PSNA is shocked to see New Zealand’s backward slide in
foreign policy continue this morning with Winston Peters’
name missing from a
letter signed by 21 foreign ministers condemning
Israel’s approval for a new illegal Israel settlement in
the occupied West Bank of Palestine.
The 21 foreign
ministers who signed the letter include those we like to
compare ourselves to and include the foreign ministers from
three of the so-called “five eyes” countries –
Australian, Canada and the UK – but not New Zealand! (The
21 foreign ministers who signed the letter are: Australia,
Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Iceland,
Ireland, Italy, Japan, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the
Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and
the United Kingdom)
“Winston Peters’ shock
omission from this letter represents another dramatic
backward shift in foreign policy” says PSNA Co-Chair John
Minto. “While the world is outraged at Israel’s
deliberate attempt to “bury” the two-state solution by
splitting the occupied West Bank in two, Winston Peters is
nowhere to be seen”
In the past New Zealand has
spoken out strongly condemning illegal Israeli settlements
in the occupied Palestinian Territories and in 2016, under a
National-led government, New Zealand co-sponsored United
Nations Security Council Resolution 2334 which said Israeli
settlements had “no legal validity” and constituted “a
flagrant violation under international law”.
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But
instead of signing the letter, Winston Peters was cosying
up to Israel’s chief genocide enabler, US Secretary of
State Marco Rubio, in a phone call.
“The situation
for our foreign policy is now dire. We are the shame of
so-called liberal democracies”
Christopher Luxon has
contracted out foreign affairs to the most reactionary
section of his coalition government and Winston Peters is
enacting policy for the 6% who voted for him at the last
election.
The PSNA
opinion poll last month showed strong popular support
for sanctions against Israel but also showed a majority of
New Zealand First supporters don’t want
sanctions.
“We have the party of 6% now driving
foreign policy to its own agenda”
“It’s an
outrage against New Zealanders deeply upset by government
silence over Israel’s starvation of the people of
Gaza”
