Kaya Selby
RNZ Pacific journalist
In short:
- Labour
has slammed Prime Minister Christopher Luxon over New
Zealand’s ambivalence to Israel becoming a Pacific Islands
Forum (PIF) partner. - Luxon attended the meeting in
Palau last month when PIF leaders decided to recognise
Israel as a new partner – announced only today. - A
Pacific politics expert says Israel’s participation at next
year’s PIF summit remains unclear, given active arrest
warrants against senior Israeli politicians.
New
Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has “serious
questions to answer” over Israel becoming a partner of the
region’s main political decision-making institution,
Labour’s foreign affairs spokesperson says.
Israel has
joined the Pacific Islands Forum (PIF) as a development
partner, the Israeli Foreign Ministry announced in a
statement on Wednesday.
A number of Pacific
governments have
been forging closer ties with Israel’s government at the
same time that its standing in the international community
has dropped to a new low.
The Israeli government has
been widely accused of violating international law with its
devastating military attack on Gaza and attacks on four
other Middle Eastern countries over the past two
years.
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Luxon stated
earlier this month that his Israel counterpart Benjamin
Netanyahu would be arrested if he came to New Zealand, after
the International Criminal Court’s recent decision to issue
arrest warrants for Netanyahu and others in his
cabinet.
He said Israel’s entry to the PIF ecosystem
was ultimately a decision for the Forum, but noted its
partnership status would be “lower tier”.
The New
Zealand leader attended the meeting in Palau last month when
PIF leaders decided to recognise Israel as a new
partner.
ACT
leader David Seymour extended “a warm Pacific welcome” to
Israel after it was accepted as a partner
state.
“Another democratic country in the Pacific
Islands Forum is a good thing – possibly a bit
geographically challenged. But then we’ve had Britain try
and join the Trans-Pacific Partnership, so it seems
geography is no barrier these days.”
However, Labour’s
foreign affairs spokesperson Vanushi Walters said if her
party were in government, it would have opposed Israel’s
inclusion in the PIF.
“Christopher Luxon has said that
he would arrest Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu if
he came to New Zealand,” she said.
“He has serious
questions to answer on how this situation has come about and
what steps New Zealand took to object.”
New Zealand
has issued
a travel ban targeting some Israeli leaders. But in
terms of who from Israel would be attending the PIF summit
in New Zealand next year, Luxon said it was more on an
official level, rather than leader level.
Tel Aviv has
stepped up its diplomatic focus on the Pacific over the last
few years, gaining support from a number of Pacific
countries in the process.
With its new PIF status,
Israel will be obliged to engage actively with the region on
development priorities in the areas such as water
management, desalination, agriculture and climate change
adaptation.
“Israel will participate in the Forum’s
Sectoral Partnership Stream, enabling focused cooperation in
areas of mutual interest,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry
said.
It also referred to a more wide-ranging
agreement between Israel and the PIF that would set out key
goals, and a mechanism to measure their progress.
The
PIF Secretariat itself has not issued a formal
statement.
In recent times, three Pacific countries
have announced they would open embassies in Jerusalem: Papua
New Guinea, Fiji and Naoero and other Pacific nations are
considering following suit.
They are among just a
handful of countries that recognise Jerusalem as the capital
of Israel, as it remains a disputed territory between
Israelis and Palestinians.
Samoan government released
a statement last night highlighting Prime Minister
La’aulialemalietoa (La’auli) Leuatea Schmidt’s reflections
from his past visit. La’auli wants to
open the embassy as soon as possible and they are
looking forward to it.
“The Prime Minister spoke about
some of his greatest memories in Israel and one is when he
was walking through the old city and seeing an abundance of
fruits used to make juice which he said was amazing,” the
Samoan government said in a statement on Tuesday
night.
A play for recognition
Sione Tekiteki,
a former PIF advisor and now law lecturer at Auckland
University of Technology (AUT), told RNZ’s Midday Report
that Israel was seeking to use the Pacific as a means of
legitimising itself – using the affection it has won in the
region.
“They are obviously tied. The strategic aspect
here is gaining formal recognition through the Forum, which
elevates it’s status beyond bilateral relationships,” he
said.
They are among just a handful of countries that
recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, as it remains
a disputed territory between Israelis and
Palestinians.
Samoa’s government released a statement
last night highlighting Prime Minister La’aulialemalietoa
Leuatea Schmidt’s reflections from his past visit to
Jerusalem.
“He wants to open the Embassy as soon as
possible and they are looking forward to it,” the
statement read.
“The Prime Minister spoke about
some of his greatest memories in Israel and one is when he
was walking through the old city and seeing an abundance of
fruits used to make juice which he said was
amazing.”
In June, Fiji hammered out an agreement for
Israel to open an embassy in Suva, which would service nine
Pacific countries.
Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar, who
is subject to multiple complaints at the International
Criminal Court (ICC) in relation to Gaza, landed in Fiji
last June, and was welcomed by Prime Minister Sitiveni
Rabuka – who himself was deployed in the Golan Heights in
his military days.
Rabuka, while sharing a kava bowl
with Sa’ar, told him “we will always be with
you.”
Most recently, Naoero opened a Jerusalem embassy
within days of withdrawing from the ICC. Its government
boasted about its record of voting in tow with Israel at the
United Nations.
Most recently, Naoero opened
a Jerusalem embassy within days of withdrawing
from the ICC, a move applauded by the Trump
administration.
The Naoero government press office has
not responded to questions on whether this decision had to
do with active ICC charges laid against Israeli
leaders.
How will Israel participate in the
Pacific?
Tekiteki said in the decision to grant
membership – made in Palau at last month’s PIF leaders
summit – partners were considered in their totality, “as
opposed to having specific conversations around specific
countries”.
The nature of Israel’s diplomacy in the
region has been described by Israel officials as a “sharing
of expertise”, rather than a traditional aid
relationship.
Israeli firms have established
themselves in several Pacific countries, and Pacific
nationals are provided opportunities to travel to Israel to
study and work.
Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel
told
RNZ Pacific last year that they do not measure their
friendship with the region by the amount spend on aid –
which is relatively minor.
“Israel is not a major
economical power that has a lot of money to spend,
especially during times of war,” she said, adding that
Israel had no plans to increase support in monetary
terms.
“It’s not about the amount of money that we can
invest but the quality and the things and how it affects the
people.”
Haskel visited Papua New Guinea and Fiji a
year ago. Her country agreed to provide for cybersecurity
services in Fiji, with representatives from defence
contractor Elbit, also part of her visiting
delegation.
On the same trip, Haskel suggested that
Fiji could deploy army personnel to the Gaza strip, where it
is currently carrying out a devastating long-term military
campaign against Palestinians.
This came before a
formal request by the United States to Fiji in December for
troops to join a UN-authorized International Stabilisation
Force in Gaza – which Fiji has given no formal response
to.
As for PIF itself, Tekiteki says New Zealand, as
next year’s hosts, will have to make some hard decisions
around Israel’s participation.
“Israel is a sectoral
partner… it is still unclear whether, moving forward,
sectoral partners would be invited into the PIF leaders
meeting, or whether those dialogues would be held at
ministerial
level.”
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