PSNA welcomes the joint call from New Zealand, Australia and Canada for Israel to abandon plans to invade Rafah with the massive humanitarian crisis that would result in.
It is a refreshing change from these countries’ four-month refusal to condemn Israel’s genocidal slaughter of Palestinians in Gaza or Israel’s war crimes such as collective punishment and the destruction of hospitals, schools, universities and vast areas of housing.
These three European colonial countries have also stood steadfastly with colonial Israel and the US against an immediate permanent ceasefire in Gaza.
We call on New Zealand, Australia and Canada to “make their call on Israel real” by joining South Africa’s urgent appeal to the International Court of Justice against Israel’s planned invasion of Rafah under the Convention on Genocide.
Stopping the genocide in Gaza must be the single top priority.
Unfortunately, the rest of the joint statement from New Zealand, Australia and Canada is a litany of Israeli lies.
The condolences to the families of the over 28,000 Palestinians slaughtered by Israel ring hollow. None of these countries has condemned the killing of Palestinians civilians despite roundly condemning the killing of Israeli civilians. It’s a case of selective morality where European lives matter more than Palestinian lives.
The statement assumes the war began on October 7th with the attack on Israel by Palestinian resistance groups. It ignores the 75 years of brutal oppression of Palestinians once they were driven off their land in a massive ethnic cleansing by Israeli militias in 1947 – 49.
The three colonial countries also trumpet the so-called “two-state solution” which is no longer possible. It is buried under more than 200 illegal Israeli settlements on Palestinian land. A single secular state where all religions and ethnicities are protected under a democratic constitution has wide support from Palestinians.
Palestinians will decide their leadership – not European colonies in league with apartheid Israel.
Regurgitating Israeli lies about the attack on October 7th does not make them true. There were war crimes committed on that day and these should be independently investigated by the International Criminal Court – as is happening with Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The ICC should investigate all war crimes, no matter the perpetrator, and issue arrest warrants for the offenders as they have in the case of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.
John Minto
National Chair
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa.
