23 Mahuru 2026
23 September 2026

Thre steps for Palestinian solidarity this week

1) Click here to send a letter of congratulations to Invercargill City Councilors on yesterday’s the decisive vote to stop dealing with companies supporting illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land

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The Mayor and councillors
Invercargill City Council

tom.campbell@icc.govt.nz; grant.dermody@icc.govt.nz; allan.arnold@icc.govt.nz;

ria.bond@icc.govt.nz; trish.boyle@icc.govt.nz; steve.broad@icc.govt.nz; alex.crackett@icc.govt.nz; andrea.devries@icc.govt.nz; darren.ludlow@icc.govt.nz;

marcus.lush@icc.govt.nz; ian.pottinger@icc.govt.nz; barry.stewart@icc.govt.nz;

lisa.toumcnaughton@icc.govt.nz;

Kia ora Mayor and Councillors,

Thank you Invercargill

A warm thank you to the councillors who voted for the council to end procurement of goods or services from companies profiting from illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

The greatest problem in Israel/Palestine is that Israel has never been held to account for its decades of ethnic cleansing, apartheid policies towards Palestinians and war crimes. The motion you passed this week says to Israel and the world that New Zealand believes in international law. It tells Palestinians that we care.

The council will be remembered for taking a stand while the government sits on its hands.

Thank you Invercargill.

(Your name)

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2) Click here to send this message to the Foreign Minister (PLEASE CLICK AND SEND 50 TIMES (or more if you like) SO THE MINISTER GETS THE MESSAGE)

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Rt Hon Winston Peters
Foreign Minister
w.peters@ministers.govt.nz

Kia ora Mr Peters,

A 92-day chance to reflect New Zealand values

It’s been 92 days and you still haven’t responded to the United Nations Independent Commission report on the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel

But here is a chance for you to reflect this country’s values by speaking out in support of the new report from Israeli human rights group B’Tselem “The Elimination Project” which details Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

Please respond urgently.

(your name)

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If you want to, please edit the messages above to better reflect Your thoughts. Or if you are happy with them, please just send them as they are.

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3) Post pictures of Neil Waka and Renata Hakiwai (see later in the newsletter) as apologists for Israeli racism, ethnic cleansing and genocide and a picture of Maui Solomon thanking him for refusing the all-expenses-paid propaganda junket to Israel.

Items in this newsletter

Nationwide rallies/marches/flagwavings this week
Congratulations Invercargill Council
October 10 – International day of action for Palestine
Fly high with Palestine – how to make a kite and fly it for Palestine!
Building a database of intimidation aimed at silencing critics of Israel
Māori delegation come back apologists for racism and genocide
Macklemore and Ed Sheeran
Two letters seen in the papers this week
Important stories this week

Films, books, performances, Palestinian culture

NAZA, an expose on Israel’s use of AI systems in Gaza gets lengthy standing ovation in Venice
“How to sell a genocide” – book review

Regular items

“Sitting on the Fence” documentary now available for general release
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!
Annual Palestinian Solidarity Dates
How to Donate
Palestine Solidarity Groups around Aotearoa

Nationwide rallies/marches/MP protests/vigils this week

(One of the posters for the Global Rally for Palestine on October 10. Facebook event already created.)

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.

Congratulations Invercargill Council!

Invercargill Council stands up for Palestine while the government sits on its hands

PSNA media release 22 September 2026 (online link here)

PSNA is congratulating the Invercargill City Council which this afternoon voted to end procurement of goods or services from companies profiting from illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

Invercargill is the seventh local body to pass similar motions sanctioning Israel. (Christchurch, Nelson and Palmerston City Councils, Environment Canterbury and Environment Southland are the others, while Wellington has banned investment in Israeli government bonds).

“Thank You Invercargill,” says Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa Spokesperson Rinad Tamimi “You represent the best of New Zealand. You have stood up while our government sits on its hands.”

“Palestine will remember your simple but significant stand for Palestinian human rights just as it will remember the complicity of the New Zealand government.”

