PSNA is outraged that Foreign Minister Winston Peters has
reportedly suspended New Zealand funding for the United
Nations Relief and Works Agency at a time when the
humanitarian crisis in Gaza is sharply
escalating.
Peters appears in a video
for the pro-Israel lobby to make the announcement but
has not issued any release for the New Zealand
public.
“Peters has apparently caved in to pressure
from New Zealand’s pro-Israel lobby which has for years
run an intensive, sustained disinformation campaign about
UNRWA,” says PSNA Spokesperson Rinad Tamimi.
Just a
few days ago the United Nations held a briefing on the
humanitarian crisis in Gaza. In the
report of the briefing the UN says:
The
briefings examined the immediate humanitarian and human
rights consequences of the ongoing crisis in Gaza, one year
after the ceasefire entered into force, as well as the
escalating violence linked to Israel’s unlawful
occupation. Briefers underscored the grave situation in the
Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem,
warning that “genocide continues in Gaza”, while
“crimes against humanity and war crimes” are being
committed in the West Bank. They further cautioned that the
destruction of truth has become part of the destruction of a
people and that Palestinians are being deprived of hope and
dreams for the future.
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“So, while Israel
continues its genocide in Gaza, Peters betrays New Zealand
values in the most sick and cynical way.”
“Peters
wants the minority votes of the pro-Israel lobby and has
gone out of his way to pander to these most racist,
reactionary parts of our community,” says
Tamimi.
“Peters hopes this will pass unnoticed by
New Zealanders at large but he knows it will spread widely
within the pro-Israel lobby before most people cast their
votes.”
UNRWA is the largest humanitarian
organisation for Palestinian refugees and has incomparable
expertise and resources to help Palestinians in Gaza. It has
frequently been cited by New Zealand Foreign Affairs
officials as the most important and crucial aid agency for
Palestinians in the Occupied Palestinian
Territory.
“Israel hates it because it holds the key
to UN recognition of Palestinian refugees forced out of
Palestine in the 1948 Nakba. Israel will play Winston Peters
with the most outrageous horror stories about UNRWA, because
Peters wants to believe them.”
“Peters is also
happy to use the suffering of Palestinians because he
believes it will bolster his electoral
chances.”
“We want to see the Prime Minister
override Peters immediately and reinstate and triple funding
to the UNRWA to meet the desperate Palestinian needs,”
says
Tamimi.
