NZs shameful abstention against Palestinian human rights

A disgusting abstention to gain justice for Palestine occurred last week, but no one in the NZ Mainstream Media bothered covering the vote…

Rob Berg, President of the Zionist Federation of New Zealand, added: “The outcome of the UNGA vote was as predictable as night following day. The UN has become a bastion of anti Israel fervour and institutional antisemitism. The resolution once again tries to eradicate any connection of the Jewish people to Jerusalem and the land of Israel. It will not bring the conflict any closer to resolution which will only be achieved by both parties sitting down together to negotiate a final agreement. In fact all this does is make the Palestinians less likely to negotiate as they have no incentive to do so as long as the UN continues with its anti-Israel agenda.

 

…this after the provocation of the newly elected far right fascist Itamar Ben-Gvir…

Israel far-right minister enters Al-Aqsa in ‘provocation’

Palestinians and several Arab countries condemn Itamar Ben-Gvir’s visit, which they fear is aimed at changing the holy site’s status quo.

…Israel’s new far right Government are Zionist Fascists who have been ratcheting up more extreme violence against Palestinians and the threat of a new intifada is brewing…

Speculation that Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories are on the brink of a third intifada, or Palestinian uprising, surfaces whenever there is a rise in violence in the decades-long conflict. Unfortunately, the convergence of several different elements means that this grim possibility is more likely in 2023 than ever before.

According to the UN, this year has been the deadliest for Palestinians living in Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank since the organisation started counting fatalities in the territories in 2005, with 140 Palestinians killed.

Most have died in an Israeli campaign of near-nightly raids, which began in March and shows no sign of slowing down or stopping. The bloodshed is galvanising a new generation of Palestinian fighters who are too young to remember the peace process of the 1990s.

A surprise three-day aerial offensive on the blockaded Gaza Strip this summer killed another 49 Palestinians, and Palestinian terrorist attacks have killed 30 Israelis – the highest number since 2008.

Other developments this year that hark back to the violence of the 2000-2005 intifada include Israel’s return to targeted assassinations in the West Bank, the use of sieges on Palestinian neighbourhoods and entire cities, and the first bus bombings in Jerusalem in years.

On the political front there is also a marked deterioration of affairs. The elderly Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, is in ill health, and his death is expected to further destabilise an already combustible situation.

In Israel in November, the most rightwing coalition in history won national elections: many soon-to-be cabinet ministers in Benjamin Netanyahu’s incoming government are bent on expanding illegal Israeli settlements in the West Bank, loosening the rules of engagement for the Israeli police and army, and provoking the Palestinians by expanding the Jewish presence on Jerusalem’s sacred Temple Mount.

With a weak and divided opposition in the Knesset, there is little to stop them.

…at some point this extreme Israeli Government are going to cause human rights abuses that the NZ Government won’t be able to ignore.

Our abstention is a disgraceful stain on our honour.

 

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