**Local supporters applauded from the public gallery when the motion was passed. Here they are outside after the vote.**

Today’s motion ends the Council’s purchase of goods or services from companies on a United Nations Human Rights Council list which support illegal Israeli settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Mayor Tom Campbell moved a motion to oppose the Palestine Solidarity motion. But seven councilors in a row spoke against his motion and in favour of sanctioning Israel.

Campbell’s motion was decisively lost and the resolution was voted in as council policy.

“The greatest problem in Israel/Palestine is that Israel has never been held to account for its war crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide being live-streamed from Gaza,” Tamimi says.

“By itself, the Invercargill resolution won’t force Israel to give Palestinians equal rights, but it is an important step for this country to apply BDS (Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions) to Israel as requested by Palestinians civil society.

“PSNA expects more councils to have similar votes in the coming weeks.”

The ICC debate can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/live/S_kxm-2l-4U?si=fO-iHzONHlVeYt3I&t=1217

October 10 – international day of action for Palestine

We have set up this page where details of local protest action around the country will able to be accessed. The link is here and a QR code which takes you directly to the page is here:

Fly high with Palestine

Palestine Solidarity Taranaki have produced an easy, clear guide to making kites for Palestine. Special thanks to Grant Cole of Palestine Solidarity Taranaki. With the weather getting warmer it’s a great activity for children (and adults) to do in solidarity with the children of Gaza. This first page of the guide is the image above. The whole guide is too big to go in the newsletter so you can download it here.

Building a database to record incidents of professional intimidation aimed at silencing critics of Israel

PSNA is seeking to build a database to record incidents of professional intimidation aimed at silencing those who've publicly defended Palestinian rights. This happens when Palestine advocates are identified and targeted via complaints to their workplaces or places of study.

Over the years people from all walks of life and working across various sectors including education (both students and educators), healthcare, law, journalism, politics, the arts and the public service have reported experiencing threats, harassment and slander after advocating for the Palestinian cause. Unfortunately in many places, people have lost their jobs and livelihoods because they spoke up.

Targeted professional complaints against Palestine activists creates a chilling effect both for the targeted individual as well as their colleagues, which prevents free exchange of ideas and limits public debate. This issue is major threat to the democratic values and free speech in New Zealand.

The instances of intimidation, doxxing and threats on those who speak up are part of the history of the Palestinian struggle against a coordinated campaign of genocide.

If you have been subjected to targeted harassment, doxxing or complaints at your workplace or place of study from Zionists aimed at threatening your livelihood or career, please get in touch with PSNA through secretary@psna.nz .

To protect everyone involved, the database will be private. PSNA will seek consent from individuals, if in the future their information is used for the purposes of advocacy or research.

PSNA believes people should be able to participate in public debate, advocate for human rights and criticise war crimes without fear of professional repercussions.

Māori apologists for Israel get all expenses paid trips to Israel and come back spouting Israel’s dehumanizing propaganda against Palestinians

Neil Waka and Renata Hakiwai – apologists for Israeli racism, genocide and ethnic cleansing

Fresh from an all expenses paid junket to Israel – funded by Israel’s Hasbara (propaganda) a group of Māori leaders have heaped praise on Israel while dehumanizing Palestinians

Whakaata Māori (Māori Television) journalist Moana Maniapoto interviewed two of the Māori participants – Neil Waka who went in late 2025 and Renata Hakiwai who has just returned from his trip.

Both men are spouting the most vile racist dehumanization of Palestinians and excuse Israel for the genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the Occupied West Bank. The interviews here are utterly revealing.

They also clearly received media training from their Israeli hosts because they said the same racist lies. Here’s a sample:

I needed to see for myself – it’s impossible to get through the social media algorithms to the truth
I’ve done my own research
Ive spoken to people on the ground
What’s happening in Gaza is not genocide
It all started on October 7th
Hamas are to blame for Israel killing Palestinian women and children
Palestinians need to be contained
Jews are the indigenous people
Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East
We can’t trust the UN
etc

Also interviewed was Maui Solomon who declined to go and was excluded from the group when he insisted on answers to the hard questions he asked. Thank you Maui.

