Dear Ed:
I refer to the article on P7 of last month’s Star which featured a small group of people in Martinborough Square asking for ‘Toots for Gaza.’ While I’m sure the tooters meant well, they and your article did not represent me or the facts.
Take for instance the signs bearing the words Free Palestine. These copy the words on signs held aloft at larger protests overseas and are frankly nonsensical. It is not possible to free something which does not and has never existed. To propagate the impression that such an entity does exist is not only misleading, especially for the next generation, but hinders a speedy resolution of the conflict.
This is because the two words are in fact shorthand for the removal of the democratic state of Israel which was invaded on October, 7th 2023 by a proscribed terrorist organisation (in NZ) whose stated mission is not the wellbeing of the Arab population of the Levant but the annihilation of Israel. On that terrible day in October over twelve hundred innocent people were raped, tortured, murdered in their beds and taken hostage.
In the New York Times this week columnist Nicholas Kristoff wrote, ‘Lets also acknowledge that Hamas is a misogynistic, homophobic, antisemitic terrorist organization that is now holding American and Israeli hostages. Hamas has been a catastrophe for Gazans, and it’s hard for me to see why anyone supporting Palestinians would condone it or violence.’
To see a sign bearing the word Genocide and all it implies was sad because it too is just plain wrong (despite an opinion of one Martinboroughian) as too was the implication in the article that such a finding had been made by the International Court of Justice. The civilian casualty rate in Gaza is well below average for a war zone (think of other current conflicts like Ukraine, the Sudan and Myanmar) and it does not come close to the international definition of the term which is “a crime committed with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, in whole or in part.”
Propagating mistruths and the re-telling Hamas propaganda is both inflammatory and unhelpful.
Where were the placards asking for the release of the hostages or for free, fair and anonymous elections in Gaza? Should there perhaps have been a placard suggesting Hamas sign the peace deal still in front of them after ten days and which would allow much needed aid into Gaza? Maybe even a sign calling for Hamas terrorists to stop hiding behind innocent women and children?
Little old Martinborough may be thousands of kilometers from the current conflict but there is no reason we can’t stand up, take a balanced view and help those in need.
Instead of toots we could ask the New Zealand government to sanction those West Bank settlers who take what isn’t theirs by force. We could ask that the Iranian Revolutionary Guard is made a proscribed terrorist organisation. When the violence has stopped we could contribute to the setting up of a body to govern Gaza along the lines of the Allied Military Government which governed Germany after WW II. It is only by rebuilding democratic institutions and developing a functioning economy that jihad will be prevented once and for all and Gazans will finally be able to take their place in the world.
Hopefully the placard holders have also donated money (as per Nicholas Kristoff) to the organizations actively helping Gazans, like Save the Children, Gisha or the International Rescue Committee. Donations to the families of those slaughtered on October 7 would also be helpful and can be made through the Israeli Embassy in Wellington. Anyone who tooted or rushed in to give ten minutes of their presence to the placard holders could also donate. ‘That may seem discouragingly modest but it will help real people in desperate need.’ There’s no need to virtue signal on a placard. Just do it.
