The New Zealand Government announcement yesterday at the United Nations calling for a “humanitarian pause” in the Israeli war on Gaza is an insipid response to the slaughter of Palestinian civilians in their thousands in Gaza.
Already over 5000 Palestinian civilians have been killed, more than 2000 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 weak-kneed response from our political leaders.
We must call for a comprehensive ceasefire and United Nations action to put Gazan civilians under UN protection. We must also demand a swift investigation by the International Criminal Court into war crimes since October 7 — including the crimes of genocide and apartheid.
A “humanitarian pause” will not stop the genocide. Israeli President Isaac Herzog is on record using the type of genocidal rhetoric which is dominating Israeli actions:
“It is an entire nation out there that is responsible,” Herzog said at a press conference on Friday. “It is not true this rhetoric about civilians not being aware, not involved. It’s absolutely not true. They could have risen up. They could have fought against that evil regime which took over Gaza in a coup d’etat.”
The cruel fact is that if there were 2.3 million Europeans anywhere in the world being confined and subject to indiscriminate slaughter, New Zealand and the western world would be outraged. But not a peep from our leaders condemning Israeli war crimes when Palestinians are the victims. We only find our voice when Israelis are the victims.
