Source: Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
27 October 2026
Rinad Tamimi with her 95-year-old grandfather in Hebron last year
PSNA is today calling on all political parties to agree to the immediate expulsion of the Israeli ambassador Alon Roth-Snir, and the suspension of all other ties with Israel.
PSNA’s call follows two damning new United Nations reports released yesterday, alongside the personal family experience of PSNA National Spokesperson Rinad Tamimi.
Tamimi says “My family is directly affected by the past two days of Israel’s massive ethnic cleansing operation in Hebron in the Occupied West Bank, where my family, including my 95-year-old grandfather, have been expelled from their homes.
The United Nations Human Rights Chief Volker Turk has condemned Israel’s actions. More than 3,000 Palestinians have been forced from their homes so far, in what Turk describes as action “punitive in nature and designed to instil fear”.
“Collective punishment is a grave violation of international law. Threats to empty and erase entire neighbourhoods also raise serious concerns of ethnic cleansing,” Turk says.
Meanwhile yesterday, the United Nations Independent Commission of Palestine and Israel released its latest report which says bluntly:
“Israel has committed war crimes and the crimes against humanity of extermination, persecution, torture, rape and other forms of sexual violence in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, intentionally targeting Palestinian civilians as it continues to commit genocide in Gaza.”
The report confirms the source of the endless violence and oppression by Israel goes back to the 1948 Nakba (Catastrophe) when more than 750,000 Palestinians were expelled from their homes and land.
“As part of a broader investigation into the root causes of recurrent tensions and protraction of conflict, the report outlines the key drivers of Israeli violence and concludes that Israel has striven to expand territorially and displace Palestinians through violence since the 1947-48 war.”
“These shocking reports confirm that Israel has no intention of respecting New Zealand values or international law,” Tamimi says.
“The argument that we need the ambassador here to keep lines of communication open is a smokescreen. There is not a scrap of evidence Israel has ever taken any notice of us. The embassy is not here to listen. It is here to propagandise, spy and infiltrate the Pacific.”
“Across the country this week the Palestine solidarity movement will be highlighting these reports and demanding accountability for Israel in nationwide protests.”
“The government must end its rhetoric about the Israelis in the West Bank and finally make an effective stand and cuts all ties with Israel, until the refugees can return and everyone living between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea has as equal rights,” Tamimi says.
“It would be appropriate justice for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador to follow the expulsion of my 95-year-old grandfather from his home.”