PSNA Newsletter No 245 - 17 June 2026
17 Pipiri 2026
17 June 2026
Newsletter No 245
One thing to do now with a click – send this message to PM Luxon – get out of RIMPAC!
Please Click here to send this letter to Prime Minister Christopher Luxon
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Rt Hon Christopher Luxon
Prime Minister
c.luxon@ministers.govt.nz
Kia ora Mr Luxon,
Israel and the US at RIMPAC brings disgrace to our supposed support for international law
New Zealand’s armed forces are once more due to take part in RIMPAC alongside IDF soldiers from the genocidal, apartheid state of Israel.
There is a jaw-dropping contradiction between New Zealand’s supposed support for international law and international institutions like the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court and taking part in military drills with countries like the US and Israel.
These countries launched a massive military strike on Iran earlier this year which breached international law and the United Nations Charter. Israel is on trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice and arrest warrants have been issued by the International Criminal Court against the Israeli Prime Minister and former Minister of Defence. The arrest warrants cite war crimes and crimes against humanity involved with the mass killing and starvation of the people of Gaza.
It is unconscionable that we should take part in military training with these countries.
We urge you, even at this late stage, to withdraw New Zealand from this collaboration with genocide.
(your name)
Items in this newsletter
New Items
Nationwide rallies/marches/flagwavings this week
Disrupting the narratives on the West Asian war
Two more things you can do with a single click each…
PSNA takes police failure to prosecute tyre-slasher to the IPCA
Palantir worms its way into New Zealand’s deep state
Asra: Stories of Palestinian prisoners
It’s still about Palestine – Boycott Israel
Global Sumud Flotilla submits accounts of Israeli abduction, torture and sexual violence against the flotilla participants
Help fund free swimming lessons for children in Gaza
Janfrie Wakim looks back on Israeli apartheid soccer protests from the 1980s
For Life – new Palestinian film screening in Auckland and Wellington
The Voice of Hind Rajab – new film in the NZ International Film Festival
Stolen Palestinian land listed on Booking.com
Police pay $10,000 in compensation to PSNA Campaign Co-ordinator John Minto
Important stories this week
Regular items
Your KiwiSaver may be funding violations of Palestinian rights
Join the ICC Six watch
MPs Complicit with Genocide
Keep spreading the message about the Genocide Hotline!
Nationwide rallies/marches/MP protests/vigils this week
To view events around Aotearoa:
We have an events page on our website as well as a Facebook events page
PSNA Website events page:
You can find it here – www.PSNA.nz/Events
The QR code for the PSNA website events page is this:
It is updated on Wednesday afternoon and ongoing as events are notified to us. Please check back on Friday afternoon to see if there has been Additions or Changes.
Or go to the PSNA Homepage – www.PSNA.nz. Scroll down to the button “For a list of events Nationwide, please click here - Check back often for updates”. Click the button. Check back on Friday for any moves, adds or changes
PSNA Facebook events page
Go to the PSNA Facebook events page here
There are more than 30 events around the Motu this week.
There are more than 30 events around the Motu this week.
Disrupting the narratives on the West Asian war
PSNA takes police failure to prosecute tyre-slasher to the IPCA
The media release reprinted here is on our website here
The pro-Israel Auckland businessman James Goren stands beside his car before he goes tyre-slashing.
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa yesterday complained to the Independent Police Conduct Authority, (IPCA).
PSNA has requested the agency investigate a second police decision not to prosecute a pro-Israeli supporter for slashing two tyres on a Palestine supporter’s car in Raglan in mid-April.
The Police Commissioner Richard Chambers last week agreed to have police look at an initial decision, according to PSNA spokesperson Rinad Tamimi.
“But yesterday’s response, was that the police were sticking to their original decision not to prosecute the Auckland businessman, despite the man admitting he did slash the tyres.”
“All that was going to happen, was that he would appear before a local diversion committee. This for an act that could have easily led to the driver having an accident with tragic consequences.”
“We are shocked at this. If the situation were reversed, and a pro-Israel supporter had their tyres slashed, the police, the news media and politicians would all be in a frenzy claiming it as a violent, antisemitic attack which endangered Jewish lives.”
