Now that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has decided that Israel has a genocide case to answer, will New Zealand politicians continue to claim that Israel is just defending itself? And is it appropriate to send troops to assist United States to bomb Yemen that will only ensure that the carnage in Gaza continues? And now that the ICJ has agreed that South Africa has made a plausible case that Israel is committing genocide, will the New Zealand media finally acknowledge it?
That decision has exposed the rank hypocrisy of western politicians. Ignoring the carnage that we have all witnessed on our television and computer screens, they have encouraged Israel to commit war crimes by claiming that it is only 'acting in self-defence'.
That has been the narrative routinely trotted out by many New Zealand politicians including the leaders of National, Labour, New Zealand First and ACT. The honourable exceptions have been Te Pati Maori and the Green Party. As far back as October Te Pati Maori was calling for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador, following the example set by South Africa.
On January 18, several days before the ICJ announced its ruling, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon again repeated that Israel had 'a right to defend itself'. But he also added that it also had 'a huge obligation to make sure that it is compliant with international law.'
But, just five days later, Luxon announced that the Government was deploying six defence force members to assist the United States to bomb Yemen, in what will only prove to be a futile effort to defend commercial ships against Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
With the United States and other Western government's complicit in supporting Israel's brutal military assault on the people of Gaza, the Houthis have repeatedly stated that the attacks are aimed at applying economic and political pressure on Israel to submit to a ceasefire.
In short, the root cause of the hostilities in the Red Sea is Israel's ongoing military onslaught in Gaza. New Zealand, in joining with the United States, is doing nothing but encouraging Israel to ignore the ruling of the ICJ. That ruling states that Israel must take urgent steps to avoid the killing and harming of civilians and that it should also avoid creating conditions in Gaza that might make life impossible for Palestinians in the territory.
How long will politicians like Christopher Luxon, David Seymour and Winston Peters continue to insist that Israel is only acting in 'self defence' in the light of the ruling of the ICJ? How long will they continue to turn a blind eye to Israel's war crimes when every action it takes in Gaza, including the bombing of civilian homes, the continuing denial of food, water and power to Gaza's population, and the bombing of the so-called 'safe zones' will be listed and investigated as evidence of a genocide?
The ICJ has issued a warning about Israel's actions in Gaza and New Zealand politicians who have been eager to defend its barbarism should take note.
While the ICJ says that it is 'plausible' that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, the New Zealand media has barely been interested. In recent times it has shown more enthusiasm for pursuing former Green MP Golriz Ghahraman for alleged shoplifting than reporting on the slaughter of innocent men, women and children in Gaza. This comes at a time when thousands of New Zealanders are demonstrating every week, demanding that the Government call for a ceasefire.
The reluctance to criticise Israel may be because the New Zealand media has proven to be no friend of the Palestinian people. New Zealand's only nationwide talkback station, Newstalk ZB, barely mentions Gaza. When it does, it is only to allow hosts like Tim Beveridge to express their support for the Zionist state.
Newstalk ZB's digital spin-off, ZB Plus, has remained silent on events unfolding in the Middle East. That's not entirely surprising since it is edited by the conservative Philip Crump who is a known supporter of the Zionist regime in Tel Aviv. It is also not surprising that he has invited other Zionist supporters, like former left wing commentator Chris Trotter and Judith Collins' former press secretary Ani O'Brien, to provide opinion columns for ZB Plus. O'Brien's most recent column was a hit job on Golriz Ghahraman, a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause.
RNZ's coverage of events in Gaza has been better, but it has still been woeful. Under the editorial direction of CEO and editor-in-chief Paul Thompson, it has always shown little inclination to question the foreign policies of the government of the day. And such is the case with Israel and Gaza.
In November, former RNZ journalist Mick Hall reported that RNZ had "justified removing references to 'genocide' unfolding in Gaza made by a Palestinian guest on a podcast because it would have otherwise “stolen valuable time”.
RNZ's podcast In Detail interviewed Palestinian-New Zealander Tameem Shaltoni, who has relatives in Gaza. It also interviewed Ben Kepes, a New Zealand businessman and son of Holocaust survivors.
Shaltoni later complained that his references to genocide being committed in Gaza were edited out of the podcast.
RNZ head of content Megan Whelan responded that claims of genocide were simply 'outside the ambit' of the podcast in question and that airing references to genocide would have been editorially difficult because it 'would have stolen valuable time away from the guests as it would have meant defining genocide, providing context for the listener and offering a right of reply.'
Mick Hall reported that Shaltoni told the podcast 1 of 200 that he believed the media 'didn’t want to countenance the idea of genocide because it contradicted the Western narrative that there was a war between Israel and non-state actor Hamas.'
RNZ's coverage of ongoing events in Gaza continues to be questionable. There has been little attempt to provide alternative views to the Government's narrative. Last week, it went as far as misrepresenting the ruling of the ICJ. While it said that Israel did have to answer to the charge of genocide, RNZ falsely reported that the ICJ had found Israel 'not guilty' of genocide.
Note: Since I posted this story last night, RNZ has removed the news broadcast that claimed the ICJ had found Israel 'not guilty' of genocide.
Further: RNZ has since posted a correction on its website. It states: 'RNZ news bulletins on Sunday, January 28, reported Israel had been found not guilty of genocide by the International Court of Justice. However, the court did not make a specific ruling on whether genocide had occurred, but said there was a plausible case against Israel under the 1948 Genocide Convention.'
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