Winston Peters’ bluff and bluster in his General Assembly speech at the United Nations yesterday are a classic case of doing one thing at home and saying another for overseas audiences.
Peters’ described the war on Gaza as an “utter catastrophe” and labelled Gaza a “wasteland”. He went on to say Israel could “not be under any misconceptions as to its legal obligations”.
These were strong words but meaningless in the context of what the government has failed to do at home.
Mr Peters did not tell his international audience that the New Zealand government has:
Refused to stop New Zealand military exports which support Israel’s war on Gaza
Refused (and still refuses) to condemn Israel for any of its war crimes such as collective punishment, the mass slaughter of over 33,000 Palestinians – mostly women and children – the targeting of aid workers and deliberate starvation of Gaza’s Palestinian population
Refused (and still refuses) to call for an immediate permanent ceasefire in Gaza
Refused (and still refuses) to reinstate funding for UNRWA (let alone doubling its funding and bringing forward payments which the government has been urged to do)
Refused (and still refuses) to withdraw from the US war to target Yemen which is acting to oppose Israel’s genocide of Palestinians
Refused (and still refuses) to support or join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice
Refused (and still refuses) to shut down the Israeli Embassy
Refused (and still refuses) to grant humanitarian visas for Palestinians with family in New Zealand
Winston Peters stands with the US/Israel on Gaza in every important respect but has tried to give a different impression to the United Nations.
There was nothing in his speech which holds Israel to account for its war crimes – not even a single punctuation mark.
It was a Janus-faced performance at the United Nations.
