PSNA demands immediate reinstatement of New Zealand funding for UNRWA
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
4 November 2026
Media Release:
PSNA demands immediate reinstatement of New Zealand funding for UNRWA while Palestinians struggle for food, education and healthcare in Gaza
PSNA is outraged that Foreign Minister Winston Peters has reportedly suspended New Zealand funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency at a time when the humanitarian crisis in Gaza is sharply escalating.
Peters appears in a video for the pro-Israel lobby to make the announcement but has not issued any release for the New Zealand public.
“Peters has apparently caved in to pressure from New Zealand’s pro-Israel lobby which has for years run an intensive, sustained disinformation campaign about UNRWA,” says PSNA Spokesperson Rinad Tamimi.
Just a few days ago the United Nations held a briefing on the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In the report of the briefing the UN says:
The briefings examined the immediate humanitarian and human rights consequences of the ongoing crisis in Gaza, one year after the ceasefire entered into force, as well as the escalating violence linked to Israel’s unlawful occupation. Briefers underscored the grave situation in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, warning that “genocide continues in Gaza”, while “crimes against humanity and war crimes” are being committed in the West Bank. They further cautioned that the destruction of truth has become part of the destruction of a people and that Palestinians are being deprived of hope and dreams for the future.
“So, while Israel continues its genocide in Gaza, Peters betrays New Zealand values in the most sick and cynical way.”
“Peters wants the minority votes of the pro-Israel lobby and has gone out of his way to pander to these most racist, reactionary parts of our community,” says Tamimi.
“Peters hopes this will pass unnoticed by New Zealanders at large but he knows it will spread widely within the pro-Israel lobby before most people cast their votes.”
UNRWA is the largest humanitarian organisation for Palestinian refugees and has incomparable expertise and resources to help Palestinians in Gaza. It has frequently been cited by New Zealand Foreign Affairs officials as the most important and crucial aid agency for Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.
“Israel hates it because it holds the key to UN recognition of Palestinian refugees forced out of Palestine in the 1948 Nakba. Israel will play Winston Peters with the most outrageous horror stories about UNRWA, because Peters wants to believe them.”
“Peters is also happy to use the suffering of Palestinians because he believes it will bolster his electoral chances.”
“We want to see the Prime Minister override Peters immediately and reinstate and triple funding to the UNRWA to meet the desperate Palestinian needs,” says Tamimi.
Rinad Tamimi
National Spokesperson
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa