GUEST BLOG: Ian Powell – Postscript on Ethnic Cleansing, Genocide and New Zealand Recognition of Palestine
My last Political Bytes post (28 May) discussed why New Zealand should officially recognise the state of Palestine: New Zealand should recognise Palestinian state.
The heading I gave the post was Reasons for supporting ethnic cleansing, through genocide, in Palestine. This was my attempt at irony; by exploring the reasons that underpin the support for the genocidal ethnic cleansing in order to rebut them.
Broadly speaking it appeared to work although, for some, it raised some eyebrows of initial confusion; was I actually supporting ethnic cleansing. It also generated two particularly thoughtful responses that deserve further comment.
The first concerned Jews who are horrified over, and vehemently opposed to, Israel’s war against Palestinians, particularly in Gaza but also the occupied West Bank. The second involved the two-state solution proposal. Both are worthy of further consideration.
Jews against ethnic cleansing (and genocide)
Dr David Galler is a retired intensive care specialist who spent most of his medical career in Middlemore Hospital.
He was also a longstanding National Executive member of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists (including as Vice President and President) while I was its Executive Director.
Today he is actively involved in Healthcare Aotearoa with its strong focus on public (population) heath and is a health commentator.
Dr David Galler outraged by genocide pursued in the name of Jews like him
Coincidentally Dr Galler emailed the Israeli Embassy in New Zealand the day before my above-mentioned post. I reprint it below (with his express permission):
I am Jewish
My parents were Polish Jews
My mother was a child in Auschwitz and survived the Death March
She lost her family in the Katowice ghetto and at Auschwitz
She arrived in Haifa in 1947
My father escaped Poland in 1939 but lost most of his family and married my mother in Tel Aviv
My great father was the Chief Rabbi of Poland
I am writing to express my utter disgust at Israel’s vile and horrific genocide in Gaza
Say what you will, but there’s no excuse for what you are doing there – you have destroyed any good will the world had for you and the plight of my ancestors. You have brutalised your own population and actively stoked the fires of antisemitism across the world
How dare your PM, a man who has done more damage to Israel than the Palestinians ever could, and your state accuse people like me of antisemitism for criticising your disregard for international law and human rights.
Shame on you and shame on your government.
David Galler
Jews opposed to Zionism is not new
Opposition among Jews to Zionism is not new. On 15 March I posted in Political Bytes about the relationship between apartheid and Zionism: When Apartheid met Zionism.
Jewish immigration to South Africa from the late 19th century brought two powerful competing ideas to from Eastern Europe. One was Zionism while the other was the Bundists with a strong radical commitment to justice.
It is easy to forget that historically speaking, since Palestine in the time of Jesus Christ, Zionism is a relatively new ideology. Further, Jewish opposition to Israel is as old as Zionism itself.
A critical turning point in my understanding of Palestine and Israel was reading Maxime Rodinson’s Israel and the Arabs first published in 1968. Rodinson was from a Jewish family (his father was a prominent Bundist leader).
His central argument was that the Israel-Palestinian conflict was essentially
…the struggle of an indigenous population against the occupation of its normal territory by foreigners…
I was also struck by his clarifying explanation of the word ‘semitic.’ The common perception is that semitic refers to the Hebrew language.
In fact, it also includes the Arabic language. In other words, Palestinians are as semitic as Jews, but Zionism has monopolised the use of the term to apply exclusively to the latter.
Palestine from 1947 to 2005
Joseph Massad, of Christian Palestinian origin and from Jordan, is Professor of Modern Arab Politics at New York’s Columbia University.
In Middle East Eye (29 February 2024) he reports that European and American Jews have been at the forefront of opposition to Zionism since its birth as a colonial-settler movement at the end of the 19th century: Jewish opposition to Zionist Israel is as old as Zionism itself.
Witness this article published in the UK Jewish News (16 April) on the critical views of some Jewish leaders to Israel’s conduct in Gaza now: UK Jewish leaders oppose Israel’s war in Gaza.
It is noteworthy that many Jews are at the forefront of the large protests over Israel’s war against Palestinians in Gaza (and oppression of Palestinians on the West Bank) throughout the world, including New Zealand.
It is hardly surprising that David Galler is so frustrated and angry. Ethnic cleansing through genocide is being justified in the name of his ethnicity.
The extremist Israeli government has weaponised antisemitism to apply to genocide in his and many other Jews names.
Two-state solution: a delusion?
The second response came from retired journalist John Trezise who publishes on his Kiwis website.
