Recently our attention was drawn to a news article reporting that the regional council, Environment Canterbury (aka Ecan) has been moved to investigate whether its business dealings have any connection to the “illegal” West Bank settlements.
This is our response, which was sent to him yesterday:
Dear Councillor Korako
I am President of the NZ Friends of Israel, a charity that fights racism and prejudice through raising awareness of Jewish culture and history.
I was concerned about your support for the Palestinian cause in an article published in yesterday’s paper “Ecan to investigate links with illegal Israeli settlements” (The Press, February 15, 2024).
This portion in particular caught my eye:
Councillor Tutehounuku Korako, who abstained from the vote, said on seeing the Tino Rangatiratanga flag alongside the Palestinian flag, he had wondered what the connection was.
“It only took me a few seconds, because it talked about loss of land and lots of things Māori have been through.”
And maybe you have seen maps such as this, purporting to show that the Jews have stolen Palestinian land:
In fact, these maps are misleading and completely give the wrong framing of the Middle East conflict. MSNBC made a very public apology for using this map: MSNBC, under pressure, apologizes for showing maps of Palestine (youtube.com)
In fact, the UN in mandating the establishment of Israel recognized that there are TWO indigenous ethnic groups that have legitimate claims on land in the area.
But one side, the Israelis, chose co-existence. The Arabs chose, we want to go to war, winner takes all.
The Arabs lost.
On October 7, the Arabs perpetrated a crime against humanity, raping, mutilating, murdering and burning innocent civilians and laughing gleefully. No journalist who has seen Hamas’ GoPro and phone videos remain unaffected. (54) Sean Plunket discusses graphic imagery of Hamas attacks on Israel – YouTube
Hamas breaks the peace but today Israel is vilified?! Go figure.
There is no doubt this is about indigenous peoples. But it is about two indigenous peoples figuring out how to live in peace. One wants co-existence. The other just wants victory or die trying.
Look for videos and stories of Jews raping, mutilating, setting people on fire, beheading people and laughing exultantly with glee. You won’t find any.
Watch a pro-Palestinian protest in NZ, it will be marked by anger, intimidation and hostility. Often phrases such as “G— the Jews!”, “F— the Jews!”, and “K— the Jews!” can be repeatedly heard. 1930s Germany all over again. The Māori Battalion fought and sacrificed to stop this kind of stuff.
Watch a pro-Israel march and it is marked by candles, hymns and quiet prayers. No one is calling for more deaths.
Today, public opinion is being swayed by the plight of Gazan civilians, but there are more than 600km of tunnels in Gaza. What percentage of Gazan streets have no tunnels under them? Very few.
Hamas has turned homes into battlefield cover, civilians into shields and UN agencies into extensions of their own organisations.
Don’t be swept along by high feeling. In this chaotic upside-down world, cool heads are needed.
Please reserve your opinion until you have had a chance to review the facts from both sides.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me. But you don’t have to. None of the above happened under a rock. History books abound.
Haere ra
Tony
President
You may download our letter from here: https://www.nzfoi.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/02/Letter-to-Councillor-Korako-ECAN.pdf
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