PSNA Newsletter No 179 - February 12 March 2025
12 Poutū-te-rangi 2025
12 March 2025
Newsletter No 179
Open letter requesting government action on the future of Gaza
Two things you can do now with just a few clicks…
Two things you can do now with just a few clicks…
1. Sign the open letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters urging the government to condemn Israel’s latest war crimes of cutting off humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
The link to the letter is here: www.psna.nz/letter-to-winston-peters
Share the poster above on your social media pages
What do you think of the PSNA newsletter?
We’d love your feedback so we can improve how we communicate with you on the most important human rights issue of the 21st century.
Just Six Government MPs Needed To Pass Unlawful Occupation Of Palestine Sanctions Bill
The Green Party are calling for six government MPs to support their “Occupation of Palestine Sanctions” bill to get the bill debated in parliament. The details are here.
We ask all our supporters to contact their closest government MPs and urge them to support the Green Party bill being debated in parliament. You can find your closest government MP here.
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 25 events around the Motu this week.
North Island
Hokianga
No event this weekend
Kerikeri - Rally
First Saturday of the Month
Whangarei - Rally gathering
Saturday 15 March
10am - 11.30am
Rally gathering at Canopy Bridge, Town Basin, Whangarei
Auckland – Stand for Palestine
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 Picket @ RNZ
Wednesday 12 March
12:00 mid-day
171 Hobson Street, Auckland Central
Waiheke – Market Stall – hosted by Stand With Palestine Waiheke!
Every Saturday
8:00 am – 1:00 pm
Ostend Market, Waiheke Island
Auckland – Banners around Tamaki Makaurau
Every Saturday
This week
10:00 am – 1:00 pm
Join the team – text John on 021 899 659
Auckland – Gathering for Palestine – Palestinian Poetry
Saturday 15 March
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.
Tauranga – Flag Waving
Sunday 16th march
11:00 am
SH2 Bethlehem (by Woolworths)
Hamilton – Flag Waving for Palestine
Saturday 15 March
1:00 pm
Flynn Park, Cnr Wairere Drive & Naylor, Hamilton
Hamilton
No rally this weekend?
Raglan
No Event week
Cambridge - Rally for Palestine
Every Saturday
11:00 am
Cambridge Town Hall
Rotorua – Rally for Palestine
Every Thursday
4:30 pm
National MP Todd McClay’s Office - Cnr Amohau and Ranolf St lights, Rotorua
Napier - Rally for Palestine
Saturday 15 March
11:30 am
Marine Parade Soundshell Roundabout
Hastings – Rally for Palestine
Sunday 16 March
1:00 pm
Hastings Town Clock – Hastings CBD
Palmerston North - Rally
Saturday 15 March
2:00 am
The Square, Palmerston North
New Plymouth – Flags at Council
Friday 14 March
4:00 – 5:30 pm
New Plymouth District Council, 84 Liardet Street, New Plymouth
New Plymouth – Rally for Palestine
Saturday – March 15
10.30 am
The Landing, 1 Ariki Street
New Plymouth – Film – Where Olive Trees Weep
Saturday – March 22
1:00 pm
Methodist church 66 Liardet St, New Plymouth
Whanganui - Rally for Palestine
Saturday 15 March
11:00 am
Riverside Market, Whanganui
Martinborough – Vigil for Palestine
First Wednesday of the month
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)
Every Friday
7:15 – 8:15 am
Hill Street bridge Overbridge, Wellington
Wellington – Rally and reflective walk
(hosted by the Falastin Tea Collective - third Saturday of the month)
Saturday 15 March
1:00 pm
Meet at the grassy area across from Oriental Bay Beach
And then a reflective walk to Point Jerningham to remember the martyrs of Christchurch and Palestine
Check out https://www.instagram.com/falastin_tea_collective for further details
South Island
Nelson – Letter writing and Petition signing
Saturday 15 March
10.30 am
PSA rooms, Munro Building, 190 Bridge St, Nelson
(Opposite Police Station)
Blenheim - Rally for Palestine
Saturday 15 March
11:00 am
Blenheim Railway Station
Picton – Rally for Palestine
Every Saturday
1:00 – 2:00 pm
Picton Foreshore
Christchurch – Flags for Palestine
Friday 14 March