He posted the following:
New Zealand should recognise Palestinian statehood as an expression of solidarity with the Palestinians in their struggle for equal rights against the Zionists and their apartheid state Israel.
However, I agree with Gideon Levy that the possibility of a Palestinian state becoming a reality is long gone:
‘The two-state solution died a long time ago, unfortunately, and it cannot be revived in the present circumstances. We have a government that in the last 15 years did anything possible to destroy this solution; it was destroyed. There are 7,00,000 Jewish settlers in the West Bank who will never be replaced or evacuated. Without their evacuation, there is no room, no physical room for a Palestinian state, not for a viable one. Therefore, I think it’s time to stop dreaming about the two-state solution. The only vision left, except for an apartheid state, is obviously a democracy between the river and the sea. I don’t see any other alternative. It’s a long way to go, but at least let’s start talking about it. Let’s start dreaming about it. Let’s start realising that the only choice now is between an apartheid state between the river and the sea or a democracy between the river and the sea.’
His quote from Gideon Levy is important. Levy is an Israeli journalist and author. He writes opinion pieces and a weekly column for the newspaper Haaretz that often focus on the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Levy is a courageous journalist who truly practices truth to power. He has won prizes for his articles on human rights in the Israeli-occupied territories. In 2021 he won Israel’s top award for journalism.
In short, I agree with what he says in the above quote forwarded by John Trezise. Levy was right to advocate starting a conversation over a democratic one-state solution from the Jordanian River to the Mediterranean.
That is what British Mandate Palestine was (minus the democratic bit) before 1948. Subsequently, but still decades ago, Fatah advocated a secular democratic Palestine on the same landmass as under the Mandate.
I agreed with this position then and still do, despite how inconceivable this appears in this moment of historical time.
Interestingly, when he was close to Fatah ‘back in the day’ (when this organisation was dominant among Palestinians) Palestinian intellectual Edward Said advocated a two-state solution. It was rejected by Fatah at the time.
However, Said promoted it on a more robust geographic basis than what the Oslo Accords subsequently provided for. He saw his proposal as providing the basis for discussion on transitioning to the single state idea.
Rightly so Said was a strong critic of the Oslo Accords because it was well short of this objective. Instead, they resembled the infamous and racist ‘Bantustans’ of apartheid South Africa.
Recognising Palestinian Territories as a sovereign country could be the starting point for a wider conversation about the future of Israel and Palestine
My support for New Zealand recognising the Palestinian Territories as the official state of Palestine, however, was in the context of a small step in the right direction towards Gideon Levy’s above-mentioned conversation and the importance of solidarity with the victims of repression in one territory and genocide in the other.
Final word
I will leave the final word to Don Carson who has been persistently and cogently advocating for Palestinian rights since the 1970s.
An email he sent me after reading my post prompted this postscript. In his words:
Great piece Ian, especially the historical context and demography
Only issue I would have is that sanctions on Israel should be the priority;
- IDF [Israel Defence Force] visitors
- Close the Embassy
- Trade and bilateral
- Suspend Israel from the UN
I could not agree more.
Ian Powell was Executive Director of the Association of Salaried Medical Specialists, the professional union representing senior doctors and dentists in New Zealand, for over 30 years, until December 2019. He is now a health systems, labour market, and political commentator living in the small river estuary community of Otaihanga (the place by the tide). First published at Political Bytes
All that needs to happen:
– Hamas release all remaining hostages
– IDF withdraws from Gaza
– International aid etc able to pour in
– Gazan’s can then work out for themselves if choosing a terrorist group to administer them is a good idea going forward
Geez JB still watching Ben Shapiro clickbait trash
To be honest hadn’t even heard of Ben Shapiro and so just had a quick look and yup from what I read in 2 mins agree with him on a lot of counts . .
Palestinians are the Indigenous people of that region their ancestors are the Canaanites the modern Israelis are mainly European colonizers from Ukraine they should flee back to their ancestral homeland and reclaim their country back from Russia onslaught
ha ha somehow I knew Ukraine would be to blame. It seem that the Russians are also invading though!
“Between Feb. 24 and July 31, Israel received 12,175 new immigrants from Ukraine and 18,891 from Russia, the Central Bureau of Statistics said, citing data from the Immigration Ministry.”
