Winston Peters urged to put Palestine first in Washington
As Winston Peters heads to Washington to meet Marco Rubio this week, Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa is demanding New Zealand stop tiptoeing around the central crime driving this regional catastrophe: Israel’s genocide in Gaza. If Peters is serious about diplomacy, Palestine can’t be a side issue buried beneath vague talk of “stability” and “shared interests”.
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa has written to Foreign Minister Winston Peters urging him to put Palestine front and centre when he meets US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Washington this week.
Why Palestine has to be front and centre in Washington
“The escalating international crisis, which all stems from resistance to Israel’s genocide in Gaza, must be reined in, and pressure from New Zealand should be part of this” says PSNA Co-Chair Maher Nazzal.
“The US will want to recruit New Zealand into the US and Israel war on Iran, and try to get Peters to offer something crazy, like dispatching the New Zealand frigates Te Kaha and Te Mana to help force the Strait of Hormuz.”
‘But the open wound of Palestine remains the single greatest threat to peace and stability across the entire world.”
“We are urging Peters to press the US to demand equal rights for everyone living ‘between the river and the sea’”, says Nazzal.
“This means confronting the apartheid state of Israel head-on. The world can no longer tolerate a genocidal and racist state in West Asia, which is armed to the teeth by the US and hell-bent on attacking its neighbours to capture territory.”
“Israel continues to stoke the flames of hatred and eternal war by last week passing legislation to execute Palestinians convicted of what Israel calls ‘terrorism’.”
“This racist apartheid law does not apply to Jewish Israeli settlers who are killing Palestinians daily. It exclusively applies in the Military Courts, which are only used to try Palestinians. They have a conviction rate of over 96%.”
“Racist Israeli ministers and Knesset members celebrated the inflammatory racist law with champagne. There was barely a peep from Peters.”
What exactly is Peters prepared to say to Rubio?
“New Zealand has played an important role in helping resolve international conflicts in the past – we can be part of the solution now.”
