PSNA Newsletter No 97 - June 6 023
6 Pipiri 2023
6 June 2023
Newsletter No 97
Kia ora koutou,
Australians overwhelmingly support Palestine
While he was here last week Nasser Mashni, President of APAN (Australia Palestine Advocacy Network) talked about a professional poll conducted by APAN in Australia last year. The poll, conducted by YouGov, an independent reputable polling company, shows overwhelming support from the Australian people for Palestine on the key issues facing Palestinians. We see no reason to think support from New Zealanders would be any less and in fact may well be greater.
The poll should give added impetus and encouragement to Aotearoa New Zealand political parties to take stronger action to reflect the views expressed on each of the key issues.
A summary of the poll results is below and more details can be found on the APAN website here.
Something you can do now with just a few clicks…
Email the page above to your local MP asking why New Zealand politicians are well behind public opinion on Palestine. (potential text and image below) You can find the email address of your local MP here
You could write your own note or copy and paste this note into your email.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
<Local MP Name>
Kia ora ___________,
Why are politicians so far behind public opinion on Palestine?
Last year APAN (Australia Palestine Advocacy Network) conducted a poll using professional pollsters YouGov to find out Australians’ opinions on the key issues facing Palestine.
Here are the key results: (More details can be found on the APAN website here)
In Australia, as well as Aotearoa New Zealand, politicians are well behind public opinion and fear they will face false smears of anti-semitism from the pro-Israel lobby if they support Palestine.
New Zealand must stop being a silent bystander as Palestinians face what amount to genocidal policies by the new far-right Israeli leadership.
Are you prepared to stand with Palestinians, and the majority of New Zealanders, and push within your own party to give active support to the Palestinian struggle?
Ngā mihi.
Nā,
<Your name>
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Please consider stopping and sending your email before reading on.
It will take less than 2 minutes.
Also, please consider Bcc’ing Secretary@PSNA.nz so we can track how many emails MPs receives.
Or forward your email to me after you have sent it to your local MP.
With each newsletter, the number of emails sent grows.
The more emails we send, the more traction we get.
Nga mihi
Neil (Secretary)
Nasser Mashni tour a huge success
We were delighted to host Nasser Mashni, APAN President, on his tour of New Zealand last week.
In a whirlwind five days Nasser spoke at public meetings in Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, Hamilton and Auckland, University meetings in Christchurch and Wellington as well as numerous other meetings with government officials, MPs and community leaders throughout the country.
Nasser is a gifted communicator and deeply impressed those who heard him talk.
Two podcast interviews with Nasser Mashni from his tour in Hamilton here and in Christchurch here.
PSNA will be following through on the various threads from his trip to keep the Palestinian struggle before the public and politicians.
Nassser’s arrival at Queenstown airport greeted by PSNA Deputy National Secretary Brandon Johnstone
Palestinians together: Nasser Mashni with Ahmed Saadeh in Hamilton. Ahmed is on the PSNA National Committee and the PACC (Palestinians in Aotearoa Co-ordinating Committee)
Nasser speaks at the Auckland meeting
Give a Little page to fundraise for PSNA
To broaden our fundraising base we have set up a “Give a Little” page with a target of $5,000 for a month. Feel free to make a donation yourself or pass on the QR code below to family and friends who may be able to help.
Give a Little page here - https://givealittle.co.nz/cause/aotearoa-fighting-for-palestinian-human-rights
Or
Transfer your donation directly into our account and then email secretary@PSNA.nz for a receipt.
Our account name is: PALESTINE SOLIDARITY NETWORK
Our account number is: 38-9015-0849542-00
Another BDS Victory
In a major win for human rights activism against corporate complicity, the world's largest private security company Allied Universal, which owns G4S, has decided to sell all its remaining business in apartheid Israel.
This victory was made possible by the tireless work of our amazing partners and you, our supporters. Grassroots power built the #StopG4S campaign from the ground up and persisted in pressuring G4S to divest from its stake in Policity, the Israeli police academy, due to documented war crimes and human rights violations by Israeli police.
Allied Universal, which acquired G4S in 2021, is now selling that stake to G1, an Israeli company known for complicity in human rights abuses (pending Israeli authorities’ approval).