“The police pattern we see is to quickly prosecute Palestine protesters, but a great reluctance to prosecute the increasing frequent angry Israel supporters, or when they do, to under-resource the prosecution case.”
Tamimi said the double standard was exemplified by the case of five Palestine supporters charged by police for wilful damage last year.
“They were putting small stickers on the window of a central city business. It was the mildest of gestures against a genocide. But here an Israeli supporter slashes tyres and gets a free pass”
“We have been deeply concerned about the obvious pro-Israeli, anti-Palestinian bias at some, though fortunately not all, police levels,” Tamimi says.
“We met with senior police in Wellington earlier this year to get police to take this seriously and they assured us there was no bias”
“Now they tell us it is ‘not in the public interest’ to charge the tyre slasher. That doesn’t make sense because the price of that decision is to undermine public confidence in the police to do their job without fear or favour.”
Palantir worms its way into New Zealand’s deep state
In the wake of PSNA’s important High Court win against NZ Superfund, Anti-War Aotearoa have taken up the Superfund’s investments in Palantir – a company producing military targeting software to help Israeli attacks in Gaza, Lebanon, Iran and Syria etc
Our GCSB (Government Communications Security Bureau) uses Palantir software for interoperability with the other five eyes countries.
You can read their media release and letter to the Superfund here
Asra – Stories of Palestinian Prisoners
The plight of Palestinian prisoners has never felt more urgent. Today, more than 10,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, including hundreds of children, with thousands detained without charge or trial. In recent months, the world has witnessed escalating abuses, a death penalty introduced, and those released from Israeli prisons continue to share harrowing accounts of torture, starvation and dehumanisation.
As activists, we often speak about the numbers. As theatre-makers, our role is different.
Asra – Stories of Palestinian Prisoners brings audiences face to face with the people behind those statistics through the prisoners’ own words. A woman who tore up her dress to make a bed for a stray cat in solitary confinement. A child who found a thousand mothers after being released into an unfamiliar village. A man who translated stories and secretly passed them between prisoners so they could imagine life beyond the prison walls.
Created by Harakat Productions and Sumud Ensemble, directed by Palestinian theatre-maker Dr. Rand Hazou, Asra is a documentary theatre work using verbatim testimony, puppetry and live music to honour the resilience, creativity and humanity of Palestinian prisoners.
After a powerful 2024 season at Basement Theatre, we’re raising funds to redevelop the production for touring, so these stories can reach theatres, schools, marae, festivals and community spaces across Aotearoa.
If you believe these voices deserve to be heard, we’d be deeply grateful for your support
It’s still about Palestine – Boycott Israel
PSNA’s latest leaflet delivers a strong message focusing on our latest petition and steps we can all take to force the government to back Palestine and call our accountability for Israel. If you’d like some leaflets for yourself or your local group email campaigns@PSNA.nz
This is the latest PSNA leaflet – hot off the press. If you would like some, free of charge, to leaflet your neighbourhood or hand out at flag waving then email campaigns@PSNA.nz
Global Sumud Flotilla submits accounts of Israeli abduction, torture and sexual violence against the flotilla participants
Aotearoa New Zealand’s Julie Webb-Pullman (fourth from the right with the flotilla reps at the International Criminal Court where the evidence was presented
Two weeks ago, a delegation from Global Sumud Flotilla submitted an official communication to the International Criminal Court (ICC) accusing Israeli military commanders and top political leaders of committing war crimes, crimes against humanity, torture and conduct relevant to the execution of the crime of genocide related to the violent interceptions of our vessels.
By submitting accounts of documented war crimes and crimes against humanity to the ICC, GSF aims to challenge the systemic impunity of the Israeli regime.
GSF continues to demand independent international investigations, comprehensive arms embargoes, reparations for victims, and swift accountability for the individuals who ordered, conducted, and facilitated these attacks. GSF calls on all States Parties to the Rome Statute to refer the situation to the Court immediately and calls on the international legal community to pursue legal actions against this genocidal regime.
Help fund free swimming lessons for children in Gaza
Amjed Tantish has an enormously ambitious plan to help 10,000 children in Gaza learn to swim. Many of these children are orphans, have lost a limb or have other terrible injuries. The sea in Gaza is beautiful where children can get away from the devastation.
$100 will get 10 swimming lessons for a child and will help feed the families of the teacher and support staff.
