GUEST BLOG: Ian Powell – Reasons for supporting ethnic cleansing, through genocide, in Palestine
When I despairingly contemplate the horrors and cruelty that Palestinians in Gaza are being subjected to, I sometimes try to put in the context of where I live.
I live on the Kāpiti Coast in the lower North Island. Geographically it is around the same size as Gaza. Both have coastlines running their full lengths. But, whereas the population of Gaza is a cramped two million, Kāpiti ‘s is a mere 56,000.
Gaza – 2 million people living in a cramped outdoor prison
I find it incomprehensible to visualise what it would be like if what is presently happening in Gaza occurred here. The only similarities between them are coastlines and land mass. One is an outdoor prison while the other’s outdoors is peaceful.
New Zealand and Palestine state recognition
Currently Palestine has observer status at the United Nations General Assembly. Earlier this month, the Assembly voted overwhelmingly in favour of Palestine being granted full membership of the United Nations.
To its credit New Zealand was among 143 countries that supported the resolution. Nine, including the United States as the strongest backer of Israeli genocide outside Israel, voted against.
However, despite this massive majority, such is the undemocratic structure of the UN that it will only require US opposition in the Security Council to veto the democratic vote.
Notwithstanding New Zealand’s support for Palestine broadening its role in the General Assembly and its support for the two-state solution, the government does not officially recognise Palestine.
While its position on recognition is consistent with that of the genocide-supporting United States, it is inconsistent with the over 75% of UN member states who, in March 2025, recognised Palestine as a sovereign state (by 147 of the 193 member states).
Christopher Luxon’s government should correct obscenity of not recognising Palestinians’ right to have sovereign nation
Christopher Luxon’s government does have the opportunity to correct this obscenity as Palestine recognition will soon be voted on again by the General Assembly.
In this context it is helpful to put the Hamas-led attack on Israel in its full historical perspective and to consider the reasons justifying the Israeli genocide that followed.
7 October 2023 and genocide justification
The origin of the horrific genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and the associated increased persecution, including killings, of Palestinians in the Israeli occupied West Bank (of the River Jordan) was not the attack by Hamas and several other militant Palestinian groups on 7 October 2023.
This attack was on a small Israeli town less than two kilometres north of the border. An estimated 1,195 Israelis and visitors were killed.
The genocidal response of the Israeli government that followed this attack can only be justified by three factors:
- The Judaism or ancient Jewishness of Palestine in Biblical times overrides the much larger Palestinian population in Mandate Palestine prior to formation of Israel in 1948.
- The right of Israelis to self-determination overrides the right of Palestinians to self-determination.
- The value of Israeli lives overrides the value Palestinian lives.
The first factor is the key. The second and third factors are consequential. In order to better appreciate their context, it is first necessary to understand the Nakba.
Understanding the Nakba
Rather than the October 2023 attack, the origin of the subsequent genocide goes back over 70 years to the collective trauma of Palestinians caused by what they call the Nakba (the Disaster).
The foundation year of the Nakba was in 1948, but this was central feature of the ethnic cleansing that was kicked of between 1947 and 1949.
During this period Zionist military forces attacked major Palestinian cities and destroyed some 530 villages. About 15,000 Palestinians were killed in a series of mass atrocities, including dozens of massacres.
Nakba – the Palestinian collective trauma that started ethnic cleansing
During the Nakba in 1948, approximately half of Palestine’s predominantly Arab population, or around 750,000 people, were expelled from their homes or forced to flee. Initially this was through Zionist paramilitaries.
After the establishment of the State of Israel in May this repression was picked up by its military. Massacres, biological warfare (by poisoning village wells) and either complete destruction or depopulation of Palestinian-majority towns, villages, and urban neighbourhoods (which were then given Hebrew names) followed
By the end of the Nakba, 78% of the total land area of the former Mandatory Palestine was controlled by Israel.
Genocide to speed up ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing was unsuccessfully pursued, with the support of the United Kingdom and France, in the Suez Canal crisis of 1956. More successful was the ‘Seven Day War’ of 1967 which included the military and political takeover of the West Bank and Gaza.
Throughout this period ethnic cleansing was not characterised by genocide. That is, it was not the deliberate and systematic killing or persecution of a large number of people from a particular national or ethnic group with the aim of destroying them.
Israeli ethnic cleansing of Palestinians began in May 1948; accelerated to genocide in 2023
In fact, the acceptance of a two-state solution (Israel and Palestine) under the ill-fated Oslo Accords in 1993 and 1995 put a temporary constraint on the expansion of ethnic cleansing.
Since its creation in 1948 Israel, along with South Africa the same year (until 1994), has been an apartheid state. I discussed this in an earlier Political Bytes post (15 March 2025): When apartheid met Zionism.
However, while sharing the racism, discrimination, brutal violence, repression and massacres inherent in apartheid, it was not characterised by genocide in South Africa; nor was it in Israel for most of its existence until the current escalation of ethnic cleansing in Gaza.
