AT THE SAME time as it was announced by the Gaza Health Ministry that more than 10,000 people had been killed during the thirty-one day of Israel's relentless military assault, the New Zealand media's big Gaza-related issue was Green MP Chloe Swarbrick chanting a decades-old Palestinian call for freedom. With over 4,000 children having now lost their lives in Gaza, it's reasonable to suggest that there are more pressing issues for our Media to be concerned about. But never underestimate our media's uncanny ability to descend into the quagmire of reactionary politics. Suddenly Chloe Swarbrick found herself having to defend chanting 'From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free', a rallying call that long precedes the formation of the Palestinian armed group Hamas.
It was ACT leader David Seymour who kicked off the media beat-up by posting on X: 'From river to the sea' appears in Hamas' 2017 constitution. Some people believe it means no Israel and no Jewish people. Why aren't the media asking what she meant'?
This is the same David Seymour who said only a few months ago: 'When I hear politicians say, 'No you can't have that discussion because people will do bad things if you try and have that discussion', I think that's so uncivilised, it’s so irresponsible.' Ladies and gentlemen, meet the uncivilised and irresponsible David Seymour - coming to a government near you.
Given his adverse reaction to Swarbrick speaking out on behalf of the Palestinian people, it comes as no surprise that Seymour has also not called for a ceasefire in Gaza. And, like Labour leader Chris Hipkins and National's Chris Luxon, he just can't find it in himself to condemn the Israeli far right regime for committing war crimes. Media editors like Philip Crump of Newstalk ZB and Sean Plunket of The Platform should be demanding answers from our politicians who have effectively countenanced the slaughter in Gaza. Instead, they are more interested in defending Israel's military assault on Gaza and attacking those who oppose it. But while Swarbrick cannot be allowed to get away calling for the liberation of the Palestinian people, you can get away with advocating genocide. On RNZ's Morning Report on Monday, Zionist zealot Juliet Moses basically argued that mass murder was justifiable because it was necessary to defeat Hamas. Interviewer Corin Dann said nothing. Nothing. Our level of political discussion and journalistic endeavour has reached a dangerously new low when someone can argue for genocide as a legitimate military tactic and not be called out for it.
Back in 1981 the rallying call of the protest movement that opposed the New Zealand tour by the South African rugby team was 'Amandla awethu'. The leader of the protest would call out, 'Amandla!' (Power) and the crowd would respond with 'Awethu' (to us). It was a call for 'power to the people' - the black population of South Africa under the iron heel of the South African apartheid regime.
It was also a rallying call associated with the African National Congress led by Nelson Mandela. The ANC was regarded by most western governments as a terrorist organisation. It was not until 2008 that Nelson Mandela was removed from the terrorist 'watchlist' of the United States.
But our so-called 'political representatives', accompanied by their tame media courtesans, are again on the wrong side of history. They continue to defend a far right Israeli regime that employs a system of oppression and domination against Palestinians across all areas under its control. It amounts to apartheid as prohibited in international law.
As Amnesty International says: 'Apartheid is not acceptable anywhere in the world. So why has the world accepted it against Palestinians?' That's a question that the New Zealand media should be putting to our politicians rather than pursuing someone who, unlike them, is on the right side of history.
