US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has condemned the sanctions and urged its partners to “not forget who the real enemy is”.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said New Zealand would not roll back the sanctions as the US wanted, saying the current approach is the “right course for us”.
University of Waikato professor Alexander Gillespie told The Front Page the two ministers oppose allowing aid into the Strip, and both support Palestinians there to be settled outside the territory.
“They’re [the sanctions] important symbolically. They’re not really important in terms of actually deterring them from their summertime holiday. What this does is show that New Zealand takes the issue seriously, and we are having a targeted approach to express our disapproval.
“Israel is correct that the crimes that were committed against them were egregious, that they were terrible - the murder, rape, extreme brutality. There’s no forgiving for what happened there.
“But, on the other hand, whenever a country responds, it must be done in a way that is focused and not disproportionate to the actual incident that happened. What you’ve got now is a disproportionate response where the population is suffering for the crimes of Hamas. And that’s just wrong. It’s not just wrong ethically, it’s wrong legally.
“Where it becomes an issue for a country like New Zealand, it’s not about being pro-Israel or anti-Israel. It’s about being pro a rules-based order where there are rules around warfare, annexation, and around how countries are meant to behave,” he said.
The months-long blockade has borne one of the “world’s worst hunger crises”, according to the World Health Organisation.
“Extreme hunger is one of the most inhumane things you can do to an individual or a population. It is completely wrong. This is barbarism that belongs in the Middle Ages. It doesn’t belong in the 21st century, and international law is clear on this,” Gillespie said.
“We need to be pushing for not only a lifting of the blockade to make sure that non-contraband, which is what food is, can get through to the civilian population. But also that it’s distributed through reputable international organisations like the Red Cross or the World Food Programme. You can’t let aid and humanitarian assistance become politicised in terms of who gives it out or what’s given to particular populations.”
Blockades were one of the earliest rules of war, Gillespie said.
“You can isolate them to prevent them from getting contraband. And for a long time, the debate was, what is contraband?
“Obviously things like weapons, but originally it was used to cover food. But, at the end of the 20th century and in the 21st century, we agreed that food is not contraband. The rules are that the occupying power, which in this case is Israel, has the right to control that access.
“So even though, in theory, food should be allowed in freely, the ability of Israel to control that lever is strong,” he said.
According to ABC News, at least 163 people have been killed while trying to get aid from the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. This week, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health claimed at least 36 people were killed attempting to get aid – the highest death toll from a shooting near a distribution centre in Gaza.
The Israel Defence Forces said in a statement it fired “warning shots to distance suspects” who were advancing in the area and “posed a threat to troops”.
“We [New Zealand] are on the right track to follow the Europeans, and the important part is not to get ahead of them or behind them. I think Mr Peters has positioned us, as a beginning point, quite well,” he said.
Listen to the full episode to hear more about the history of blockades and how New Zealand can better help the people of Gaza.
The Front Page is a daily news podcast from the New Zealand Herald, available to listen to every weekday from 5am. The podcast is presented by Chelsea Daniels, an Auckland-based journalist with a background in world news and crime/justice reporting who joined NZME in 2016.
You can follow the podcast at iHeartRadio, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.
