Participants in the vigil outside Whanganui MP Carl Bates' office, about 22 hours into the event. Photo / Mike Tweed
Participants in the vigil outside Whanganui MP Carl Bates' office, about 22 hours into the event. Photo / Mike Tweed
A 24-hour vigil has been held outside Whanganui MP Carl Bates’ office as part of a nationwide campaign demanding sanctions on Israel.
Speaking to the Chronicle on Friday morning, Whanganui Palestinian Solidarity Group (WPSG) spokeswoman Sophi Reinholt said the vigil began at 10am on Thursday.
She said an open lettersigned by 54 local businesses and organisations, calling for Bates to cross the floor and support Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick’s Unlawful Occupation of Palestine Sanctions Bill, was presented to him earlier this year.
“We want to connect with him and show him there is so much community support for him to actually stand up for the upholding of international law.
“We [New Zealand] are signatories to the Genocide Convention and have legal obligations we need to fulfil, lest we be complicit in what has been officially declared a genocide by the United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry.”
Swarbrick’s members’ bill, lodged last December, would allow for sanctions on individuals or entities “responsible for, associated with, or involved in the unlawful presence of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory”.
“Carl has met with us once, was receptive to a degree and wanted to stay in communication with us, but he hasn’t followed through on that,” Reinholt said.
Bates said he had not been informed the vigil was happening and was out of Whanganui at the time.
He said it was very unlikely he would cross the floor to support Swarbrick’s bill, and Foreign Minister Winston Peters had laid out the Government’s position well.
There were vigils outside nine MP offices across the country. Photo / Mike Tweed
In an address to the United Nations General Assembly in September, Peters said recognition of a Palestinian state should be affirmed when conditions offered greater prospects for peace and negotiation.
Bates said his office staff had felt uncomfortable due to “unfortunate engagement” with vigil participants, and the office was closed as a result.
“New Zealand needs to be focused on the issues we can influence and affect,” he said.
“Many of those right now are here at home, ensuring we are doing things like driving the economy, supporting education, health and other social services, and playing our role in the Pacific.”
His office had received 104 letters and emails regarding Gaza and Palestine this year.
“We’ve responded and engaged with 99 of those, and there are five that are sitting in our ‘work in progress’.
“The latest request from Sophi is one of those five, and we’ll be in touch with her as I respond to all communications our office receives.”
Reinholt said the public’s response to the Whanganui vigil had been “overwhelmingly positive”, especially among young people.
“When they see the list of recorded names of children that have been killed in the genocide, they’ve looked at them and really recognised the shared humanity.
“They’ve signed the open letter.”
Catholic nuns and Anglican priests had taken part, with someone reading Buddhist prayers, she said.
“We are just a community coming together, asking for Carl to do the right thing.”
Vigils were also held at MPs’ offices in Kerikeri, Whangārei, Kirikiriroa Hamilton, Napier, Wellington, Christchurch, Ōamaru and Invercargill.
Mike Tweed is a multimedia journalist at the Whanganui Chronicle. Since starting in March 2020, he has dabbled in everything from sport to music. At present his focus is local government, primarily the Whanganui District Council.