If you can help details are here: Fund free swimming lessons in Gaza
Janfrie Wakim looks back on Israeli apartheid soccer protests from the 1980s
1988 at Eden Park where New Zealand played Israel. Some got inside with a banner which stated in Arabic ‘Our hearts are with the Palestinian people. Apparently, it was broadcast live on TV to Israel. (Police bundled off protestors but didn’t confiscate the banner)
Eden Park 1988 again
For Life – new Palestinian film screening in Auckland and Wellington
THE FILM
Hind is a Palestinian woman whose husband is serving a life sentence in an Israeli prison. The state has tried to rob her of her right to motherhood — but she refuses to accept that.
Determined and defiant, she finds a way to smuggle his sperm across one of the most surveilled borders in the world and begins IVF treatment — refusing with every cell of her body to let occupation be the end of her story.
For Life is a film about love under confinement, about a woman's body as contested territory, and about the most primal human longing: to create life as an act of resistance.
This is not just another Palestinian story. It is a story about what states take from women when they control their bodies, their borders, and their futures.
The Voice of Hind Rajab – new film will be at NZ International Film Festival later this year
In The Voice of Hind Rajab, the voice in question is a small one, belonging to a young girl alone and in unconscionable peril, high and breathless with fear and confusion. But it cuts through Kaouther Ben Hania’s film with piercing clarity, largely because, in contrast to a surrounding chorus of frantic adult voices, it isn’t performed. Rather, it’s a real-life recording of the last words ever spoken by Rajab, a 5-year-old Palestinian child killed on Jan. 29, 2024, after her family’s car was shelled by Israeli forces during their invasion of the Gaza Strip. In her final hours, the girl repeatedly phoned call-center volunteers at the Palestine Red Crescent Society, pleading for a rescue vehicle that never made it to her.
Making that horrifying 70-minute audio file the heart and spine of her film, Ben Hania baldly confronts her audience with the real-time fate of one of more than 18,000 children killed so far in an ongoing genocide.
If The Voice of Hind Rajab opens one hitherto blinkered eye, or ear, to the atrocities in Gaza, it will have done its job. - Guy Lodge, Variety
Stolen Palestinian land listed on Booking.com
A Palestinian landowner just found out his stolen land is listed on Booking.com for $170 a night.
The Dutch government — where Booking.com is headquartered — wants to pass a bill to stop it — but only if enough of us make sure the new bill includes services like Booking.com.
Booking.com: Stop listing stolen Palestinian land. Sign the petition here
Police pay $10,000 in compensation to PSNA Campaign Co-ordinator John Minto
PSNA media release 17 June
The non-confidential payout received this week follows negotiations after last year’s IPCA (Independent Police Conduct Authority) report finding that police use of pepper spray against Mr Minto at a protest on 6 February 2024 was “excessive use of force and therefore unjustified”.
The Authority also found that Minto’s “arrest for obstruction was unlawful” and “that the force used against you and your arrest were both unlawful”.
“I’m pleased this issue is now resolved but disturbed that even after the IPCA report the police have not accepted responsibility for what in this instance was thuggish behaviour” says Minto.
“The police say they don’t accept the IPCA report findings and conceded only that they didn’t provide “aftercare” following their gratuitous use of pepper spray on several people in the protest”
“I’m writing to the Police Minister to ask for legislative change so IPCA findings become legally binding on police”
The $10,000 will be donated to PSNA to advocate for a one-state solution to Israel’s hundred-years of land theft, dispossession and colonial violence against the Palestinian people.
