Source: MIL-OSI Submissions
Source: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
PSNA has sent an urgent message to the Foreign Minister telling Nanaia Mahuta the government must speak out against today’s Israeli army storming of the Al Aqsa mosque in Occupied East Jerusalem and attacking worshippers with rubber bullets and tear gas.
The attack was launched this afternoon, New Zealand time, and so far at least 150 Palestinians have been injured.
This is a replay of Israeli attacks on worshippers inside Islam’s third holiest site last year which led to the all-out 11-day assault on Gaza by Israeli forces.
It is a deliberate provocation by the racist, apartheid regime, which lost its parliamentary majority two weeks ago, and wants to appear tough to Israeli voters.
Israel’s attacks are part of an Israeli strategy to “Judaise” Jerusalem by escalating attacks to force Palestinian Christians and Muslims to abandon the city.
“We have told the government they must speak out. Silence is complicity.”
Last week the minister tweeted in support of the Israeli victims of the conflict:
Why is it that the New Zealand government is keen to condemn violence against Israelis but never calls out the Israeli regime for the ongoing murder of Palestinians.
“The government is strong in condemning Russia for its invasion of Ukraine but has been silent in defence of Palestinians resisting the Israeli occupation of their country.”
Israel has killed dozens of Palestinians in the last few weeks – and so far this year has killed seven Palestinian children. The latest to be riddled with bullets was Qusai Fuad Mohammad Hamamra killed yesterday.
Israeli forces shot and killed another Palestinian child last night—16-year-old Qusai Fuad Mohammad Hamamra, the second Palestinian child killed by Israeli forces this week and the seventh this year.
In Husan, a village near Bethlehem, Israeli forces shot Qusai multiple times with live ammunition and prevented Palestinian paramedics from providing aid.
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Under international law, intentional lethal force is only justified in circumstances where a direct threat to life or of serious injury is present. Investigations and evidence collected by DCIP regularly suggest that Israeli forces use lethal force against Palestinian children in circumstances that may amount to extrajudicial or wilful killings.
From Defence for Children International – Palestine
We have told the minister it’s time to turn the heat on the leaders of Israel’s racist apartheid regime, condemn their racist attacks against Palestinians and the murder of Palestinian children.
John Minto
National Chair
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa.
