Open Letter to Winston Peters – Kia Ora Gaza
We call on the NZ Government to urgently demand the Israeli authorities end the inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip, and allow the 2018 Freedom Flotilla to Gaza safe and unhindered passage to their destination – the port of Gaza.
Kia Ora Gaza has sent a letter to our NZ Foreign Minister, Rt Hon Winston Peters, on 5 July and again today 23 July, asking him to demand that Israel end the 11-year inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip and the allow ‘safe and unhindered passage’ for the four-boat Freedom Flotilla currently heading for the besieged port of Gaza.
NZ veteran human rights defender and union leader, Mike Treen is on board the flotilla, which departed Sicily for Gaza yesterday, as our NZ civil society representative on this international humanitarian mission to challenge Israel’s illegal blockade of the two million Palestinians confined in the Gaza Strip. News on the flotilla’s progress can be viewed on our website: www.kiaoragaza.net and the flotilla website: https://jfp.freedomflotilla.org/
Attached below is a copy of our second letter, sent today to Foreign Minister, Winston Peters:
—
Rt Hon Winston Peters,
Minister of Foreign Affairs,
NZ Parliament.
cc: Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern
Dear Mr Peters,
Re: Safe and unhindered passage for the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla to Gaza
In reply to our email to you (dated 5 July 2018) we received an acknowledgement from your office on 13 July 2018 (attached below), that indicated that we would receive a response ‘in due course’.
However we have yet to receive such a response, and yesterday the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla departed Sicily and is now heading across the Mediterranean to Gaza.
Our New Zealand representative Mike Treen is on board with a number of other prominent human rights advocates from around the world.
The flotilla also carries a quantity of urgently needed medical supplies to be gifted to Gaza’s over-stretched health services, and the boats will be gifted to Gaza’s fishers.
Like previous similar humanitarian missions, this flotilla poses no threat whatsoever to Israel.
However, in light of Israel’s unwarranted and illegal interception and seizure of previous Gaza-bound civilian boats in international waters, with this open letter, we once again call on the NZ Government to urgently demand the Israeli authorities end their inhumane blockade of the Gaza Strip and allow the 2018 Freedom Flotilla safe and unhindered passage to their destination – the port of Gaza.
We look forward to your prompt response.
Yours sincerely,
Roger Fowler QSM,
Chair,
Kia Ora Gaza Trust.
Question is, will this govt do the right thing, as we did in the past over the Springbok tour and French nuke testing? I wait with bated breath.
This is where NZ ” punches above its weight”!!
come on Winston, you can do it
We hear self-righteous comments from the American military about freedom of passage by sea in this part of the world. But silence about freedom of the seas in the Eastern Mediterranean. The flotilla boats are small, the passengers are humanitarian, the cargo are GAUZES and SUTURES , the mission is peaceful.
yes, Mr Peters..speak out especially as one of the participants is a Kiwi.
As for the Americans, Israel gets away with whatever it does because it has the US’s subservient approval. Some of the crew and passengers are American. The US should not let Israel bully American peace people. (One of the passengers is ex-US Navy, survival of the 1967 murderous Israeli bombardment of the USS Liberty! )
Winston has had his visit and expectations set for his office.
He may hold out for a larger offer of incentive to modify his public speak about Palestine and Israel.
If incentives don’t work then threats are routine. He has family so is not bullet proof.
Israel and corruption are synonymous. Who runs the parasitic banking system, most of MSM, US and NATO military industrial cabal.
Be careful Winston but if you are for NZ First then be brave.