Christchurch City becomes the first New Zealand city to sanction Israel
This morning Christchurch City became the first city in New Zealand to sanction Israel after passing a resolution to amend its procurement policy to exclude companies building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.
“We are delighted the council has taken a stand against Israel’s ongoing theft of Palestinian land”, says PSNA National Chair John Minto.
“It has been the failure of western governments to hold Israel to account which means Israel has a 76-year history of oppression and brutal abuse of Palestinians.”
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As the 12-month anniversary of the October 7th attack on Israel approaches, PSNA is appealing to New Zealand mainstream media to stop reporting Israeli war propaganda when it has already been comprehensively debunked.
For example, on TVNZ News tonight, 4 October, the presenter told us that in the October 7th attack “Hamas gunmen killed around 1200 people - mostly civilians”. This is repeating Israeli war propaganda. Even ABC News in Australia has reported on this debunked lie but a full year on TVNZ is happy to keep telling us porkies.
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New Zealand must immediately withdraw from the 2024 US-led RIMPAC military exercises due to take place from June 26th to August 2nd around Hawaii.
Israel is listed as a participating country.
“We are calling on our government to withdraw from the exercise because of Israel’s ongoing industrial-scale slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza” says PSNA National Chair John Minto. “Why would we want to join with a lawless, rogue state which has demonstrated the complete suite of war crimes over the past eight months”
“It’s hard to believe the government hasn’t withdrawn already”.
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31 events across 26 centres across the country this week continue to challenge the government’s weak, “look busy” approach to the eight-month genocide of Palestinians by the settler-colonial state of apartheid Israel.
Links to the events are below. In many cases Palestine solidarity protests are being run in conjunction with environmental activists protesting the fast-track bill.
76 years of massacres, ethnic cleansing, casualised and normalised brutality against the Palestinian people has led to our government excusing the colonial oppressor of Israel while condemning the victims of that oppression, the Palestinians. The government prefers to stand with a racist apartheid state rather than its victims.
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PSNA welcomes the government decision to continue funding UNRWA (United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinians) but we are deeply disappointed the funding will remain unchanged from previous years despite the massive increase in need from Israel’s war on Gaza.
UNRWA is by far the most important and effective organisation as delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
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PSNA is renewing its call for the government to suspend exports of Rakon parts to the US defence industry following yesterday’s Israeli strike on a United Nations School in Gaza which killed at least 14 children and nine women.
The school housed thousands of Palestinian families fleeing Israel’s war on Gaza.
Rakon makes crystal oscillators used in the guidance systems of smart bombs. Their 2005 business plan says the company’s objective was to dominate "the lucrative and expanding guided munitions and military positioning market" within five years.
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Shame on you both.
Israel is conducting genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza and you haven’t opened your mouths demanding it end. Over 8,000 civilians now dead with more than 3,000 children killed but not a single word from either of you to hold Israel to account. This is contemptable.
"More than two million people, with nowhere safe to go, are being denied the essentials for life - food, water, shelter and medical care - while being subjected to relentless bombardment.” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Muttering meaningless comments about respect for international law is a copout when you won’t call out Israeli war crimes. As the UN Secretary General said “This didn’t happen in a vacuum”. Silence in the face of genocide is complicity.
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On his appearance on breakfast television this morning Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has sided with Israeli guns over Palestinian children.
(Last week Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein said “we should side with the child over the gun every single time, no matter whose gun and no matter whose child”)
In his appearance Hipkins once again condemned the killing of Israeli civilians on October 7th.
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Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa is helping co-ordinate nationwide rallies every weekend until the Israel/Gaza war is over.
We have been pleased with the huge numbers turning out across the country in the past three weeks – each week the numbers have doubled.
Aotearoa New Zealand is part of a rapidly growing international movement demanding an end to the killing.
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Another round of nationwide rallies and marches will take place this weekend across Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Israel/Gaza war.
The protests here are part of a rapidly growing global movement calling for a ceasefire and for immediate humanitarian aid to Palestinians caught up in this humanitarian catastrophe.
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We, the undersigned individuals and organisations, appeal to the New Zealand government to call for an immediate ceasefire in the Gaza/Israel war.
We realise there is a transition between governments occurring, but the people of Gaza can’t wait for the help they need.
The situation in Gaza is extremely grave, as approximately 2.3 million Palestinians are facing severe shortages of water, food, electricity, medicine, and essential healthcare services. This crisis has been exacerbated by relentless Israeli attacks that have persisted for more than two weeks and are now intensifying.
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Today the Secretary General of the United Nations called for an immediate ceasefire in the Israel/Gaza war and PSNA says New Zealand must follow suite.
“The Hamas attack [of 7 October] did not happen in a vacuum.
The Palestinian people have been subjected to decades of stifling occupation. They have seen their lands devoured by settlements. Their hopes for a political solution to their plight have faded.” He added: “The attacks of the Palestinian resistance do not justify Israel’s mass killing taking place in Gaza.”
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The government announcement today at the United Nations calling for a “humanitarian pause” in the Israeli war on Gaza are an insipid response to the slaughter of Palestinians civilians in their thousands in Gaza.
“Is it the best New Zealand can do to call for a humanitarian pause in the slaughter of civilians by Israel?” says PSNA National Chair John Minto. “Already over five thousand Palestinian civilians have been killed, more than 2,000 of them children, and the best New Zealand can do is call for a tea break before Israel continues its slaughter?
“New Zealand is bigger and better than this week-kneed response from our political leaders.”
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We realise there is a transition between governments occurring, but the people of Gaza can’t wait for the help we can give.
The death toll for Palestinians in Gaza is now over 3,700 with more than 1,524 children among the dead.
How many more children do you think should die before you call for a ceasefire?
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Prime Minister Chris Hipkins bows to US pressure and does not call for “de-escalation/ceasefire,” an “end to violence/bloodshed” or “restoring calm” in Gaza
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has capitulated to US pressure and did not use any phrase which would “urge calm” in the Gaza/Israel war when he made his announcement of $5 million in humanitarian aid to the war zone (Hipkins statement is copied in full below)
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A cowardly, shameful response to genocide of Palestinians in Gaza
This afternoon’s government announcement of $5 million in humanitarian aid to “Israel, Gaza and the West Bank” is a cowardly, shameful response to Israel’s ongoing genocide of the Palestinian people in Gaza.
The priority for Gaza is not bandages and aspirins – they need loud voices condemning Israeli genocide. They need the bombing and killing to stop.
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PSNA is pleased with the large turnout of Palestinians and Palestinian supporters at rallies around the country today.
The rallies, which began with a minute of silence to remember all the civilians killed in the last week, had two aims:
To condemn 75 years of Israeli war crimes against the Palestinian people
To demand the government speak out against these war crimes. Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has been happy to condemn attacks on Israeli civilians but has been deathly silent on the carnage Israel is once more inflicting on the civilian people of Gaza.
Dunedin (200), Christchurch (500), Auckland (3000) were the largest but gatherings also took place in small centres like Napier, New Plymouth, Hamilton, Palmerston North and New Plymouth.
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Prime Minister Chris Hipkins fell over himself earlier in the week to condemn the Hamas attack on Israel but has shown callous racism in refusing to condemn Israel’s wanton killing of Palestinians civilians in Gaza.
Read on
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*** We apologise to the Palestinian Community for previous wording. This has now been updated***
Nationwide rallies on Saturday to condemn killing of civilians and to demand New Zealand government action to prevent further tragedy
PSNA is holding rallies around the country this Saturday demanding the New Zealand government to act to prevent further killings of civilians.
The start of each rally will include a minute of silence to remember all the civilians who have been killed in the last week.
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