All occupation of the area (generally called Palestine) before the creation of Israel in 1948 was mixed both in ethnicities and religions. This is and has been the normal mode of habitation for centuries Arguably, a home for Jews who wanted to live in Palestine was already available and existing inhabitants largely greeted and accepted newcomers. So the Zionists could have dwelt in their Holy Land – just not EXCLUSIVELY and that’s where the conflict started. As the holocaust-serviving Hungarian Jew Gabor Maté noted, he was an enthusiastic Zionist enamoured of the idea of a Jewish State but changed his mind when he saw that it necessitated the displacement, disruption and killing of at least 750,000 existing inhabitants. “A Land without People for a People without a Land” was one of the earliest and most damaging of LIES the Zionists told themselves. What followed from the 1948 Nakba has effectively been an ongoing “Nakba” – A disaster for Palestinians whose only crime was to live on land a group of white Europeans had decided was theirs.
Israel’s behaviour since has been utterly abominable. They have become a psychopathic Death Cult of delusion Zionist exceptionalism and my sad contention is now that the current Israeli population will NEVER integrate and cohabitate with those they see as lesser “Goyim”. So a single, integrated state is simply not feasible until Zionists have purged themselves of their delusion elitism and realised they’re no better or worse than anyone else. Flippantly, but for effect, i have suggested on X that the population of Israel be moved to the US Island of Umnak in the Aleutian chain. It represents a similar population density to Gaza with the bonus that it has no neighbours who the Zionists can invade, oppress and murder. Zionism MUST be removed from Palestine. The original grant and recognition of Israel were a deep mistake and the World should bite the bullet and recognise and correct this fact.
Return Palestine to the Palestinians. Only once a properly-functioning diverse, multi-ethnic, multi-religious society has developed, similar to what existing before 1948, should Jews should be allowed back as contributing inhabitants just as they were BEFORE Israel happened. Remember Zionists examined many potential sites around the World for Israel so that particular area is not mandatory for a viable Jewish presence. I’m sure my opinion will be unpopular but i feel Israel has now gone FAR too far into brutal ethnic cleansing and outright genocide to be able to coexist with ANY others until that demented psychopathy has faded.
It’s unbelievable
Who are the Jews
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SEB3w3A98rU
it is our money
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wiu9N1H0Huc
The most devastating genocide in the world is being carried out by the follwoing :
1- AIPAC, brows ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COx-t-Mk6UA ).
2- Miriam Adelson brows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0LkA7VW7Q.
3- Elon Musk.
3- Timothy mellonand brows https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1XJ893-kAh0
4-The Evangelical Church,
Which kill innocent women and children in Gaza.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer provided Israel with TNT (explosives) for their GENOCIDE.
Gaza has been declared a disaster area and lacks essential resources for living in it, as follows.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, help Israel destroyed 90% of Gaza, destroying 437,600 homes, and killing one million people, including 50 thousand who are currently under rubble, 80% of whom are women and children.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, make Israel destroyed 330,000 meters of water pipes, resulting in people not being able to drink water.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, help Israel destroyed more than 655,000 meters of underground sewer lines. Now people have no washrooms to use.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, make Israel destroyed 2,800,000 two million eight hundred thousand meters of roads, causing people to have no roads to use.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, make Israel have destroyed 3680 km of electric grid, which has caused people to lose electricity.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, and Israel destroyed 48 hospitals and leveled them to the ground. Now, no one will have a hospital to save their lives.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, and Israel destroyed over 785,000 students’ ability to attend school and learn. Their actions resulted in the complete destruction of 494 schools and universities, many of which were destroyed by bombing.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, and Israel destroyed 981 mosques to prevent homless people from asking God for help.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer have made over 39000 small children orphans and left them without parents or relatives to care for them.
There has never been a war in history where 80% of the country has been destroyed, 100% of the population has been displaced, and 50% of the deaths are children.
Don’t hesitate to call it what it is
AIPAC ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COx-t-Mk6UA ) and The Evangelical Church (America) are creating a GENOCIDE.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IrX9v6DKH1g
see why Israel can kill innocent children with American taxpayer money
1- see Why Israel is in deep trouble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAfIYtpcBxo
2- Because the God of Money of our World is a Jew who supports and lives in Israel. For more details, click on the following link.
https://mega.nz/file/FqhzGKbB#bsX4PD-O59HEA0-rynD29xkk47dmddycY5CjZfoDLYg
3- Because what USA president say about AIPAC and The Evangelical Church (America)
https://www.tiktok.com/@thefearlessqueenmel/video/7307640994579680542?lang=en&q=why%20dont%20Americans%20knowl%20what%20you%20have%20seen%20&t=1701880206555
See how innocent children are killed by the most powerful Israeli using American bombs at
Al Jazeera Arabic Live
at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COx-t-Mk6UA
Watch the real news at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNyUyrR0PHo
Laws of jews Taurãt (Torah) wich is a part of the Bible
We ordained in Taurãt for them: “A life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth and for a wound an equal retaliation.”
