The world has become toxic. I realize that we’re in a crisis again, that there is so much hatred around, so much distrust, that if we don’t stop, it may get worse and worse. There may be another terrible destruction.
Those are the words of Tova Friedman, who was taken to Auschwitz when she was five and liberated when she was six.
She is right – there is so much toxicity, so much hatred, so much distrust and if we don’t stop it, it will get worse.
New Zealand, though on the opposite side of the world, is not immune and here’s an example:
A hotline for reporting Israeli soldiers holidaying in New Zealand has been labelled “hateful” and “antisemitic”.
Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) national chairman John Minto has launched a campaign for the public to report sightings of Israeli soldiers in New Zealand.
“This is part of holding Israel to account for genocide when our Government is complicit in the most horrendous war crimes of the 21st century – there’s no place in NZ for rest and recreation for perpetrators of genocide,” Minto said in a post online. . .
How does he think people will recognise soldiers as distinct from any other visitors who may or may not be Israelis?
The New Zealand Jewish Council (NZJC) has called out the hotline, labelling the move “the latest in a series of disturbing antisemitic rhetoric”.
“John Minto and his organisation the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) have crossed a line in calling to hunt down Israeli soldiers and reservists in New Zealand,” said a NZJC spokesperson.
Holocaust Centre New Zealand’s Deb Hart believes the hotline is “racist” and encourages “vigilantism”.
“We’ve seen a 500% increase in reported hate crimes against Jews … this is not the New Zealand that we all know and love,” she said.
Hart argued the message spreads hate and contributes to growing fear in the Jewish community.
“Jewish children don’t feel safe to go to school, all of our synagogues need guards at the door, this is the reality 80 years after the liberation of Auschwitz,” Hart said. .
Like far too many others who condemn Israel for its actions in Gaza, Minto’s bias is clear because he doesn’t hold Hamas to account in any way , nor does he condemn the barbaric attacks on October 7th, its actions since then and the antisemitism that has spawned.
Eighty years on from when the horrors of the holocaust were exposed to the world, far too many people have forgotten never again, including Minto and his supporters with this call which Winston Peters correctly says is :
an outrageous show of fascism, racism, and encouragement of violence and vigilantism. New Zealand should never accept this kind of extreme totalitarian behaviour in our country.
. . . Rainbow said that while the promotion “may not be unlawful” due to New Zealand’s laws on freedom of speech, it could be “potentially harmful” to Israeli and Jewish people in New Zealand.
“Israeli and Jewish people have as much right as everyone else in New Zealand to be safe, secure, and free from harassment,” Rainbow said.
“This sort of action has the risk of a ripple effect which may cause harm in the community. We call on those behind the hotline to close it down and cease promotion immediately.” . .
This is a welcome change from previous HRCs who tended to see such matters through a political rather than a human lens.
Minto’s call shows the toxicity, hatred and distrust which Tova Friedman condemned. It’s up to all of us to do what we can to stop it getting worse.
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Ele Ludemann is a North Otago farmer and journalist, who blogs HERE - where this article was sourced.
2 comments:
John Minto has no right to target Israeli tourists. He disgusts me with his “holier than our” attitude!
Minto has always been about self-promotion rather than supporting any moral cause. Whatever changes that were incurred via activism are usually replaced by something just as insidious but he's quick to distance himself from those repercussions. EG South Africa's degeneration as a failed state on the brink of collapse.
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