing as a unified force in fact it’s galvanises populations opposite to what the western nations are hoping for! There are many Sinwar arising out of the ashes of Gaza your venerated white supremacist state can’t continuing existing like this as majority of its neighbors are attacking it which is distablizing its society along with its economy.

      Free Palestine

  2. Our government are happy to support Israel so they can duck for cover and sweep our disgusting abuse of humans under a massive carpet .The current austerity drive is so they have some money to cover the looming payout to all the people that have been abused while in care .Then there is the paltry amount of treaty settlements for the systemic murder rape and land theft dished out to Maori over the last 100 years.This abuse is now being ramped up by the current government by stripping as many people of dignity as they can in the next 2 years .When the next election they will be calling all those people they have thrown on the scrap heap lazy bottom feeders .Next they will be putting massive charges on cardboard boxes and charging the homeless for over night camp fees for sleeping on the street or in a park somewhere.

  3. When you deny millions of innocent people of food and better standards of living besides murdering them indiscriminately than it “Genocide” not ethnic cleansing!

  4. ” Meanwhile the other 95% of the NZ population are cheering Israel on. ”

    Beware the silent majority.

    At least John Minto is doing the MSM’s job for them and bringing this appalling carnage out into the light.

    While most media outlets are discussing the important issues like why is your hair getting oily ? or your not big or clever for hating reality tv.

  5. One way or another we are going to destroy the world .We will either kill everyone or the world will be cooked due to climate change .Might be time the younger generations took over control .By that I mean the under 20s

Comments are closed.