Not all Māori agree with Rawiri and Debbie’s demands for Israeli ambassador to be sent packing
The comforting news from the government today is that there is none. The inhabitants of the Beehive have posted no new announcements on the government’s official website since the PM last week announced New Zealand is providing $5 million humanitarian support to Israel and Gaza.
The further comforting news is that the government presumably has not yet responded to the demand from Māori Party co-leaders Rawiri Waititi and Debbie Ngarewa-Packer to expel the Israeli ambassador if Israel does not immediately implement a ceasefire and open safe humanitarian aid corridors for Gaza.
The Māori Party leaders laced their press statement with the unproven claims of Hamas propagandists:
“We condemn Hamas for murdering civilians and taking civilian hostages. We also condemn the retaliatory actions of the Israeli government. The indiscriminate bombing of Gaza by, destroying hospitals and civilian apartment buildings, is unconscionable,” said Rawiri Waititi.
The press statement also brought indigeneity and the jargon of Far Left ideologues into the co-leaders’ fulminations.
“Western countries are wilfully in denial about the long term aggression by Israel against Palestine. They have instituted an apartheid regime and have blockaded Gaza by land, air and sea,” said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
“The genocidal rhetoric of Israeli ministers and officials is well documented. Their attempts to dehumanise the indigenous peoples of Palestine must be resisted.
“Israel’s colonial occupation of Palestinian lands, engineered by the British Empire, has led to decades of pain, suffering and bloodshed. The international community must exert pressure to end the occupation, the blockade, and the continued confiscation of Palestinian land.
“We must acknowledge the atrocity of colonisation and the intergenerational trauma and extremism it produces. We must continue to fight for peace and justice for all indigenous peoples who continue to suffer from violent colonisation and imperialism,” said Mrs Ngarewa-Packer.
The mainstream media have dutifully reported at least some of those thoughts from the Maori Party leadership.
They don’t seem to have paid much heed to a response, which landed in the Point of Order in-tray. This missive was described as
“.. a public statement on behalf of Māori leadership across Aotearoa addressing the statements of Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, calling for the ambassador of Israel to be expelled”.
Whether this is a public statement on behalf of Māori leadership across Aotearoa is open to challenge (check out the signatories further down), but it does note that Ngarewa-Packer had made statements that were not based on fact:
“Ms Packer has made strong claims against the Israel Defence Force, accusing them of a hospital strike that took the lives of citizens of Gaza. This is not true. The IDF and the American intelligence have reviewed all footage including recordings of Hamas militants speaking of a misfire.
“The overwhelming evidence shows that the cause of the strike on the hospital in Gaza was a result of a missile fired by Islamic Jihad terrorists.
“Even after the evidence and statements have been released, Te Pāti Māori still maintains its false claims. Their irresponsible actions have spread misinformation, incited ill-feeling against Jewish communities who have been targeted and intimidated, and their families and livelihoods endangered.”
The signatories of the statement declare they do not support the views of Te Pāti Māori and co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
They call on the Māori Party to retract their statements against Israel, calling the Ambassador of Israel to be expelled.
Then the signatories declare their position:
“We stand by Israel and support her right to defend her territories and citizens.
“We condemn the acts of terrorism committed by the Hamas terrorist organization.
“We, as a body of Māori leaders, stand by Ambassador Ran Yaakoby and his family, committing to pray for them. We pray for the state of Israel. And for the Jewish communities who are grieving the loss of their loved ones. Our heart goes out to you all”.
The spokespersons are listed as
The Māori Party leaders laced their press statement with the unproven claims of Hamas propagandists:
“We condemn Hamas for murdering civilians and taking civilian hostages. We also condemn the retaliatory actions of the Israeli government. The indiscriminate bombing of Gaza by, destroying hospitals and civilian apartment buildings, is unconscionable,” said Rawiri Waititi.
The press statement also brought indigeneity and the jargon of Far Left ideologues into the co-leaders’ fulminations.
“Western countries are wilfully in denial about the long term aggression by Israel against Palestine. They have instituted an apartheid regime and have blockaded Gaza by land, air and sea,” said Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
“The genocidal rhetoric of Israeli ministers and officials is well documented. Their attempts to dehumanise the indigenous peoples of Palestine must be resisted.
“Israel’s colonial occupation of Palestinian lands, engineered by the British Empire, has led to decades of pain, suffering and bloodshed. The international community must exert pressure to end the occupation, the blockade, and the continued confiscation of Palestinian land.
“We must acknowledge the atrocity of colonisation and the intergenerational trauma and extremism it produces. We must continue to fight for peace and justice for all indigenous peoples who continue to suffer from violent colonisation and imperialism,” said Mrs Ngarewa-Packer.
The mainstream media have dutifully reported at least some of those thoughts from the Maori Party leadership.
They don’t seem to have paid much heed to a response, which landed in the Point of Order in-tray. This missive was described as
“.. a public statement on behalf of Māori leadership across Aotearoa addressing the statements of Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer, calling for the ambassador of Israel to be expelled”.
