Veteran human rights campaigner and union leader, Mike Treen, is about to join the 2018 international Freedom Flotilla determined to challenge Israel’s 11-year inhumane naval blockade of Gaza later this month.
Yet, sometimes, not very often, just sometimes, a story manages to attract the world’s attention. Videos of cruelty get widespread exposure. Sometimes, even overseas political officials take notice. Such is the case of the plight of the West Bank Bedouin village, Khan al Ahmar, under demolition orders.
Zionism exploits the tragedy of the Holocaust and uses the slur of ‘anti-Semitism’ to discredit all who demand an end to its violations of international humanitarian law.
If, when travelling on the busy modern divided four-lane highway running down the steep hill from Jerusalem, eastward, on your way to Jericho, you were to look out the window on either side , you’d be shocked by the poverty, and wonder , who are these people, why are they so poor, how can anyone live like this.
While Israel and the US would have us believe that the Gaza massacre was simply an unavoidable act of self-defence on Israel’s part, the world knows otherwise, which is why the United States blocked the adoption of a Security Council statement that would have called for an independent probe into the massacre. There is simply too much for them to hide.
Every country, including New Zealand, that supported the original plan to surrender Palestine and its people to the ambitions of Zionist ideology, has a responsibility for their security and the restoration of UN-recognised Palestinian human rights.
Another unarmed Palestinian shot by a heavily armed military that boasts that they know exactly what they are doing. She’s not the first to be killed , not even the first woman, not the first paramedic. Maybe the first woman paramedic to be targeted.
If we cannot bring Israel to respect the most fundamental provisions of international law, then we must part company with our ‘traditional allies’ as they seek to cover for Israel’s lawlessness and inhumanity. New Zealand should reappraise its foreign policy and align itself with humanity rather than unashamed power. Solidarity with BDS would be a shining beacon for united action by all who yearn for a return to sanity, justice and respect for the whole of humanity.
THE TRAGEDY UNFOLDING in Gaza poses the question: How should one deal with a psychopathic state?
So why doesn’t New Zealand summon the Israeli Ambassador? Are we more indifferent to atrocities being committed? Also, as others have pointed out, the Working Holidays Scheme for young Israelis should be stopped.