Following 7 October 2023, genocide has become the dominant tool in the ethnic cleansing tool kit. More recently this has included accelerating starvation and the bombing of tents of Gaza Palestinians.
The magnitude of this genocide is discussed further below.
The Biblical claim
Zionism is a movement that sought to establish Jewish nation in Palestine. It was established as a political organisation as late as 1897. It was only some time after this that Zionism became the most influential ideology among Jews generally.
Despite its prevalence, however, there are many Jews who are oppose Zionism and play leading roles in the international protests against the genocide in Gaza.
Zionist ideology based on view of Palestine in the time of Jesus Christ
Based on Zionist ideology the justification for replacing Mandate Palestine with the state of Israel rests on a Biblical argument for the right of Jews to retake their ‘homeland’. This justification goes back to the time of that charismatic carpenter and prophet Jesus Christ.
The population of Palestine in Jesus’ day was approximately 500,000 to 600,000 ( a little bigger than both greater Wellington and similar to that of Jerusalem today). About 18,000 of these residents were clergy, priests and Levites (a distinct male group within Jewish communities).
Jerusalem itself in biblical times, with a population of 55,000, was a diverse city and pilgrimage centre. It was also home to numerous Diaspora Jewish communities.
In fact, during the 7th century BC at least eight nations were settled within Palestine. In addition to Judaeans, they included Arameans, Samaritans, Phoenicians and Philistines.
A breakdown based on religious faiths (Jews, Christians and Muslims) provides a useful insight into how Palestine has evolved since the time of Jesus. Jews were the majority until the 4th century AD.
By the fifth century they had been supplanted by Christians and then from the 12thcentury to 1947 Muslims were the largest group. As earlier as the 12th century Arabic had become the dominant language. It should be noted that many Christians were Arabs.
Adding to this evolving diversity of ethnicity is the fact that during this time Palestine had been ruled by four empires – Roman, Persian, Ottoman and British.
Prior to 1948 the population of the region known as Mandate Palestine approximately corresponds to the combined Israel and Palestine today. Throughout its history it has varied in both size and ethnic composition.
The Ottoman census of 1878 provides an indicative demographic profile of its three districts that approximated what became Mandatory Palestine after the end of World War 1.
| Group | Population | Percentage |
| Muslim citizens | 403,795 | 86–87% |
| Christian citizens | 43,659 | 9% |
| Jewish citizens | 15,011 | 3% |
| Jewish (foreign-born) | Est. 5–10,000 | 1–2% |
| Total | Up to 472,465 | 100.0% |
In 1882 the Ottoman Empire revealed that the estimated 24,000 Jews in Palestine represented just 0.3% of the world’s Jewish population.
The self-determination claim
Based on religion the estimated population of Palestine in 1922 was 78% Muslim, 11% Jewish, and 10% Christian.
By 1945 this composition had changed to 58% Muslim, 33% Jewish and 8% Christian. The reason for this shift was the success of the Zionist campaigning for Jews to migrate to Palestine which was accelerated by the Jewish holocaust.
By 15 May 1948, the total population of the state of Israel was 805,900, of which 649,600 (80.6%) were Jews with Palestinians being 156,000 (19.4%). This turnaround was primarily due to the devastating impact of the Nakba.
Today Israel’s population is over 9.5 million of which over 77% are Jewish and over 20% are Palestinian. The latter’s absolute growth is attributable to Israel’s subsequent geographic expansion, particularly in 1967, and a higher birth rate.
Palestine today (parts of West Bank under Israeli occupation)
The current population of the Palestinian Territories, including Gaza, is over 5.5 million. Compare this with the following brief sample of much smaller self-determination countries – Slovenia (2.2 million), Timor-Leste (1.4 million), and Tonga (104,000).
The population size of the Palestinian Territories is more than half that of Israel. Closer to home it is a little higher than New Zealand.
The only reason why Palestinians continue to be denied the right to self-determination is the Zionist ideological claim linked to the biblical time of Jesus Christ and its consequential strategy of ethnic cleansing.
If it was not for the opposition of the United States, then this right would not have been denied. It has been this opposition that has enabled Israel’s strategy.
Comparative value of Palestinian lives
The use of genocide as the latest means of achieving ethnic cleansing highlights how Palestinian lives are valued compared with Israeli lives.
While not of the same magnitude appropriated comparisons have been made with the horrific ethnic cleansing of Jews through the means of the holocaust by Nazi Germany during World War 11. Per capita the scale of the magnitude gap is reduced considerably.
Since October 2023, according to the Gaza health ministry (and confirmed by the World Health Organisation) about 54,000 Palestinians have been killed. Of those killed over 16,500 were children. Compare this with less than 2,000 Israelis killed.
Further, at least 310 UNRWA (United Nations Relief & Works Agency) team members have been killed along with over 200 journalists and media workers. Add to this around 1,400 healthcare workers including doctors and nurses.