The final straw compelling Allied Universal to end its complicity in apartheid Israel's human rights abuses against Indigenous Palestinians came from the Quebec Pension Plan's management fund, CDPQ, the largest shareholder in Allied Universal. CDPQ has acknowledged the documented cases of Israeli torture against Palestinians and disapproved of such activities.
Read more about this victory for BDS here
Recent activity in pics around the motu…
Monthly protest on Marine Parade in Napier
New Plymouth shows the way again. The Palestinian flag flies high on the council flagpole.
Monthly Rally at Britomart in Tamaki Makaurau Auckland (first Saturday of Every month from 2:00 – 3:00 pm)
Highlighted Opinion Piece
Primo Levi's Words Echo Across the Daily Routine of Israelis and Palestinians
From Haaretz writer Amira Hass, May 30, 2023
“You who live secure / In your warm houses / Who return at evening to find / Hot food and friendly faces.” Primo Levi, “Shema,” 1946.
While Israelis were returning to bed, a 4-year-old boy was wetting his pants because soldiers had brought his entire family out into the yard, their rifles trained on them
While you were waking up with the Shema prayer on the radio, earthmoving equipment from Israel's Civil Administration in the West Bank was already razing a school, three tents and a water cistern, and tens of thousands of labourers were crowding at checkpoints to enter Israel.
While you were brushing your teeth, young men in tzitzit were chopping down an olive tree, and thousands of labourers continued to pass through checkpoints.
While you were making an omelette, soldiers were arresting a shepherd, binding his wrists, covering his eyes with a cloth and bringing him to an army base.
While your son was leaving for school, soldiers were firing tear gas grenades, and women and children were choking.
While the babies’ nanny was arriving, Israeli police officers disguised as produce merchants were raiding the Jenin refugee camp.
While you were getting on your bicycle, there were already three dead and eight wounded in the camp; one school had been destroyed; five cubic meters of purchased water had gone to waste; one tent had collapsed; frightened goats had scattered; a woman had passed out from the tear gas and was rushed to the hospital; 13 trees had been cut down; soldiers excited by their successful mission had returned to their Jeep and labourers had reached the construction sites four hours after leaving their homes.
When you got to work you received a WhatsApp text from your brother, the soldier. "Miss you."
While you were checking emails on your computer, three Civil Administration officers were rejecting applications from 286 farmers for permission to reach their land on the other side of the separation barrier.
While you were chatting with a colleague, the Red Cross was informing a mother that the army wouldn't let her visit her sick son in prison.
While you were taking a coffee break, a boy was bursting into tears because a soldier had aimed a rifle at him at a flying checkpoint on the road to Nablus.
While you were going to the bathroom, the Civil Administration was approving the construction of 48 housing units in a settlement outpost that had been legalized.
While you were sending your weekly report to the boss, the finance minister was announcing that he was robbing another 120 million shekels ($32 million) from Palestinian Authority revenue.
While you were going up to the roof for a smoke and a stretch, a young Palestinian was being placed in solitary confinement at Kishon Prison on his eighth day in custody after being interrogated by the Shin Bet security service for 15-and-a-half hours while sitting on – and tied to – a low chair.
While you and mom were deciding what to make for Friday night dinner, the Palestinian Finance Ministry announced that this month PA employees would receive only 60 percent of their wages, and 62 vehicles were already waiting at the flying checkpoint.
While you were stubbing out a cigarette, a prison doctor was giving acetaminophen to the young interrogee who had complained of back pain and numbness in his hands, and a soldier at the flying checkpoint was firing stun grenades at drivers and passengers who got out of their cars.
While you were returning to the computer, a Civilian Civil Administration infrastructure officer was ordering the destruction of a water pipe in a village in the Jordan Valley.
When you left the office, you didn't notice the labourers putting up a luxury apartment building among ficus trees as part of a raze-and-rebuild program.
While you were picking up your eldest son from school (a Thursday treat), a Hebron municipality driver was filling a tank with water from the main pipe at the entrance to the Palestinian town of Bani Nai'm, and the soldiers were releasing the shepherd whom they had arrested. He had a headache because the soldiers didn't give him any water.