Macklemore and Ed Sheeran

Seen in the Christchurch Press and the Herald this week (and a big thank you to all the letter writers out there!)

Important stories this week

Editor’s picks

The Ulm 5 Trial Dramatizes Germany’s Complicity with Israel’s Genocide in Gaza here
U.S. Makes, Israel Takes: The Real Story of U.S.-Israeli Military Cooperation here
Israel Is Expanding and Upgrading Compounds for Palestinian Militias in Gaza here
Livestream: Settler terror is Israeli state policy here
Don’t be fooled by Britain’s fake support for Palestine here
The case for NZ joining the UK in sanctioning Israel over illegal West Bank settlements here
Labour Party’s foreign policy on Middle East outlined in detail here

Films, books, performances, Palestinian culture:

NAZA, an expose on Israel’s use of AI systems in Gaza gets lengthy standing ovation in Venice

“How to sell a genocide” – Book Review by Don Carson

How to sell a Genocide
Author: Adam H. Johnson

This book has just been swept off the shelves of the Waverly City Library in Sydney by ‘outraged’ and ‘upset’ Zionists.

It’s a supreme irony of any such in-depth and forensic analysis of how the Israeli lobby manipulates and cancels media and politicians. Israeli acolytes treat any exposure of Israeli bias and lobby-cancelling as a recipe to follow.

Their argument goes “it’s so outrageously antisemitic to claim that we conspire to ban books, that we demand any book which states this should be banned,”

It’s not surprising that American journalist Adam H. Johnson struck such a nerve with Sydney information gatekeepers with his recent volume.

He has written an excellent and painstaking quantitative breakdown of the bias of the US media towards Israel, comparable to the Centre for Media Monitoring exposure of the BBC bias against Palestine a year ago.

Johnson concentres his attention on where it matters – the conglomerate media giants such as Fox News and the New York Times. For instance, he documents their standard use of particular expressions, such as ‘massacre’ to describe Palestinian actions, but very rarely to categorise Israeli actions.

These western thought (sic) leaders determine our mainstream news paradigms too.

Not that Johnson has written a dry book. His targeted excoriation is the ‘liberal’ Atlantic magazine, for which “a crucial role in defending and opening up ideological and political space for the genocide in Gaza cannot be overstated.’

Its writers pretend to be academic and open minded, yet slavishly follow the Israeli paradigm. Johnson makes it wry entertaining reading.

How to sell a Genocide is available from Pluto Press.

Regular items

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“Sitting on the Fence” now available online

In Sitting On The Fence, Kiwi voices speaking truth to power in Aotearoa, US and Israel over their complicity in genocide have at last been given the platform that those in Parliament, the media and diplomacy have sought to silence.” Jane Kelsey - Emeritus Professor of Law, Auckland University, Aotearoa / New Zealand

Sitting On The Fence is now available to watch online in New Zealand.

The film can be viewed at this link www.sittingonthefence.tv. Please share on your social media networks.

And from Ilan Pappe…

**Ilan Pappe, Israeli historian / author, Professor at Exeter University UK**

When asked to comment on the kiwi film by Daniel Cleary well-known Israeli historian Ilan Pappe has high praise:

“Albert Einstein said that "The world is a dangerous place, not because of those who do evil, but because of those who look on and do nothing.” This includes those politicians in New Zealand who sat on the fence, and still do, during the most televised genocide in our times. But Sitting On The Fence and some of the brave critics interviewed in it give us hope that complicity is not only exposed but can also be challenged. This film is a tribute to the few who did not remain silent and a harsh indictment of those who will be judged for being on the wrong side of the history of New Zealand and of Palestine. This is not just a film about complicity in New Zealand, but how the silence in New Zealand tragically epitomises that of the world”

You can watch the film here: www.sittingonthefence.tv

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