On his appearance on breakfast television this morning Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has sided with Israeli guns over Palestinian children.
(Last week Canadian author and activist Naomi Klein said “we should side with the child over the gun every single time, no matter whose gun and no matter whose child”)
In his appearance Hipkins once again condemned the killing of Israeli civilians on October 7th which we all condemn as a war crime under the Fourth Geneva Convention.
But not once did he condemn Israeli war crimes being played out before our eyes. Collective punishment of civilians, withholding food, water, fuel and electricity, raining death and destruction on trapped Palestinian civilians with the inevitable, predictable outcome.
Over 8,000 Palestinians are dead in Gaza with over 3,000 children killed. One Palestinian child is killed every 15 minutes in Israel’s genocidal war.
Yet not once did Hipkins utter a single word of criticism of Israel for this mass slaughter of Palestinian children, in line with Israeli political leaders who say there are no innocents in Gaza. Muttering about the need to respect international humanitarian law doesn’t cut it.
“More than two million people, with nowhere safe to go, are being denied the essentials for life – food, water, shelter and medical care – while being subjected to relentless bombardment.” United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres.
Hipkins used the measure of what the other “five eyes partners” had done in abstaining or voting against a “humanitarian pause” in the war at the UN which New Zealand voted to support.
This is not a measure of New Zealand humanity but of the inhumanity of the others.
Hipkins described a ceasefire as “unrealistic” – a cowardly comment which will be welcomed in Washington and Tel Aviv but condemned by the parents of children in the morgues of Gaza.
Nationwide rallies and marches will again take place around New Zealand this week demanding Hipkins side with Palestinian children over Israeli guns and speak loudly for the majority of New Zealanders calling for a ceasefire.
John Minto
National Chair
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
