PSNA Newsletter No 169 - December 31 2024
31 Hakihea 2024
31 December 2024
Newsletter No 169
Protest against Israeli tennis player at the ASB Tennis Classic
(From PSNA media release 30 December 2024)
PSNA is supporting the protest at the ASB Tennis Classic this afternoon to express outrage at the participation of Israeli tennis player Lina Glushko.
In Glushko’s own words:
“In these tough days, what my country is going through I can’t be more proud and happy to play with the Israeli flag next to my name and win matches”
Glushko has served in the Israeli military and is an Israeli army reservist. She is representing the rogue, apartheid state of Israel at the tournament.
“It is utterly unacceptable that the ASB Tennis Classic would include a reservist soldier from an army committing genocide in Gaza” says PSNA National Chair John Minto.
“Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders) and United Nations officials have all condemned Israel for crimes of genocide and extermination in Gaza”
Within the last few days Israel has renewed attacks on Gaza’s hospitals as it tries to drive the entire Palestinian population from northern Gaza in a massive ethnic cleansing operation called the General’s plan.
Palestinians have faced 76 years of brutal Israeli occupation, ethnic cleansing, apartheid and genocide and have repeatedly called for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel to bring international pressure for change. This means ending sporting, cultural, economic and diplomatic relations with Israel.
“Apartheid is a crime against humanity wherever it is practiced. Just as we protested apartheid South African players at sports tournaments in the past we are protesting an Israel player today”
14 years ago Palestine solidarity supporters protested Israeli player Shahar Peer at the same tournament.
“Politics and sport are always strongly linked and Glushko’s presence is part of Israel’s strategy to normalise its racism and apartheid against Palestinians. New Zealanders will have none of it”
ASB itself is already morally crippled with its investments in companies such as Motorola which are complicit in building and maintaining illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. Now it is helping to normalise Israeli genocide by having Lina Glushko compete.
PSNA has previously written to the government asking it to suspend all visas for Israelis who have served in the Israeli military from coming to New Zealand. We have not yet had a response.
John Minto
National Chair
Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa
Worldwide mainstream media coverage of the ASB Tennis Classic protest
Congratulations to everyone in Auckland who joined Monday’s protest at the ASB Tennis Classic.
Here is just some of the worldwide mainstream reporting from the event. It shows the power of BDS actions targeting sport in particular. (It was covered on Three News as well but no link available yet)
https://www.stuff.co.nz/nz-news/360536804/anti-israel-protesters-halt-play-asb-classic
https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/sport/537869/asb-classic-match-stalled-by-protesters-in-wild-first-day
https://apnews.com/article/auckland-tennis-naomi-osaka-a2f4e1d65c5c3a5f10aa53c607cc7458
444 days of genocide in Gaza
Reminder PSNA national conference February 22/23 in Wellington
PLEASE NOTE: If you are booking travel to come please note the conference will begin at 9am on Saturday 22 February and finish at 3pm on Sunday 23 February.
Palestinian playwright, scholar, commentator and poet, Samah Sabawi, will be a keynote speaker at the PSNA national conference in February. Samah is based in Australia and will be at our conference as part of a short speaking tour of Aotearoa New Zealand – more details in the next newsletter.
Samah will also be promoting her latest book “Cactus pear for my beloved”.
Samah is a marvellous speaker and wonderful advocate for Palestine. We are delighted to have her deliver a keynote address at the conference.
We hope to be able to confirm another international speaker for the conference in our next newsletter.
Mark the date 22/23 February to be in Wellington. More details of the programme will follow in future newsletters.
We will arrange billeting in Wellington for people from out of town and we will be able to help out with petrol costs to get there and airfares for those too far away to drive easily.
It will be a fantastic uplifting conference - looking forward to seeing you there!
PS: You can grab a copy of Samah’s new book “Cactus Pear for My Beloved: A family story from Gaza” at this link:
https://www.penguin.com.au/books/cactus-pear-for-my-beloved-9781761344978
Keep your ear to the ground
Pass on to us any news you have of government MPs at public events so we can hold them to account. Send messages to Secretary@PSNA.nz
Nationwide rallies/marches/MP protests/vigils this week
To view events around Aotearoa:
Go to the PSNA Homepage – www.PSNA.nz
Scroll down to the button “For a list of events Nationwide, please click here - Check back often for updates”
Click the button
Check back on Friday for any moves, adds or changes
Or events are on the PSNA Facebook events page here
There are more than 30 events around the Motu this week.
North Island
Opononi - Gathering for Palestine
No Rally this week
Kerikeri - Rally
First Saturday of the month - Saturday 4 January
9:00 – 11:00 am
Kerikeri roundabout, State highway 10
Whangarei – Rally
No more Rallies until the new year
Waiheke – Market Stall – hosted by Stand With Palestine Waiheke!
