Stop the Ethnic Cleansing of Gaza

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Gaza Update: 88,000 Palestinian civilian casualties (29,700 killed and 57,800 injured) have so far resulted from Israel’s genocidal rampage through Gaza: that is 3.5% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million or the equivalent of killing or injuring 178,000 New Zealanders.

New Zealand stands squarely with Israel and the US. After almost 100 days of indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza, Prime Minister Luxon and Foreign Minister Winston Peters have still not uttered a single word of condemnation of Israel – despite condemning again and again the killing of Israeli civilians. It’s a policy based on racism.  This anti-Palestinian racism runs through the US-instigated statement condemning attacks on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea which New Zealand has signed up to despite the statement’s refusal to acknowledge the reason for the attacks – Israel’s wholesale killing of Palestinians in Gaza! Instead of joining the US New Zealand should be demanding an end to US support for Israel’s killing spree through Gaza.

The far-right Israeli government has now announced it wants to send the Palestinian people of Gaza to the Congo. This is the ongoing plan for the ethnic cleansing of Palestine –a process begun by Israeli militias in 1947 and now intending to apply it to Gaza. Not a word from Christopher Luxon or Winston Peters on any of this shabby, racist preparation for another Israeli war crime against Palestinians. It’s a shameful time to be a New Zealander.

At time of writing Jordan, Malaysia and Bolivia have also joined South Africa’s Genocide case against Israel – New Zealand has made no comment.  Two years ago New Zealand joined 22 other countries in supporting the Ukrainian case against Russia at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for its invasion of Ukraine.  We sent a legal team to the Hague where the ICJ is based and our representatives spoke directly to the court on New Zealand’s behalf. We used international law to argue the Russian invasion was illegal and warranted sanction by the ICJ.

Successive New Zealand governments for as long as I can remember have said we believe in an “international rules-based order” of which the ICJ and the ICC are an important part. This makes sense because we are a small country without the economic or military clout to take unilateral action to protect our interests. Like other small countries we rely on international rules to provide a measure of protection when bigger countries, like Russia in this case, break the rules.

The most important part of South Africa’s case is its application for an interim injunction to stop Israel’s indiscriminate killing immediately. If this interim injunction is successful it could put in place an immediate ceasefire to end the war and Israel’s indiscriminate killing of Palestinians. It would allow unfettered humanitarian aid to enter Gaza where the need for food, water, fuel, medicine and vaccinations is desperate.

Those who have been paying attention will not be surprised at claims of genocide.  Genocide always begins with words and there is a wealth of reporting on the dehumanising language being used by Israel’s political and military leaders to set the scene for what has followed.  For example Israel’s President Isaac Herzog said “it is an entire nation out there that is responsible”, and two days after the attack Israeli Minister of Defence Yoav Gallant spelt out genocidal intentions saying: “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. No electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything is closed. We are fighting human animals, and we will act accordingly.”

Israelis more generally have taken up this talk across social media with calls for Gaza to be “flattened,” “erased” or “destroyed”. More tragic is a social media post showing Israeli children singing “we will annihilate everyone” in Gaza. Israel’s Defence Minister’s statement matches the UN Convention closely to the point where Israeli scholar of the Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Raz Segal, has described Israel’s rhetoric and actions as “a textbook case of genocide”.

It’s clear Israel’s political and military leaders have a case to answer before the International Court of Justice, just as Russia does for its invasion of Ukraine. As well as backing South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice we should also call for a swift, well-resourced International Criminal Court investigation into war crimes committed in the October 7 attack on Israel and the Israeli response. This investigation should include examining the crimes of genocide and apartheid. Palestinians deserve our support as much as the people of Ukraine.

Palestinians deserve our support as much as the people of Ukraine.