While your son was telling you about the soccer game, four young men carrying a large Israeli flag were invading a house near a spring they took over long ago in a village west of Ramallah.
While you were going to your neighbourhood grocery store, the Hebron municipality driver was bringing water to a neighbourhood that hasn’t had running water for three months because the water pressure is too low because Israel restricts the quantities of water to non-Jews.
While you were returning home, teenagers wearing kippot were kicking an old man wearing a kaffiyeh.
While you were changing a diaper, a teenager from the “hilltop youth” tweeted: “Praise God for the large Jewish presence in the area and Jewish shepherds who reconquered the territory... Bedouin [from the village of Ein Samiya] are leaving the area... We want all the Bedouin... to leave the country. There's better pasture land in Saudi Arabia.”
While you were chopping a tomato, the TV news was reporting that an Arab had been convicted of incitement and sentenced to a year in prison.
While you were reading your son a bedtime story, the High Court of Justice was issuing two learned rulings, one allowing the state to destroy villages and replace them with a military firing range, the other letting the Shin Bet keep detaining a Palestinian man who has been already in custody without charges or evidence for 19 months straight.
While your baby’s cries were waking you up, masked soldiers were raiding 17 villages, refugee camps and neighbourhoods, arresting eight men. And while you were returning to bed, a 4-year-old boy was wetting his pants because soldiers had brought his entire family out of their home and into the yard, their rifles trained on them.
While you were waking up, nine land-theft orders drafted by military jurists were awaiting the signature of the Civil Administration chief.
And there was evening and there was night and there was Good Morning Israel.
“The Palestine Laboratory” – important new book by Antony Loewenstein
This important new book by Australian writer Antony Loewenstein is coming out next month and we hope to have Antony over here promoting his book in the next couple of months. In the meantime here are three internationally-renowned endorsements for the book.
‘This is a must-read on a hidden and shocking aspect of the Israeli colonisation of the Palestinians. This book shows clearly that this kind of export is now Israel’s most significant contribution to the global violation of human rights.’
Ilan Pappe, author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine and Ten Myths About Israel
‘A triumph of investigative journalism. It exposes the ruthlessness with which Israel exploits the experience gained from the illegal occupation to export all kinds of military hardware as well as the technology of surveillance, espionage, cyber warfare, phone-hacking, and house demolition. It also shines a torch on the dark side of Israel’s support for despots around the world. Altogether, a profoundly depressing audit on a country that used to boast of being “a light unto the nations”.’
Avi Shlaim, Emeritus Professor of International Relations at the University of Oxford and author of The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab world
‘A sad and sordid record of how “the light unto the nations” became the purveyor of the means of violence and brutal repression from Guatemala to Myanmar and wherever else the opportunity arose.’
Noam Chomsky
More details of the book can be read here and all reviews so far can be found here.
And here is the link to an excellent article in the Sydney Morning Herald earlier this month by Antony Loewenstein – https://www.smh.com.au/national/the-may-13-edition-20230405-p5cygt.html
“The deadly promise” – book review
PSNA National Chair John Minto was sent this book by the author Gilou Bareau. Here is John’s review.
I read this book over two days and really enjoyed it. It’s a great read both in terms of its storyline and the politics of the Middle East which run through it. Exciting and engaging.
The story centres on a deeply conservative, devout Jewish family in Manchester in the UK. The two eldest children follow the parents’ conservative beliefs and lifestyles with the eldest daughter staying at home to look after her elderly father. The younger two boys however bring shame to the family – Abe Peretz joins the Palestinian human rights struggle while his younger brother Zach becomes a cocaine addict and petty thief.
The book opens at the funeral for Abe after he was killed running onto the road to flee thugs after he has spoken out against Israel at a public meeting.
Zach, who is the main protagonist in the story and is a supporter of Israel, works with Abe’s ex-wife Hepzibah, a Jewish pro-Palestinian journalist who specialises in the Middle East, to track down those responsible for Abe’s death. Sharing Hepzibah’s flat is a young Palestinian woman.