4:00 pm
Bridge of Remembrance, Cashel Street, Christchurch
Christchurch – Rally for Palestine
Saturday 15 March – No March this Saturday
Christchurch – Unity March
Sunday 16 March
11:00 am
Unity March from Bridge of Remembrance to the Multicultural Centre at 455 Hagley Avenue
Dunedin - Seminar
Yes, it is Genocide, and Yes, it Matters - National Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies Seminar with Prof Robert Patman, Prof Richard Jackson and Dr Rula Talahma
Wednesday 12 March
12 noon – 1:00pm
University of Otago, Archway 1
Dunedin – Rally
Moved to once a month
No Rally this weekend
Invercargill - Rally for Palestine
Sunday
1:00 pm
Wachner Square, Invercargill
PSNA statement on the film “No other Land”
The joint Palestinian/Israeli film “No Other Land” has won the 2025 Oscar award for best documentary. It will soon have widespread screenings throughout Aotearoa.
The film powerfully exposes Israel’s ethnic cleansing in Masafer Yatta since 2019. Masafer Yatta is a Palestinian community in the South Hebron Hills in the Occupied West Bank.
However the BDS movement has been critical that the film “normalises” the situation for Palestinians by showing Palestinians and Israelis working together without specifically acknowledging Israel as a settler-colonial state which uses apartheid policies to oppress Palestinians and deny them human rights.
Such a picture encourages people to see the Middle East as a “conflict” which needs to be solved with compromise on both sides rather than as a struggle for Palestinian liberation. The Oscar-winning speeches reinforced this with the Israeli filmmakers accused of being liberal Zionists rather than anti-Zionists.
The full BDS critique of the film is here: https://bdsmovement.net/no-other-land
Since the BDS criticism was made public the film makers have released a statement to try to address the concerns expressed by the BDS movement.
That statement is here: https://nootherland.com/directors-statement
PSNA endorses the criticisms of the film by the BDS movement, of which we are a part, and the very real, albeit subtle, dangers of “normalisation” which can and do seriously undermine the Palestinian struggle for liberation.
We also acknowledge the significant positive shift by the filmmakers since the BDS criticisms of the film were made public.
Overall we see the film as providing an important opportunity for people to understand the true nature of Israel’s ethnic cleansing and land theft in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. (Note the film has been denied a distributor in the US due to the pro-Israel lobby)
A poll last years showed one third of New Zealanders say they don’t have enough information to understand the situation in Palestine. This film should reduce that number in favour of the Palestinian struggle.
Therefore PSNA will encourage the widespread screening of the film here in Aotearoa New Zealand.
Note: The struggle depicted in Masafer Yatta continues. See here https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/02/israel-opt-masafer-yatta-community-in-occupied-west-bank-under-imminent-threat-of-forcible-transfer/
Defining anti-semitism – Webinar with Peter Slezak
Boycott Reebok campaign now underway
Reebok has stepped in to sponsor the Israeli Football Association which funds Israeli soccer clubs in illegal Israeli settlements. More details of the Reebok boycott are here: https://bdsmovement.net/boycott-reebok
Wellington healthcare workers stand with Palestine
Outside a house in Ōtautahi/Christchurch
SodaStream stickers now available…
If you’d like some stickers email your address to Merchandise@PSNA.nz and we will send them to you. (Note: we will have a specific Sodastream sticker available soon)
Don’t bank on apartheid - campaign update
(A Justice for Palestine campaign)
You took action against KiwiSaver dollars being used to support illegal Israeli settlements on stolen Palestinian land by signing the ASB divest petition.
Despite you and thousands of their customers telling them to divest from Motorola Solutions Inc and Israeli apartheid, ASB has so far refused to divest.
