Author: Leslie Bravery

If we cannot bring Israel to respect the most fundamental provisions of international law, then we must part company with our ‘traditional allies’ as they seek to cover for Israel’s lawlessness and inhumanity. New Zealand should reappraise its foreign policy and align itself with humanity rather than unashamed power. Solidarity with BDS would be a shining beacon for united action by all who yearn for a return to sanity, justice and respect for the whole of humanity.

Remember us, we are not statistics, we are people – members of families who have been sacrificed to Zionist ambition for daring to protest. Here are our names:

In a Press Release dated 12 May 2018, the Israel Institute’s director, Dr David Cumin, welcomed US President Trump’s reckless and destabilising decision to withdraw from the Iran nuclear deal with the P5+1 group of world powers. The Institute’s Press Release went so far as to claim, without a shred of proof, that “Recent Israeli intelligence shows that Iran is actively working to secure a nuclear warhead”.

Early medical reports from Gaza today indicate that dozens of people have been shot in the head or chest. Amnesty International last month documented research from the Gaza Strip that showed the Israeli military were killing and maiming demonstrators who pose no imminent threat to them.

Last month in Gaza, a boy playing soccer near the al-Bureij refugee camp was shot by Israeli soldiers. The wound inflicted was so severe that he has since had to have his leg amputated. On 19 April, Doctors Without Borders, also known as Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) medical teams reported extraordinarily large wounds being inflicted among protesters by Israeli Army snipers, causing terrible destruction of bones and soft tissue, with huge exit wounds as large as a fist.

Decades of alien military dictatorship, annexation and racist, colonial settlement have rendered impossible the Palestinian people’s right to lead a normal, decent life. The malevolence is undeniable even though world leaders and the mainstream news media prefer to look away.

On 30 March 2018, Good Friday, thousands of unarmed Palestinians gathered to take part in a well-publicised, non-violent annual protest, known as the Great March of Return. The event commemorates the day in 1976 when the lives of six Palestinians were taken by Israeli forces for daring to protest in a general strike against 30 years of repression and dispossession.