This diverse group of characters drives the story which reads like a thriller as the drama unfolds in London and then in Tel Aviv as they search for answers. Meanwhile Zach tries to kick his cocaine addiction while he has his political views challenged by those around him and undermined by the realities of life for Palestinians.
The deadly promise, from the book’s title, is revealed in the closing pages of the book. I didn’t see it coming…
This is a book where you get immediately immersed with the characters who are all flawed in one way or another but come alive as credible and authentic. You can’t help feeling gripped by the narrative and caring what happens to the characters.
The politics is woven through the story in such a way it doesn’t dominate the book with earnest political dialogue or beat the reader over the head with dogma. However I’d be astonished if anyone finished reading the book without a clear idea of the politics of the Middle East and finding themselves firmly on the side of Palestine.
The book can be bought online or you can order through your local bookstore. The ISBN number is 9780906378175.
Watch out for this man promoting racism and apartheid
Here he is – the Israeli ambassador – watch out for him around Aotearoa New Zealand – if you hear of any planned appearances or speaking engagements please contact us urgently: Email apartheid-Israel@PSNA.nz or text 027 4 APARTHEID or 027427278.
Israeli ambassador Ran Yaakoby
Is your property an “apartheid free zone”?
These are popping up on letterboxes and fences all over the country – to get your “Apartheid free zone” coreflute to stick on your letterbox or your front fence just deposit $5 in:
Account Name: Palestine Solidarity Network
Account Number: 38 9015 0849542 00
and send an email to secretary@PSNA.nz with your address and we’ll send you one - or as many as you’d like for your neighbours and friends….
Petition to Close the Israeli Embassy
If you haven’t signed our petition to close the Israeli embassy yet…
Scan and Sign here
Or Click and Sign here
Important stories from the Web
General
Australian Greens change policy on Palestine-Israel here
Confidential EU report warns about drastic acceleration of Israeli pressure on Jerusalem here
ABC amends two articles after being accused of anti-Israeli bias here
Centcom commander visits Israel to observe multifront war exercise here
Tell the EU Trade Directorate the EU should not profit from Israeli spyware at your expense here
The Harvard of anti-terrorism: How Israel’s military industrial complex feeds the global arms trade here
What’s the Story? Dr. Lina Qasem-Hassan on Israeli medical apartheid here
Palestinians don’t want a ‘good life’ like westerners, they are zealots — Israeli expert tells Americans here
Australia and Apartheid Israel: Not to act is to condone here
US
U.S. Jews who are angry at Israel are ‘endangering its existence’ — Cuomo here
US politicians accused of bullying student over pro-Palestine speech here
Run out of patience: US senator demands report of Shireen Abu Akleh killing here
US aid to Israel and the rights of Palestinian children here
Reclaiming CUNY as a People’s University: Fighting against repression, censorship, and anti-Palestinian racism here
West Bank: US rebukes Israel over settlers' return to evacuated outpost here
Palestine
We tell them they can still laugh: The doctor treating the mental scars of Gaza’s children here
Aqbat Jabr camp: Latest target of Israel's brutal West Bank raids here
Gaza’s shifting seafood culture under Israel’s blockade here
Five Palestinian fighters killed in Lebanon blast blamed on Israel here
The slow ethnic cleansing of Ein Samiya’s Bedouin community here
Israeli forces systemic denial of fair trial rights to Palestinian child prisoners amounts to arbitrary detention here
Hamas upholds executions against three Palestinian collaborators here
Israel
Three Israeli soldiers and Egyptian gunman killed at border here
With NGO assault, Israel drops its fig leaf here
I no longer believe in a Jewish state here
Bret Stevens’ latest rationale for a Jewish state leaves out Palestinians entirely here
Civil society killer tax bill threatens to silence NGOs here
The flag march is part of the Zionist war on Jerusalem here
BDS
Belgian City of Verviers cuts ties with Israeli apartheid regime to strengthen support for the Palestinian people here
Reminder: Dates for Palestine Solidarity in 2023
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 monthly Rallies - In Auckland at 2.00 pm on the first Saturday of every month. Please consider doing the same in your community. 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)