Every Saturday
8:00 am – 1:00 pm
Ostend Market, Waiheke Island
Auckland – No Picket this week
Wednesday 1 January
No Picket this week
Auckland – Stand for Palestine
Starting again on Thursday 2 January
Monday – Friday
3:00 – 4:00 pm at the US Consulate - 23 Customs Street East
4:00 – 5:00 pm at Te Komititanga Britomart Square
Auckland – Banners around Tamaki Makaurau
Every Saturday
This week
10:00 am – 1:00 pm
St Lukes road overbridge(by Motat)
Text John on 021 899 659 for more details
Auckland – Rally for Palestine
Saturday 4 January
2:00 pm
Te Komititanga - Britomart Square, Tamaki Makaurau
Thames – Vigil to Stop the war on Children
(Hosted by The Basket – Social and Environmental Justice - Hauraki)
First Saturday of the month - Saturday 4 January
10:00 am
Thames Market, 700 Pollen Street, Thames
Tauranga – Picnic in the Park
Friday 3 January
6:00 pm
Gourmet Night Market, Coronation Park, Mt Maunganui
Tauranga - Flags
Sunday 5 January
11:00 am
Coronation Park, Mt Manganui
Hamilton – Flag Waving for Palestine
Saturday 4 January
1:00 pm
Flynn Park, Cnr Wairere Drive & Naylor, Hamilton
Hamilton – Vigil - Global Action Participation
Saturday 4 January
2:30 pm
Waikato Hospital - Lorne Street & Ohaupo Road Intersection, Hamilton
Cambridge - Rally for Palestine
Every Saturday
11:00 am
Cambridge Town Hall
Rotorua – Rally for Palestine
Every Thursday
4:30 pm
National MP Todd McClays Office - Cnr Amohau and Ranolf St lights, Rotorua
Gisborne - Farmers Market - Vigil to Stop the war on Children
Every Saturday
9:30 – 11:30 am
Gisborne Farmers Market
Napier - Rally for Palestine
Saturday 4 January
11:30 am
Marine Parade Soundshell Roundabout
Hastings – Rally for Palestine
Sunday 5 January
1:00 pm
Hastings Town Clock – Hastings CBD
Palmerston North - Rally
Every Sunday
2:00 pm
The Square, Palmerston North
New Plymouth – Flags on the Bridge
Every Friday
4:30 pm
Paynters Ave Bridge, New Plymouth
New Plymouth – March for Gaza
Saturday 4 January
1:00 PM
The Landing, 1 Ariki Street, New Plymouth
Whanganui - Rally for Palestine
Saturday 4 January
11:00 am
Riverside Market, Whanganui
Carterton – Gathering for Gaza
Every Tuesday
12:00 midday
Memorial Square.
Martinborough – Vigil for Palestine
Every Wednesday
11:00 am
The square at the top of Kitchener St, Martinborough
Masterton - Gathering for Gaza
Every Sunday
9:30 am
Town Hall Lawn, Masterton
Featherston – Gathering for Gaza
Every Saturday
11:00 am
The Squircle (opposite the op shop).
Wellington – Flags on the Bridge
(hosted by the Falastin Tea Collective)
Friday 3 January
No Flags this Friday. Starts again Friday 10 January
Wellington – Vigil for Palestine
(hosted by Aotearoa Healthcare Workers for Palestine)
Every Friday
6:00 pm
In front of Wellington Hospital, 49 Riddiford Street, Newtown, Wellington
Wellington – Rally
(hosted by the Falastin Tea Collective)
Resuming rallies on Saturday 11 January
Watch this space
South Island
Nelson – Rally for Palestine
Saturday 4 January
10:30 am
Hikoi, Tahuna Beach, Rocks Rd, Nelson
Blenheim - Rally for Palestine
Saturday 4 January
11:00 am
Blenheim Railway Station
Christchurch - Flag Waving for Palestine
Friday 3 January
No flags this week
Christchurch – Rally for Palestine
Saturday 4 January
1:00 pm
Bridge of Remembrance, Cashel Street, Christchurch
Timaru
No Rally this weekend
Dunedin – Rally
No rally this weekend
Queenstown
No rally this weekend
Invercargill - Rally for Palestine
Sunday 5 January
1:00 pm
Wachner place Invercargill
Check out the stickers on these Sodastream products
If you’d like some stickers email your address to Merchandise@PSNA.nz and we will send them to you.
What to boycott over Summer?