Today we’re asking you to keep the pressure on ASB with one small action. Email them to ask if they’re still banking on apartheid.
When we met with ASB last year, they said they were reviewing the investment, meeting with both Motorola and the UN over December and January.
Despite the fragile ceasefire in Gaza, the violent displacement of Palestinians in the West Bank for the expansion of settlements is escalating. It is more important than ever that we stop financing Israeli apartheid.
We’ve followed up with ASB on their meetings and review of their investment in Motorola - a company that supports these settlements - but we’re being ignored. Despite the ethnic cleansing we are witnessing in the West Bank, ASB appears to be hoping this will just go away.
Write to ASB today and remind them that you don’t want them to be investing KiwiSaver dollar in Israeli apartheid. Click the link here to use our template email. Remember to sign your name at the bottom, and if you create your own unique subject line it will be most effective!
We know ASB care about what their customers and other New Zealanders think about their investments. It’s part of their policy. So we need to make sure they hear loud and clear that we don’t want them to invest in illegal Israeli settlements, and we’re not going to stop until they divest.
Want to get more involved in the campaign? Here are two actions you can take:
1. Come to our webinar: From Aotearoa to Palestine Colonial Expansion is a Crime - a conversation between Wajd El-Matary (Justice for Palestine) and Dr Yara Hawari (Al-Shabaka) - Sunday, 9 March 8pm - Register here.
2. Join our online phone bank for the ASB Divest campaign - join us to call ASB customer who already support the campaign to encourage them to take action to get ASB to meet our divestment demand. Training provided - Thursday, 13 March 7-8:30pm - Register here.
With your help we can continue to build up the pressure until ASB realises it’s not worth banking on apartheid!
Ngā mihi,
Justice for Palestine
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
Keep spreading the message about the Genocide Hotline!
Remember possible action for local groups
For groups affiliated to PSNA we suggest the following actions could be taken at any time in support of this campaign
Asking your local backpacker accommodation to display the poster and draw it to the attention of any Israeli soldiers here on “rest and recreation” from the genocide.
Pasting the hotline poster (use the version in this newsletter which includes a contact email) around the vicinity of backpacker venues in your local area. This is already happening in some areas.
Hand out flyers to people in the vicinity of your local backpackers
Contact us on the hotline if you come across Israeli soldiers
The Doctor’s Wife - New Zealand international film festival film
Quote of the week
In one case in September 2024, Israeli forces also sent containers including the remains of at least 88 unidentified Palestinians to Gaza, who were then buried in a mass grave. The bodies of at least 600 Palestinians continue to be held by Israeli forces as bargaining chips under a long-standing illegal Israeli practice that predates October 2023.
—Amnesty International Report, February 2025.
Important stories from last week
Editor’s picks
State of Siege: Israel is conducting its largest mass expulsion campaign in the West Bank since 1967 here
Houthis Issue Ultimatum to Israel: Yemen Will Resume Naval Blockade if Aid Is Not Allowed into Gaza here
The Australian media’s problem with Palestine here
Listen: New BBC documentary 'The Road to 7th October' is an utter travesty here
Popular Gaza Creator May Have Been Killed By Gunshot, Not Shrapnel, Doctors Say here
Liberal Zionism steals the show at the Oscars here
Other stories
Yes, Trump is vulgar. But the US global shakedown is the same one as ever here
Nine students arrested at Barnard during pro-Palestine sit in here
Vermont towns vote to cut ties with Israeli apartheid here
Maersk is fuelling Israel’s deadly assaults on Palestinians by shipping weapons used to kill children and families in Gaza. Sign the petition here
International Women’s Day activists protest in solidarity with Palestinians here
Gallery: NZ women call for long-term peace and justice in Palestine here
Images and videos via Instagram and FB here
The world cannot ignore Trump’s death threat to my people of Gaza here
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.
Reminder: Annual Dates for Palestine Solidarity
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.
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)