Whether this is a public statement on behalf of Māori leadership across Aotearoa is open to challenge (check out the signatories further down), but it does note that Ngarewa-Packer had made statements that were not based on fact:
“Ms Packer has made strong claims against the Israel Defence Force, accusing them of a hospital strike that took the lives of citizens of Gaza. This is not true. The IDF and the American intelligence have reviewed all footage including recordings of Hamas militants speaking of a misfire.
“The overwhelming evidence shows that the cause of the strike on the hospital in Gaza was a result of a missile fired by Islamic Jihad terrorists.
“Even after the evidence and statements have been released, Te Pāti Māori still maintains its false claims. Their irresponsible actions have spread misinformation, incited ill-feeling against Jewish communities who have been targeted and intimidated, and their families and livelihoods endangered.”
The signatories of the statement declare they do not support the views of Te Pāti Māori and co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer.
They call on the Māori Party to retract their statements against Israel, calling the Ambassador of Israel to be expelled.
Then the signatories declare their position:
“We stand by Israel and support her right to defend her territories and citizens.
“We condemn the acts of terrorism committed by the Hamas terrorist organization.
“We, as a body of Māori leaders, stand by Ambassador Ran Yaakoby and his family, committing to pray for them. We pray for the state of Israel. And for the Jewish communities who are grieving the loss of their loved ones. Our heart goes out to you all”.
The spokespersons are listed as
Tawhiri Littlejohn, Nga Puhi Me Ngati Whatua;
Dr Sheree Trotter, Te Arawa;
Apotoro Rehita Kereama Pene, Ratana Leader, Ngati Whatua;
Kaumatua Te Hurihanga, Ngapuhi, Te Aka Matua ;
Kaumatua Rangitukehu Paora, Ngati Awa;
Hon Alfred Ngaro, leader New Zeal;
Brad Haami, Ngati Awa, Māori adviser and Indigenous academic;
Richard Nahi, Ngapuhi, Te Aka Matua ;
Jacqueline and Wally Te Huia, Nga Puhi Me Ngati Whatua;
Lorinda and John Pereira, Ngapuhi, Ahu Whenua Navigations Ltd.
Brad Haami was among Te Arawa elders who welcomed Israel’s ambassador to a “Business and Innovation Hui” in Rotorua two years ago.
Indigeneity loomed large at the hui.
“The hui was facilitated by representatives from the Indigenous Coalition for Israel, working alongside iwi business liaison Rania Sears, and iwi leaders, who made the event possible.”
And:
“Ambassador Ran Yaakoby also shared his pēpeha (genealogy of origin to the land of Israel) from Abraham to the Holocaust and to his own birth in the new land of Israel, making an interesting history lesson for the High School students from Raukura (Girls and Boys High Kapahaka) who lead the wero (challenge) and pohiri (formal welcome) alongside local iwi.
“The iwi of Te Arawa, acknowledged Ambassador Ran’s indigeneity to the land of Israel, and he was welcomed as such.”
Ngarewa Packer’s notions of indigeneity in Israel are challenged, too, in an article published by Reason headed Jews, Like Palestinians, Are ‘Indigenous’ to the Middle East
It says:
The Hamas-embraced idea that Jews have no place in Israel fosters extremism on both sides.
And:
Leftists who openly celebrated the horrifying Hamas attacks in southern Israel argued that the end—the liberation of Palestine “from the river to the sea”—justified the means, including the indiscriminate slaughter of young rave revelers, elderly Holocaust survivors, children, and babies. Although that is a minority position even among harsh critics of Israeli policy, it reflects a more widely endorsed view that Jews, as “settlers” and “colonizers,” have no legitimate claim to any of the country’s territory and no business living there.
That view, in turn, is based on a simplistic morality tale that pits white European oppressors against “indigenous” people, eliding Israel’s demographic roots and the ancient Jewish connection to the land. While this missing context is unlikely to faze people who see mass murder as a noble and heroic act of resistance, it is relevant for anyone who can imagine a less bloody resolution of Palestinian grievances.
The article cites a 2001 study which should help sort things out.
Point of Order is a blog focused on politics and the economy run by veteran newspaper reporters Bob Edlin and Ian Templeton
2 comments:
Department of Foreign Affairs are the people qualified to make ( or not make) comments on the affairs of other counties.
The Co leaders of the Māori party can’t string two coherent sentences together. They have an exaggerated view of their importance. Time to get rid of the Māori seats.
Packer and Waititi obviously have little or no knowledge of the history of the Jews and others in the area.
The reference to colonization everywhere and the effects on "indigenous" people everywhere is quite abhorrent.
Without doubt, colonization has bought more to the worlds people everywhere, including NZ.
People like Waititi and Packer assume that they, (Maori) would be where they are today without colonization, certainly not in the 150 odd years since the first colonists arrived here.
Left alone, NZ, or whatever it was called, would more than likely be similar to PNG or some other backwater of tribalism.
Using a quote from the article "“settlers” and “colonizers,” have no legitimate claim to any of the country’s territory and no business living there."
I venture to suggest this is similar to the thinking of Waititi et al.
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