Watch out for the main BDS targets over summer – don’t buy them and spread the word to friends, family and workmates…
1) Sodastream
2) HP products
3) BP and Caltex petrol stations
4) McDonald’s
5) Ahava beauty products
On-line in Aotearoa
https://www.onceit.co.nz/
https://freshbeautyco.co.nz/collections/
https://www.cosmeticsnow.nz/about
https://www.pharmacydirect.co.nz/Ahava (they also have products under the brand 'Dead Sea')
https://www.recreateyourself.co.nz/ (based in Oz)
https://nz.cosmostore.org/catalog/brands/
Stores: Harvey Norman!
Three important submissions due in January
There are three important bills before parliament which need to be challenged – submissions for each one close in January. The Foreign Interference Bill has direct implications for groups raising funds for Palestinian organisations or supporting the Palestinian resistance to Israeli apartheid. PSNA will make a submission on this bill.
The Treaty Principles Bill is an attempt to halt decolonization here and to make it easier for foreign corporations to exploit this country and our resources. We are standing against Israel’s settler colonial regime in Palestine and to be consistent we must stand with tangata whenua here against colonialism as well.
We have likewise included the Regulatory Standards Bill because it has serious implications for decolonization here.
1. The Treaty Principles Bill – Submissions close Tuesday 7 January
This ACT Party Bill is designed to stop progress towards decolonisation of Aotearoa and carries huge risks of creating serious social divisions. Here are four sites which can help you write short submission. Submissions can be made here.
Emily Writes – clear, simple set of steps to follow & points to make.
ActionStation website - a good clear submission guide and their video with Carwyn Jones, Tina Ngata and Max Harris has points & tips.
Green Party submission guide – best to use the points for making your own submission rather than just signing the form.
The PSA has a good submission guide.
2. Regulatory Standards bill – Submissions close Monday 13 January
This is another ACT Party Bill which aims to make it much harder to roll back neo-liberal reforms brought in the 1980s and 1990s. It has failed three times before but ACT are pushing it forward again.
Emeritus Professor of Law Jane Kelsey has written a scathing critique of the Bill here which can help us make a short submission. Even just writing “I oppose this Bill” is enough for a submission but Jane’s piece might give you other ideas.
Submissions can be emailed toRSBconsultation@regulation.govt.nz or post it to Ministry for Regulation, PO Box 577, Wellington 6140.
3. Foreign Interference Bill – Submissions close Thursday 16 January
Maire Leadbeater has written a good piece pointing to the dangers of this bill
Even just writing “I oppose this Bill” is enough for a submission but Jane’s piece might give you other ideas.
Note this bill has serious implication for fundraising for Palestinian resistance groups.
You can make a submission here:
A few pics from around the country
Projecting “genocide” onto the City council office in Whakatū/Nelson
Whakatū/Nelson
Te Whanganui-A-Tara/Wellington
Flightless in Gaza - fundraiser
We still haven’t had any bids above $1000 for this beautiful and poignant piece of porcelain artwork by Canterbury artist Jane Whales to be used as a fundraiser. It’s called “Flightless in Gaza” and shows scarred lives rising from a scared landscape. It features an adult hand rising from the rubble which holds a child’s hand which cradle’s a dead bird. It is 36cm tall by 9cm at the base .
A work like this from Jane would sell for more than $1000 so we are asking for bids above this as a minimum. The photos don’t do it credit unfortunately. It’s a dramatic and beautifully crafted artwork. Email bids to bronwensummers@gmail.com
Merchandise for sale
We are ready to mail to you any of our t-shirts, long ($35) and short ($30) sleeved, hoodies ($45) bumper stickers ($3), Tino/Palestine pins ($3) flags ($10) and other items plus postage.
See more on the PSNA website here.
Email Merchandise@PSNA.nz with your order.
Medical staff at Kamal Adwan hospital stripped and arrested at gunpoint by Israeli soldiers while patients die
Other Stories
Candace Owens reveals Netanyahu strategy here (video)
Pope Francis condemns Israel’s bombing in Gaza again here
Palestine in 2024: A year of Israeli impunity and genocide here
Health Ministry calls for alternative medical services for civilians after Israeli raid on Gaza hospital here
UN 'alarmed' by ongoing Israeli attacks in Gaza here
Gaza hospital says four babies die of 'severe temperature drop' here
Israeli airstrike near Gaza’s Kamal Adwan Hospital kills nearly 50, including five medical staff here
Yemen’s resilient challenge to Israeli military supremacy here
Israeli forces arrest Gaza hospital chief after ‘burning doctors and patients alive’ here
The BBC’s Civil War Over Gaza here
Reminder: Dates for Palestine Solidarity during the year
Israel apartheid week has been added to the dates for likely local and national Palestine solidarity activity this year.