The Torah, which is part of the Bible, has commanded that the same be done to the Jews. The order of the Torah, which is part of the Bible, is to immediately kill any Jew you see on the street. Since the Jews in Gaza have also killed women and children, you should kill any Jews – men, women, and children – as soon as you see them, whether on the street or anywhere else. And because they have killed everyone in Gaza without mercy, you must do the same to them. If you carry out these actions, you will be following the order of the Torah, which is part of the Bible, and you will be rewarded by going to heaven.
It’s unbelievable
Who are the Jews
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/SEB3w3A98rU
it is our money
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/wiu9N1H0Huc
The most devastating genocide in the world is being carried out by the follwoing :
1- AIPAC, brows ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COx-t-Mk6UA ).
2- Miriam Adelson brows https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr0LkA7VW7Q.
3- Elon Musk.
3- Timothy mellonand brows https://www.youtube.com/shorts/1XJ893-kAh0
4-The Evangelical Church,
Which kill innocent women and children in Gaza.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer provided Israel with TNT (explosives) for their GENOCIDE.
Gaza has been declared a disaster area and lacks essential resources for living in it, as follows.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, help Israel destroyed 90% of Gaza, destroying 437,600 homes, and killing one million people, including 50 thousand who are currently under rubble, 80% of whom are women and children.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, make Israel destroyed 330,000 meters of water pipes, resulting in people not being able to drink water.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, help Israel destroyed more than 655,000 meters of underground sewer lines. Now people have no washrooms to use.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, make Israel destroyed 2,800,000 two million eight hundred thousand meters of roads, causing people to have no roads to use.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, make Israel have destroyed 3680 km of electric grid, which has caused people to lose electricity.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, and Israel destroyed 48 hospitals and leveled them to the ground. Now, no one will have a hospital to save their lives.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, and Israel destroyed over 785,000 students’ ability to attend school and learn. Their actions resulted in the complete destruction of 494 schools and universities, many of which were destroyed by bombing.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer, and Israel destroyed 981 mosques to prevent homless people from asking God for help.
AIPAC, The Evangelical Church, Miriam Adelson, Elon Musk, and timothy mellon and America tax payer have made over 39000 small children orphans and left them without parents or relatives to care for them.
There has never been a war in history where 80% of the country has been destroyed, 100% of the population has been displaced, and 50% of the deaths are children.
Don’t hesitate to call it what it is
AIPAC ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COx-t-Mk6UA ) and The Evangelical Church (America) are creating a GENOCIDE.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/IrX9v6DKH1g
see why Israel can kill innocent children with American taxpayer money
1- see Why Israel is in deep trouble
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAfIYtpcBxo
2- Because the God of Money of our World is a Jew who supports and lives in Israel. For more details, click on the following link.
https://mega.nz/file/FqhzGKbB#bsX4PD-O59HEA0-rynD29xkk47dmddycY5CjZfoDLYg
3- Because what USA president say about AIPAC and The Evangelical Church (America)
https://www.tiktok.com/@thefearlessqueenmel/video/7307640994579680542?lang=en&q=why%20dont%20Americans%20knowl%20what%20you%20have%20seen%20&t=1701880206555
See how innocent children are killed by the most powerful Israeli using American bombs at
Al Jazeera Arabic Live
at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=COx-t-Mk6UA
Watch the real news at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bNyUyrR0PHo
Laws of jews Taurãt (Torah) wich is a part of the Bible
We ordained in Taurãt for them: “A life for a life, an eye for an eye, a nose for a nose, an ear for an ear, a tooth for a tooth and for a wound an equal retaliation.”
The Torah, which is part of the Bible, has commanded that the same be done to the Jews. The order of the Torah, which is part of the Bible, is to immediately kill any Jew you see on the street. Since the Jews in Gaza have also killed women and children, you should kill any Jews – men, women, and children – as soon as you see them, whether on the street or anywhere else. And because they have killed everyone in Gaza without mercy, you must do the same to them. If you carry out these actions, you will be following the order of the Torah, which is part of the Bible, and you will be rewarded by going to heaven.
Don Carson would have us suspend a nation from the UN.
The only time this has happened was when Beijing replaced Taipei because Taiwan was part of China.
The UN recognises two states west of the Jordan.
And a state between Russia and Poland, apart from Byelorussia.