NZ Muslim-Jewish accord: Leaders sending powerful message says Mark Mitchell

A new agreement being signed in Auckland today by Muslim and Jewish leaders, the New Zealand Harmony Accord, is a response to rising Islamophobia and anti-Semitism around the world, according to the Cabinet Minister who initiated it, Mark Mitchell.

He is praising Jewish and Muslim leaders for their decision to sign an accord, which will form the basis for a joint organisation, and co-operation with each other in a bid to prevent overseas conflicts from threatening social cohesion in New Zealand.

“It’s not about me,” Mitchell told the Herald in an interview yesterday.

“It’s about the leaders that have had the courage in our Jewish and our Muslim communities to step forward at what is a very difficult time, recognising that there is a lot of global conflict going on.

“We’re seeing a rise around the world of Islamophobia and anti-Semitism. We don’t want to see that in our country. We want our kids to feel safe. We want every community that settles and makes New Zealand home to feel safe,” he said.

They would be sending a very powerful message to the country that they can agree to disagree, still preserve the right to peaceful protest and the freedom of speech, but can do so in a peaceful and tolerant way.

“Tolerance isn’t just about tolerating people,” said Mitchell. “It is actually about going and speaking to them, listening to them, finding out about what their issues are, what their concerns are, what their fears are, everyone having a much better understanding.”

Governor-General Dame Cindy Kiro is hosting the groups signing the accord.

The war in Gaza began in October 2023 after Hamas-led militants massacred 1200 people in Israel, mainly civilians, and took 251 hostages.

So far, 148 hostages have been released in exchanges or other deals, a further eight have been rescued and 49 bodies have been retrieved.

About half of the 50 still held are thought to be alive.

The military campaign by Israel since then has killed about 58,000 Palestinians, mainly civilians, displaced most of the 2 million population, and created a humanitarian crisis that plays out daily on screens around the world. It has also sparked civil protests around the world, against Government positions and sometimes against rival groups.

Mitchell was made Ethnic Communities Minister in the Prime Minister’s January reshuffle this year and replaced Melissa Lee.

But it was through his Police portfolio that he was aware that some communities were living in fear because of conflict overseas.

“It is completely natural that some of that conflict has an emotional impact on people living back here in New Zealand,” he said.

“But I feel very strongly that we should be doing all that we can as a country to stop the import of that conflict into our country.”

It was a matter of how to deal with that emotional response.

“And, in my view and my experience in life is that, dialogue and listening, communicating and understanding, is the best way of being able to deal with it because the minute that dialogue and, and listening and, and communicating, stops between parties, inevitably you end up in violence and, and we’re not gonna let that happen, here in New Zealand.”

He approached various leaders, and he says there were some “tough conversations”, but they agreed to move forward.

Mitchell says the Harmony Accord will be “a living document” and that it could expand - leaders of other faiths have approached him to see if they could join it too.

Israel's ongoing retaliatory attacks on Gaza have heightened animosity between Muslim and Jewish communities around the globe. Photo / AFP

He hoped that the Accord would lead to many other events.

“I’d love to see events all over the country focusing on how we look after each other, how we engage in debates, how we can agree to disagree, how we can have peaceful protests and how we can still guard and make sure we look after our freedom of speech which is a fundamental of our democracy here and something which we fought very hard to have in this country.”

He acknowledged that today’s accord was a “top-down” process.

“Where you really start to make an impact is from the bottom up.

“When you get those conversations happening around the dinner tables, inside communities, inside churches, synagogues or mosques, that’s where you start to really make the change.

“We need to lead and be an example and come out and have those conversations.”