BREAKING: Open letter to Minister of Foreign Affairs regarding MFAT censorship
Kia ora Nanaia,
We have been informed that the Wellington City Council has been advised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs not to light up the Michael Fowler Centre in the colours of the Palestinian flag tomorrow – which has been arranged through councillor Tamatha Paul and approved by council – because Aotearoa New Zealand does not recognise a Palestinian state and this will cause offence to the Israeli Embassy in Wellington.
This is outrageous advice. We want you to intervene and immediately override this advice from your ministry officials so the Fowler Centre can be lit up tomorrow.
Firstly New Zealand’s official policy is to support a “two-state” solution in historic Palestine and this policy in effect recognises a Palestinian state. You cannot have a “two-state solution” with just one state. Secondly it is deeply insulting to Palestinians to have official recognition of their national day – Nakba Day – effectively vetoed by ministry officials and the “sensitivities” of the Israeli embassy. It is Israel which is refusing to allow a Palestinian state to be formed. The current Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said he refuses to meet with Palestinian leaders, refuses to negotiate a peace deal and will refuse to recognise a Palestinian state while he is Prime Minister. Why should Israel’s veto over a Palestinian state dictate Aotearoa New Zealand’s support for Palestinians?
Why would we take any notice of the “sensitivities” of an embassy which is supporting and promoting what every international human rights organisation has declared to be an apartheid state?
Parliament has flown the Ukrainian flag in recent weeks over Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine so why shouldn’t New Zealand fly the Palestinian flag in recognition of Israel’s ongoing brutal military occupation of the entire area of historic Palestine.
Within the last 10 days an Israeli court has approved the eviction of 1000 more Palestinians from their land and homes in the occupied West Bank of Palestine and the Israeli regime has announced it is ready to approve the building of 4000 more Jewish-only homes – also in the occupied West Bank.
And just this last week we have seen the brutal “cold-blooded murder” of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the shocking sight of pall bearers and mourners at her funeral being brutally attacked by Israeli state forces.
Aotearoa New Zealand is bigger than the venal, self-serving advice of cowardly MFAT officials.
Please direct your ministry officials to approve Wellington City Council lighting up the Fowler Centre tomorrow in the colours of the Palestinian flag.
Our independent foreign policy, yeah right!
I want to know when the government is bullshiting every time.
On this I agree 100 percent as a country we need to be our own master not a lap dog.
In a suburb of Chch the seat warmers in council tried to stop,a flag pole being erected incase they flew a flag that offended another country .I cannot believe they are not following orders from on high . Fortunately sanitary prevailed and once out in the open the flag pole is now going ahead. No one has been fired though
I strongly oppose talking of a ‘2 State solution.’ I have no problems with NZ not recognizing a ‘Palestinian State’. There is no Palestinian state. There is one State ‘from the river to the sea’. It is a State run by a very very cruel regime ..apartheid on steroids…a regime that should be roundly condemned.
But NZ should recognize the existence of Palestinian people. Surely they have the right to have a flag as a symbol of their identity, a reminder that they do exist. They have a history and a culture that the Zionists would like to be permanently erased.
Isn’t there a Maori flag shown on special occasions?
‘The brutal “cold-blooded murder” of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the shocking sight of pall bearers and mourners at her funeral being brutally attacked by Israeli state forces’
that John describes, can be seen on an Al Jazeera broadcast. The reporter said he had never, ever, witnessed such brutality..such disrespect for the dead..such disrespect for mourners….
We’re being told that NZ doesn’t want to “cause offence to the Israeli Embassy” !
Oh my God!
Is that NZ’s policy Have we really sunk that low?
I strongly oppose talking of a ‘2 State solution.’ I have no problems with NZ not recognizing a ‘Palestinian State’. There is no Palestinian state. There is one State ‘from the river to the sea’. It is a State run by a very very cruel regime ..apartheid on steroids…a regime that should be roundly condemned.
But NZ should recognize the existence of Palestinian people. Surely they have the right to have a flag as a symbol of their identity, a reminder that they do exist. They have a history and a culture that the Zionists would like to be permanently erased.
Isn’t there a Maori flag shown on special occasions?
‘The brutal “cold-blooded murder” of Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akleh and the shocking sight of pall bearers and mourners at her funeral being brutally attacked by Israeli state forces’
that John describes, can be seen on an Al Jazeera broadcast. The reporter said he had never, ever, witnessed such brutality..such disrespect for the dead..such disrespect for mourners….
We’re being told that NZ doesn’t want to “cause offence to the Israeli Embassy” !
Oh my God!
Is that NZ’s policy Have we really sunk that low?
You’re expecting a lot from a party masquerading as Labour… Champagne guzzling, little treats nibbling, hols to Singapore and Japan.. nothing cheap about this lot.
And now you are demanding moral fibre!
At the very least the Israeli Ambassador must be told to provide justification for the obscene thuggery they carried out at Shireen Abu Akleh’s funeral.
Just take matters into your own hands John.
Organise hundreds or even thousands to dress in the Palestinian colours and march to the centre.
Alternatively hack into the centre and do it anyway.
Or you can keep trying to ride the beauraucratic logjam and get no results…
I agree with LG that the 2 state solution, has been offered as an option for far too long.
The multitude of illegal settler developments put an end to that option decades ago.
The brutality of the Israeli military occupation is a sad consequence of zero accountability for their actions.
Trade agreements, wrongheaded ideology and membership of the “Five Eyes” has left successive NZ Governments impotent.
The assassination of Shireen Abu Akleh and the subsequent shocking assault by Israeli Police on her funeral procession is hideous but behaviour like this occurs every day in the occupied territories and has been normalised by the occupiers.
Zionism is not an inclusive ideology and from its inception, for many Jews excluding the Palestinians was always the objective.
At its worst the Israeli government and its security forces’ actions grow uglier by the day leading to a growing global contempt for their despicable behaviour.
Parliament has flown the Ukrainian flag in recent weeks over Russia’s invasion and occupation of Ukraine so why shouldn’t New Zealand fly the Palestinian flag in recognition of Israel’s ongoing brutal military occupation of the entire area of historic Palestine.
Because its the biggest embarrassment around.
The invasion and subjugation of the Palestine is, after all, an UN mandated action. An action that NZ must have had a direct say in as the UN was, IIRC, barely a year old at the time that said invasion was instituted against the very reasons for its founding.
So many of the UN tell us that Israel has the right to defend itself while denying the Palestinians the right to defend themselves.