Under a one-state solution everyone living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea would have equal rights under a democratic constitution where ethnic and religious rights are protected. (Note: Israel has made a two-state solution impossible by building hundreds of illegal Israeli settlements housing more than 700,000 Israelis across the occupied Palestinian Territories)
Important stories this week
Editor’s picks
‘Erasing Anything Palestinian’: Amnesty Details Ethnic Cleansing of Bedouin Villages here
They’re saying the attack on Iran was ‘proportional’ – here are the stats: You decide here
Israel’s rampant ethnic cleansing of West Bank Palestinian communities here
Other stories
Congress is pushing to integrate the Israeli and U.S. militaries on behalf of Netanyahu here
‘Launch Platforms Ready’: Iran Signals Imminent Response after Beirut Strike here
Eugene Doyle: Why I’ll be marching for global peace on June 20 here
Doctor Israel banned after 40 years in Gaza’s hospitals speaks out here
Caitlin Johnstone: The world’s first trillionaire is not your friend here
Trump’s World Cup — no sportwashing, a platform for supporting peoples’ struggles here
Mark Naglazas: Blaming immigrants when we need to look inside for our heart of darkness here
Civil Records for Hundreds of Thousands of Lebanese Could Be Wiped Out By Israel’s Total War here
Israel – the most despised country in the world – for good reason here
Regular items
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Your KiwiSaver may be funding violations of Palestinian rights
Important message from Barry Coates – founder and CEO of Mindful Money
(Website: mindfulmoney.nz. Join our mailing list here)
The judgement won by PSNA forcing the NZ Super Fund to review its investments in four companies that violate the rights of Palestinian people was important. It also sends a warning across the bow of KiwiSaver and other investment funds funds. You may not realise it, but your KiwiSaver might be invested in those four companies.
Mindful Money is a charity that tracks investment in KiwiSaver, including companies on the United Nations Human Rights Council database of companies involved in the building and maintenance of illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. Our analysis shows there is even more invested in the four companies by KiwiSaver funds than by the NZ Super Fund.
So what can you do? Check your fund – it is free, quick and easy to do so. Go to www.mindfulmoney.nz, type in the name of your KiwiSaver fund into the Fund Checker, click the button ‘Show Companies’ and look for the companies with an OPT symbol. If you see any of those companies in your fund, write to your fund manager (the address is on your KiwiSaver statement) and tell them you don’t want your savings going to those companies.
If you want to shift to a fund that doesn’t invest in those companies, use the Fund Finder to find a Mindful Ethical Fund. You can also use the same website for non-KiwiSaver managed funds.
It’s your money. Don’t let it be used to fund companies that violate human rights.
Join the ICC Six Watch
Share the poster on social media – keep alert – email ICC6@PSNA.nz if you find where any of these six genocide deniers are due to show up.
Keep spreading the message about the Genocide Hotline!
Remember possible action for local groups
For groups affiliated to PSNA we suggest the following actions could be taken at any time in support of this campaign
Asking your local backpacker accommodation to display the poster and draw it to the attention of any Israeli soldiers here on “rest and recreation” from the genocide.
Pasting the hotline poster (use the version in this newsletter which includes a contact email) around the vicinity of backpacker venues in your local area. This is already happening in some areas.
Hand out flyers to people in the vicinity of your local backpackers
Contact us on the hotline if you come across Israeli soldiers
Merchandise for sale - please check with your local branch and/or contact us Merchandise@PSNA.nz
Recent new material – leaflets and stickers are free the bucket hats and caps are $25
If your local branch does not have what you are after we are ready to mail to you any of our t-shirts, long ($35) and short ($30) sleeved, hoodies ($45) bumper stickers ($3), Tino/Palestine pins ($3) flags large & medium ($10 or $7) and other items plus postage.
The watermelon and the fist stickers will be back in stock early next week.
See more on the PSNA website here.
Reminder: Annual Dates for Palestine Solidarity
28 Mar – 4 Apr Israel Apartheid Week
30 Mar Land Day Palestine
5 Apr Palestinian Childs Day
9 Apr Deir Yassin massacre - Irgun Terrorism - 107-120 Palestinian men, women and children massacred
17 Apr Palestinian Prisoners Day
11 May World Kufiya Day
15 May Nakba Day – marking the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine in 1948
5 Jun Nakba Day - Start of 1967 War - Land Grab – Invasion of Jerusalem, West Bank, Gaza, Egypt and Syria - 5 June 1967 – 10 June 1967
20 Jun Attack on Gaza - 6–21 May 2021 (2 weeks and 1 day)
16-18 Sep 40th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacres
28 Sep Second Intifada - 28 Sept 2000 – 8 Feb 2005
2 Nov Balfour Declaration
29 Nov United Nations - International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
8 Dec "First Intifada - 8 Dec 1987 – 13 Sept 1993
Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign?
We will need some serious money to make our campaign as effective as possible. For example, we will need somewhere in the vicinity of $25,000 to bring speakers to New Zealand over the next year and organise large public meetings to help spread the message.
