In a week starting with the United Nations International Holocaust Remembrance Day (UNIHRD), this year commemorating the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, society appears to be forgetting the lessons of the past. While the Shoah is still in living memory, the absolute need for the State of Israel has been clearly highlighted. Especially with the greatest pogrom of Jews since the Shoah, on October 7 2023.
Sadly, despite there being a specific United Nations International Day of Commemoration and Dignity of the Victims of the Crime of Genocide and of the Prevention of this Crime (December 9 each year), a cohort of individuals have deemed it acceptable to hijack the UNIHRD this year, attempting to make it a more general genocide memorial day and remove any links to both the Holocaust and Jews.
The irony of even having an UN-associated Holocaust Remembrance Day is not lost on me either. With the UN’s unhealthy obsession with Israel and apparent disregard for the UN’s founding purpose, the moral bankruptcy is clear in the organisation’s actions towards Israel. More recent examples of these include:
- in 2024 alone, the UN General Assembly passed 17(!) Resolutions targeting Israel compared to 6 for the rest of the world combined. That is before we even get into the text of the resolutions – with those against Israel being worded far more harshly than those against other nations;
- in 2024, the extent to which UNIFIL (the peacekeeping force operating in Southern Lebanon) had neglected the duties that were established with their creation as a peace keeping force under UNSC Resolution 1701, as became evident following Israel’s incursion into Southern Lebanon in response to the thousands of rockets that Hezbollah fired into Israel from Southern Lebanon (including the UNIFIL operational area) since October 7 2023;
- the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), has made the plight of Palestinians worse. UNRWA has forged an unholy alliance with the likes of Hamas, PIJ and other terror organisations, not only enabling significant influence over policies and practises of the agency, but also influencing education adversely. And, since October 7 2023, the level of complicity between UNRWA and Hamas has been highlighted by UN Watch.
- UNESCO, a sponsor of the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand (HCNZ) UNIHRD events, are particularly alarming:
- They have adopted a resolution that ignores both Jewish and Christian ties to the Temple Mount by referring to the Temple Mount compound solely by its Muslim names.
- They have also promoted a NZ academic affiliated with the PFLP.
As a result of the above, a few questions must be asked:
- Why are we still funding UNRWA? With all the evidence presented over the years, neither UNRWA nor NZ can claim ignorance of the role UNRWA plays in terror.
- With the clear antisemitic connections UNESCO has fostered, why is the HCNZ partnering with them to commemorate the Shoah?
The false narrative that the Palestinians have managed to bring into the mainstream since the 1960’s runs counter to the evidence of a continuous Jewish presence in the land for the last 4,000 years. The renaming of the region by the Romans in the second century in an effort to eradicate a connection to the land of the Jews appears to have continued in the modern age with the “Palestinians”. And it appears that there are a significant chunk of NZ society that have fallen for it. With Dunedin seeming to be a hotbed of antisemitism.
Historically, opportunities have clearly been missed. Between Egypt and Jordan controlling the Gaza Strip and Judea & Samaria between 1948 and 1967 and not establishing a Palestinian State, and the unilateral withdrawal of Israel from the Gaza Strip in 2005 in an effort to find peace, the Palestinians have not missed an opportunity to miss an opportunity.
Then October 7, 2023. The worst pogrom of Jews since the Shoah. War. Over a year of turmoil, with hostages still held in unthinkable conditions. A war started by Hamas. Maintained by Hamas. Aided (seemingly) by UNRWA. We find ourselves in a ceasefire, in an attempt to get our hostages back. With carefully staged releases in an effort present a victory to Gazans, all while continuing the psychological terror to both the hostages and the Israeli people. The ceasefire terms are constantly being broken by Hamas to continue this torture further. All to allow Gazans to experience the “victory” that Hamas is claiming – as Gazans witness the destruction of their homes, built atop terror tunnels, will they continue their support for Hamas?
While in New Zealand we experience continued marches by the pro-Palestinian brigades, who have marched every week for the duration of the war that their side started, until a ceasefire is declared. We now have a ceasefire, yet they continue to march. One may wonder what for? Based on the continued chants of “from the river to the sea”, one can only assume the annihilation of the State of Israel.
We also have the pleasure of the PSNA, led by Minto and Scott, creating a “genocide hotline” recently. Despite their claims of wanting to talk to soldiers to let them know that they are not welcome to holiday in NZ, it would appear to be nothing more than an attempt to target Israelis (all of whom serve mandatory military service) and/or Jews. How else would one identify an active duty Israeli??
NZ Parliament is not free from the stupidity, with some amazing political hypocrisy from the NZ Greens coming to light late last week. Member of Parliament Ricardo Menendez March got upset at some comments made in the House, boldly declaring that “when politicians and people in positions of power make these comments, it emboldens those people outside of Parliament to hurl racist vitriol and abuse to migrant communities.”
This is the same MP who has taken great pride in calling for the eradication of Israel….
We can at least sit back (for now) and be grateful that we do not have it as bad as Australia (yet) with continuing attacks against prominent members of the Jewish community and places of worship.