We must all condemn terror

0
457
Palestinian terror attack

Last week rockets fired from Gaza reached all the way to Tel Aviv for the first time since 2014. There were no casualties: six missiles were intercepted by Israel’s Iron Dome defense system, one failed to clear the border, and another two fell in open fields. Hamas claimed these were fired by mistake.

This week, another barrage of rockets was fired into Israel. Seven people were injured, including two children, after one of them hit a house 20km north of Tel Aviv.

At least 16 nations have clearly condemned the recent terror attacks from Gaza. Even the United Nations Special Coordinator to the Middle East Peace Process, Nickolay Mladenov, tweeted the indiscriminate rocket fire into Israel was “an extremely serious incident.”

New Zealand has once again remained silent. The last time a New Zealand Minister clearly condemned terror against Israel was in 2006.

This is deeply disappointing, especially as it is likely that the IDF response is not guaranteed to stop further attacks and Hamas has started inciting and organising for upcoming riots on the border with Israel this coming weekend to mark the one-year anniversary of the “Great March of Return”. These riots are explicitly intending to breach the border and “tear out their [Israeli] hearts from their bodies“.

Last year, New Zealand Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, condemned Israel for defending its borders against the rioters and remained silent on Hamas transgressions. Let’s hope this trend changes soon lest we continue to stand out as a nation that will not clearly condemn terror.

[FB_IINZcomments]