You can help. Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign? In other words, can you afford to make an automatic payment of $5 per month to support the Palestinian struggle? (If you can afford more that would be great!)
Our account details are:
Account name: Palestine Solidarity Network
Account number: 38-9015-0849542-00
We are happy to provide a receipt upon request (however, we are not a registered charity so this is not tax-deductible)
Nationwide Rally list
To view events around Aotearoa:
Go to the PSNA Homepage – www.PSNA.nz. Scroll down to the button “For a list of events Nationwide, please click here - Check back often for updates”. Click the button. Check back on Friday for any moves, adds or changes
Or events are on the PSNA Facebook events page here
Or Scroll down to the bottom of this Newsletter for the detailed list of events for this week.
We have added a page to the PSNA website where we now post the Events list. You can find it here – www.PSNA.nz/Events
The QR code for this is:
It is updated on Wednesday afternoon and ongoing as events are notified to us. Please check back on Friday afternoon to see if there has been Additions or Changes.
More ways you can get involved
Forward this Newsletter – If you know people who may be interested in this movement, please forward this Newsletter to them.
Join in local activities in your area - Contact Secretary@PSNA.nz if you would like to know where and how to get Flags and Banners
Help set up a Students for Justice in Palestine groups on your campus
Tell Your MP your opinions on Divestment and Sanctions of Israel.
Write Letters to Newspapers – Call Talkback Radio
Keep in touch with the campaign on social media
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network website: https://www.PSNA.nz
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/671376706283605/
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network email: Secretary@PSNA.nz
The Palestine Human Rights Campaign produces the In Occupied Palestine newsletter. It is a regular daily newsletter on the daily situation in Palestine, compiled by Leslie Bravery and emailed to subscribers. If you would also like to become a subscriber, please contact Leslie at “lesliebravery @ icloud .com” (remove the spaces to use as an email address) for further information.
Keep Updated on our Facebook pages and websites (listed below)
Human rights for Uyghur refugees - In line with our support for human rights for the people of Palestine we have added our name to the petition in support of human rights for Uyghur refugees so they can be included in the government’s refugee quota. PSNA members who wish to also sign this petition can do so here - https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/open-letter-let-s-show-compassion-to-the-uyghur-community
PSNA Groups
National Committee
Website www.PSNA.nz
National Chair – Ben Vorderegger Chair@PSNA.nz
National Spokesperson - Rinad Tamimi Spokesperson@PSNA.nz
National Secretary – Anne Hare Secretary@PSNA.nz
National Campaign Coordinator - John Minto Campaigns@PSNA.nz
National Admin - Neil Scott Admin@PSNA.nz
Regional Groups
Bay of Islands PSN Bay of Islands Facebook
Whangarei PSN Whangarei Facebook
Warkworth PSN Warkworth email
Auckland PSN Auckland – Tamaki Makaurau Website
Waiheke Island Stand with Palestine Waiheke email
Thames Voices for Palestine - Hauraki Facebook
Hamilton Palestine Human Rights Campaign Waikato Facebook
Hamilton Palestine Awareness Waikato Facebook
Raglan PSN Raglan email
Cambridge PSN Cambridge email
Tauranga Tauranga Moana 4 Palestine Facebook
Whakatane Whakatāne Mō Palestine email
Rotorua PSN Rotorua email
Gisborne PSN Gisborne email
Napier/Hastings Aotearoa Standing with Palestine Facebook
Hawkes Bay PSN-Hawkes Bay – Page
PSN-Hawkes Bay - Group Facebook
Palmerston North PSN Palmerston North email
New Plymouth PSN Taranaki Facebook
Whanganui Whanganui@PSNA.nz email
Masterton masterton@psna.nz email
Martinborough PSN Martinborough email
Wellington PSN Wellington email
Nelson Te Tau Ihu (Nelson) Palestine Facebook
Marlborough PSN Marlborough email
Greymouth PSN Greymouth email
Christchurch PSN Christchurch Facebook
Timaru PSN Timaru email
Wanaka PSN Wanaka email
Queenstown PSN Queenstown
PSN Queenstown Email
Dunedin Dunedin for Justice in Palestine Facebook
Invercargill Invercargill Stands with Palestine