Act’s Simon Court amends accidental slur in Palestine statement; Labour MP Damien O’Connor still not saying sorry

Act MP Simon Court has been criticised by the Greens. Photo / Supplied

The Green Party’s Foreign Affairs Spokesman Teanau Tuiono is calling on Act’s Simon Court to make amends for the inclusion of a racial slur in a since-corrected media statement on the war in the Middle East.

Court’s amended statement statement called on “New Zealand politicians and activists to put down the keffiyeh scarves, condemn Iran and its proxies, and start doing right by Jewish people who deserve a place to call home”.

However Tuiono noted in Court’s original statement and social media posts, he had spelled “keffiyeh” a popular scarf worn by men in parts of the Middle East and often worn at pro-Palestinian marches, as “kaffir”, which is an offensive slur for a black person. The term is so offensive in South Africa it is often referred to euphemistically as the “K-Word”.

The mistake was corrected on Act’s website, although on Thursday afternoon it could still be seen in a post on X (formerly Twitter).

Tuiono said Act had “used a word considered one of the highest forms of hate speech in South Africa”.

He called on the party to “make amends for allowing such a serious racial slur to slip into their statement”.

“[I]t is also high time they got themselves on the right side of history and began to acknowledge and call out the atrocities being committed against the people of Palestine,” he said.

An Act Party spokesman said they regretted the error and noted that “kaffir” is also a type of lime.

“We accept we made an error in misspelling keffiyeh as kaffir, a type of lime. We’re not surprised the Greens are trying to squeeze racism from a citrus fruit, but Act is focused on much bigger issues,” the spokesman said.

It is not the first time this week an MP has caused a stir for their social media posting on the war. Labour’s Damien O’Connor on Thursday broke his silence on a social media post he made during the week, when he retweeted, and later deleted, a video of a former high-standing American official saying “Palestinians had every right to do what they did on October 7″.

The October 7 attacks killed more than 1000 people, mostly Israeli civilians. Since then tens of thousands of Palestinians have been killed as Israel invaded Gaza.

In a statement earlier this week, O’Connor said he had removed the post and that it was “intolerable to see civilians continue to suffer disproportionately as innocent victims in this conflict”.

His statement included no apology for what many saw as a highly offensive post, including Court himself, who described it as a “hateful statement”.

O’Connor posted again on Thursday. While he still held off saying sorry or making any other kind of apology, he said: “Nothing justifies torture, kidnapping or killing of innocent people; not before, on, nor after Oct 7. I do not condone such behaviour. Understanding why atrocities occur is critical to prevent repeats. As UN Sec Gen says, tit-for-tat attacks must stop”.

Thomas Coughlan is deputy political editor and covers politics from Parliament. He has worked for the Herald since 2021 and has worked in the Press Gallery since 2018.