Te Pāti Māori is condemning the Government’s latest statement on Palestine as yet another exercise in colonial double standards.
While Palestinians continue to endure genocide, siege, and daily dispossession, this Government couches its concern in bureaucratic language and conditions that strip Palestinians of their right to self-determination and their humanity.
“It is unconscionable that Aotearoa New Zealand demands Palestinians prove their ‘governance’ and ‘democracy’ while remaining silent on Israel’s ongoing genocidal apartheid regime, breaches of international law, and the mass killing of civilians” said Te Pāti Māori Co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi.
The Co-leaders said Palestinians do not need lessons in democracy from a government that continues to benefit from its own colonial project here in Aotearoa.
“They need solidarity, recognition, and justice. We acknowledge the $10 million of additional humanitarian aid, but money does not absolve complicity in silence. True solidarity requires political courage to call Israel’s actions what they are: war crimes, apartheid, and attempted genocide.”
Te Pāti Māori repeats what we have said consistently:
- The immediate priority must be a permanent ceasefire.
- An end to the occupation and to Israel’s illegal settlement expansion.
- Unfettered humanitarian access to Gaza and the West Bank.
- Full recognition of the sovereign right of Palestine to exist without pre-conditions set by colonisers or their allies.
Te Pāti Māori will continue to stand unequivocally with the people of Palestine. Their struggle for freedom is our struggle. Their liberation is tied to our own.