Israeli minister would embarrass NZ government with an official ‘thank you’ visit
PSNA says a proposed ‘thank you visit’ by Israel’s deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel would be embarrassing for the New Zealand government and expose it as a collaborator with Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa Co chair, John Minto says he expects the New Zealand government will find some excuse to avoid having Haskel in New Zealand.
Haskel, in an interview with genocide denier Sean Plunket on his radio show The Platform last month said she’d like to visit New Zealand in October saying “We want to thank the New Zealand government for its support over the last two years.”
Minto says the last thing Winston Peters would want the public of New Zealand to hear, is a high-level representative of the State of Israel coming here to praise him for his support for genocide and ethnic cleansing.
“Not because the praise would be false, but because it would be true.”
“For two years now, our government has bucked public opinion, and it’s refused to sanction Israel, or take any measures to hold Israel to account, for its mass bombing and starvation of Palestinians in Gaza.”
“Instead, Winston Peters has provided political cover to genocide and ethnic cleansing, by amplifying Israeli propaganda and dismissing the desperate appeals from Palestinians, the United Nations and a whole range of international human rights groups.”
“The damage to this country’s standing in the international community is incalculable.”
“His predecessor National led government, of John Key, rebuked Israel for far less serious infractions of international law in 2010 and 2014.”
“Over previous decades, New Zealand would have spoken out strongly and taken a principled position. But now we have become the unprincipled runt among countries we like to compare ourselves with, and tried to make it all go away with the public by saying the issue is too complicated or we need more facts.”
“With our reputation goes our potential trading opportunities among the vast majority of countries in the world who recognise Palestine and stand with the Palestinians.”
Haskel’s proposed visit would be added to her tour to Fiji and Papua New Guinea both of which voted with a Pasifika bloc last year. to join with Israel and the US at the United Nations, against a ruling by the International Court of Justice.
Minto points to the fact that Fiji opened its new embassy in Jerusalem last week.
“This is an extremely partisan and hostile act. Fiji and PNG have joined only four other countries in the entire world to locate in Jerusalem to try to legitimise the illegal occupation of East Jerusalem.”
“It looks like Israel’s minister will still bully her way into Fiji and PNG, but my pick will be that Winston Peters will be too busy when Haskel plans to gatecrash the Beehive.”
“It’s a shame. We’d be delighted to deliver a very strong demonstration to confront the representative of the worst atrocity of the 21st Century.”
John Minto
Co-Chair PSNA
Could have stood with the UK, Australia, France and Canada. Instead we get to be part of Haskel’s tour of Fiji and Papua New Guinea. Yeeee-haw!
Is this about a Miss Universe goodwill tour?
If such a visit takes place I propose a Whakapohane Greeting with a twenty one bum salute.
Is you bum going to be one of the twenty-one bums Shadrach
The NZ govt did this tactic with UNDRIP not initially getting involved when our 5 eyes partners signed up to it however these particular recognitions of a Palestinian state have a more righteous urgency remember Winston has always been an ardent supporter of the apartheid state and his current policies are in line with Trump MAGA which subscribes to the Heritage Foundation Project 2025 promoting White Nationalism it would be interesting to see which way this clown votes
https://static.heritage.org/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf
Israel’s deputy Foreign Minister’s ‘Thank You Visit’ seems a bit previous. Maybe she knows more than we do about what our Foreign Minister is going to say at the UN
I mean, Winston meets with ‘israeli’ ‘government’ representatives on the regular anyway. May 2024 he had meetings listed with their agents on the 1st, the 9th, and the 22nd.
Mohammed have you got more details than this.
We know he met with Juliet Moses last year.
Yeah, that was the 9th. The 22nd was him meeting with the so-called ‘Iranian Solidarity Group’, which is one lunatic, Morteza Sharifi, who believes that the Iranian people are going to rise up and call for the degenerate son of the last Shah of Iran to rule over them as a dictator… any… day… now. He’s funded by the Israel Institute NZ and has had a lot of the genocide supporters from that organization, including Juliet Moses and David Cumin, on his 371 subscriber YouTube show.
Even the despicable Sheree Trotter, who the genocide lobby here pay to be their fake Maori voice in favour of murdering every last Palestinian.
My pick for Palestine recognition
…this godawful govt won’t have a bar of it
Russia Shocks the World, Warns U.S. & Israel LIVE at UN !
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUnJRRAb4Xk
How was the Holocaust made possible? Now we know.
It was normalised
“We thank the NZ Government for having no balls”
The NZ Govt, whether it be under National or Labour, is part of the problem, not the solution. The PSNA is wrong, is misguided, is leading the people up the friggin wrong path. Stop appealing to the problem, start fighting the problem!!!
Tell us about your efforts AO. Where is your credibility in criticising PSNA?
The New Zealand government’s stolid refusal to allow the New Zealand public any prior insight into its position on recognition of a Palestinian state brings into stark relief a central feature of the colonialist regime which is that not only does it preclude public participation in decision making, it goes so far as to keep its decision making processes completely hidden from the public. Generally speaking wherever possible government decisions remain secret. A recent example was the secret government decision to allow a branch of the US FBI to be set up in New Zealand for the purpose of conducting surveillance activities within New Zealand which would be illegal if conducted by domestic security agencies such as the Police, SIS or GCSB. We would still have no knowledge of the existence of the clandestine FBI New Zealand office if it was not for the sharp observations of an RNZ reporter just a couple of days into the job. Sadly, that scoop will have done nothing for his career prospects.
While the left may challenge government decisions after the fact, rarely does it point out that the process of colonialist government itself is intrinsically secretive, despotic and anti-democratic.
Rangatiratanga gives full agency to the people and makes them central to the process of decision making. Therefore rather than wasting energy on futile protests against the policies that emerge from the political machinery of colonialism, we should be focusing on the need to completely eliminate the colonialist system and fully restore rangatiratanga.
The Realm of New Zealand supports the Gaza genocide because it is a colonialist construct and therefore it can do no other. It is that simple, and the solution is that simple: the Realm must go.