What also can’t be forgotten is the increasing Israeli ethnic cleansing on the occupied West Bank. Around 950 Palestinians, including around 200 children, have also been killed during this same period.
Time for New Zealand to recognise Palestine
The above discussion is in the context of the three justifications for supporting the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians strategy that goes back to 1948 and which, since October 2023, is being accelerated by genocide.
Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters needs to ‘up his game’
First it requires the conviction that the theology of Judaism in Palestine in the biblical times following the birth of Jesus Christ trumps both the significantly changing demography from the 5th century at least to the mid-20th century and the numerical predominance of Arabs in Mandate Palestine.
Second, and consequentially, it requires the conviction that while Israelis are entitled to self-determination, Palestinians are not.
Finally, it requires that Israeli lives are much more valuable than Palestinian lives. In fact, the latter have no value at all.
Unless the government, including Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters, shares these convictions (especially the ‘here and now’ second and third) then it should do the right thing first by unequivocally saying so and then by recognising the right of Palestine to be an independent state.
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
It’s important not to get too focused on the whole ‘religion’ thing. Winston claims to be a Christian, but I’ve never met a real bible-believing Christian who thinks the zionists have the right to rape and kill and torture little kids. Only fake christian surface level cultist types, like those who follow Jerry Falwell (who the zionists gave a private jet to carry the hookers they provided him around in) or Brian Tamaki (let’s just say there’s a reason the IINZ and HCNZ don’t have budgets open to the public). Many of their nastiest ‘christian’ operatives, like Sheree Trotter, are paid openly by the zionists to support the genocide.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2016/01/08/unholy-alliance-christian-zionists-and-the-israelipalestinian-conflict/
This is particularly important because this is, fundamentally, nothing to do with the infestation of Palestine. The World Zionist Congress seriously considered the ‘Uganda Scheme’, in which they would invade and displace the native inhabitants of the Kenyan highlands (then ruled as part of ‘Uganda’ in the British empire) rather than Palestine. They rejected it because they considered the level of infrastructure that the native population had built, which they intended to steal as they would later do in Palestine, inferior to that of Palestine. Zionists do not consider their right to predate on the native population to be confined to Palestine- or even the surrounding Middle Eastern regions- or even to adjoining areas in Africa. They feel they have the right to do whatever they want to us worldwide.
Just look at the way the zionists, from Jeffrey Epstein to ‘israeli’ ‘president’ Yitzhak Rabin and ammurrican lawyer Alan Dershowitz treated Virginia Giuffre, a blond Australian woman of Italian origin. No better than any Palestinian. They are coming for all of us. It is necessary to stop these monsters before they enslave or kill us all.
“Only fake christian surface level cultist types”
Ah, the no true Scotsman defence.
I only used religions because that was how much of historical population data was coded.
Well, the UN is a clear reflection of the world today. There is no democracy, democracy is an illusion. The entire world is subservient to the USA and Israel is simply doing the USA’s bidding, while the rest of the world buries their heads in the sand knowing that they too will feel the economic or military wrath of the USA if they grumble too much about US-led actions. This is the only reason why we have genocide in the world today and wars aplenty, with much more of this shite to come. In a democratic world, millions of millions of people would be pushing back against their subservient to the US, war-mongering governments. As if. What is befalling Palestine will eventually befall the entire world because the mechanism fueling this catastrophe – global subservience to the big-money captured US government – is only growing in strength.
Well said Ian.
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.’
https://frontline.thehindu.com/interviews/gideon-levy-israel-palestine-ceasefire-hamas-trump-gaza-nehtanyahu/article69297417.ece
Performance, Punishment or Policy: What Would Recognizing Palestine Really Mean?
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-05-28/ty-article/.premium/performance-punishment-or-policy-what-would-recognizing-palestine-really-mean/00000197-165c-de0d-a7f7-b67f167b0000?
https://archive.ph/nBgC2
I haven’t been around for the last 10 years or so, but I’ve been going to Trotter’s blog over the last few weeks. Can anyone tell me what the hell has happened to him? He’s gone totally Zionist, to the point where he ignores any evidence against it.
Someone posted a reference to a letter the other day from BenGurion to his son explaining that they didn’t intend to do abide by the 1948 agreement, but intended to take the whole kit and caboodle, and Trotter says “Notwithstanding the letter, the Jews agreed to the partition and the Arabs didn’t.”
And to cap it off, he is now saying that the pay equity thing is “unaffordable”. And at the same time saying there is no Left left in New Zealand – true enough but does he count himself is still Left I wonder?
Gonna post this in a couple of places since E what sort of answers I get.
I seem to recall that Chris Trotter was a Zionist back in the 1970s, and perhaps always has been. One would hope that he might have learned the meaning of ‘crimes against humanity’ as Ehud Barak has, but apparently not.