28 Mar – 4 Apr Israel Apartheid Week
30 Mar Land Day Palestine
5 Apr Palestinian Childs Day
9 Apr Deir Yassin massacre - Irgun Terrorism - 107-120 Palestinian men, women and children massacred
17 Apr Palestinian Prisoners Day
11 May World Kufiya Day
15 May Nakba Day – marking the mass ethnic cleansing of Palestinians from Palestine in 1948
5 Jun Nakba Day - Start of 1967 War - Land Grab – Invasion of Jerusalem, West Bank, Gaza, Egypt and Syria - 5 June 1967 – 10 June 1967
20 Jun Attack on Gaza - 6–21 May 2021 (2 weeks and 1 day)
16-18 Sep 40th anniversary of the Sabra and Shatila massacres
28 Sep Second Intifada - 28 Sept 2000 – 8 Feb 2005
2 Nov Balfour Declaration
29 Nov United Nations - International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People
8 Dec First Intifada - 8 Dec 1987 – 13 Sept 1993
Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign?
We will need some serious money to make our campaign as effective as possible. For example, we will need somewhere in the vicinity of $25,000 to bring speakers to New Zealand over the next year and organise large public meetings to help spread the message.
You can help. Are you able to donate a cup of coffee a month to the campaign? In other words, can you afford to make an automatic payment of $5 per month to support the Palestinian struggle? (If you can afford more that would be great!)
Our account details are:
Account name: Palestine Solidarity Network
Account number: 38-9015-0849542-00
We are happy to provide a receipt upon request (however, we are not a registered charity so this is not tax-deductible)
In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter – an invitation to subscribe from Leslie Bravery
Because of mainstream news media complicity, daily headlines and commentary only occasionally ever mention the relentless Israeli violence in Palestine, not even the frequent air strikes!
However, daily news and statistics regarding the violence Palestinians are forced to live under are regularly reported on in the “In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter”, sourced and compiled for easy reading and correlation chiefly from the Palestinian Monitoring Group's daily situation reports.
The In Occupied Palestine daily newsletter continues to be circulated, by email, worldwide to subscribers only, as it has been over the last two decades.
Please contact lesliebravery@icloud.com if you also wish to become a subscriber.
Merchandise for sale
We have Merchandise you can buy including T-shirts from our website.
Go here - https://www.psna.nz/shop
More ways you can get involved
Forward this Newsletter – If you know people who may be interested in this movement, please forward this Newsletter to them.
Join in local activities in your area - Contact Secretary@PSNA.nz if you would like to know where and how to get Flags and Banners
Help set up a Students for Justice in Palestine groups on your campus
Tell Your MP your opinions on Divestment and Sanctions of Israel.
Write Letters to Newspapers – Call Talkback Radio
Keep in touch with the campaign on social media
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network website: https://www.PSNA.nz
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network Facebook: www.facebook.com/groups/671376706283605/
o NZ Palestine Solidarity Network email: Secretary@PSNA.nz
The Palestine Human Rights Campaign produces the In Occupied Palestine newsletter. It is a regular daily newsletter on the daily situation in Palestine, compiled by Leslie Bravery and emailed to subscribers. If you would also like to become a subscriber, please contact Leslie at “lesliebravery @ icloud .com” (remove the spaces to use as an email address) for further information.
Keep Updated on our Facebook pages and websites (listed below)
Human rights for Uyghur refugees - In line with our support for human rights for the people of Palestine we have added our name to the petition in support of human rights for Uyghur refugees so they can be included in the government’s refugee quota. PSNA members who wish to also sign this petition can do so here - https://our.actionstation.org.nz/petitions/open-letter-let-s-show-compassion-to-the-uyghur-community
PSNA Groups
PSNA National Committee
Website: www.PSNA.nz
Chair - John Minto: Chair@PSNA.nz
Secretary - Neil Scott: Secretary@PSNA.nz
Regional Groups
Bay of Islands PSN Bay of Islands (Email)
Whangarei PSN Whangarei (Facebook)
Auckland PSN Auckland – Tamaki Makaurau (Website)
Hamilton Palestine Human Rights Campaign Waikato (Facebook)
Tauranga Tauranga Moana 4 Palestine (Facebook)
Napier/Hastings Aotearoa Standing with Palestine (Facebook)
Palmerston North PSN Palmerston North (Email)
New Plymouth PSN Taranaki (Facebook)
Wellington PSN Wellington (Email)
Nelson Te Tau Ihu (Nelson) Palestine (Facebook)
Christchurch PSN Christchurch (Facebook)
Dunedin Dunedin for Justice in Palestine (Facebook)
Invercargill PSNA Invercargill (Email)