{"id":718,"date":"2017-03-03T18:30:56","date_gmt":"2017-03-03T05:30:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/?p=718"},"modified":"2018-07-01T19:35:33","modified_gmt":"2018-07-01T07:35:33","slug":"did-gareth-morgan-just-excuse-terrorism-and-anti-semitism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/2017\/03\/did-gareth-morgan-just-excuse-terrorism-and-anti-semitism\/","title":{"rendered":"Did Gareth Morgan just excuse terrorism and anti-Semitism?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Gareth Morgan describes himself as an \u201cEconomist, investment manager, philanthropist, opinionated, addicted global biker, staunch advocate of Kiwi values, Phoenix FC owner & fan\u201d. Most Kiwis would be shocked to think that Mr \u201cKiwi values\u201d Morgan also justifies terrorism and anti-Semitism \u2013 as he has done in his recent blog post and Facebook comments<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many New Zealanders will remember Mr Morgan\u2019s call for all cats to be wiped out<\/a>, as some cats kill birds. Some will also recall his ludicrous praise of North Korea<\/a>, and its \u201cmagnificent\u201d economic achievements and well-dressed citizens. Morgan has now applied a similar blinkered logic to the complex Arab Palestinian-Israeli conflict, reducing the contentious issue to a simplistic good guy\/bad guy argument, demonising Israel in the process and stripping the Palestinians of any responsibility.<\/p>\n

After a meeting with UNRWA (the United Nations Relief and Works Agency \u2013 the only UN agency dedicated to helping refugees from a specific region or conflict<\/a> and with a unique definition of refugees<\/a>), Palestinians, and \u201cliberal, centrist\u201d Israelis, Morgan believes that he has sufficient expertise in the long-running and multi-faceted conflict to cast Israel as the sole, monstrous villain in the story.<\/p>\n

Few UN organisations are as anti-Israel as UNRWA, who hosted Morgan on his visit. Not only have their staff been found to incite violence<\/a>, but questions have also been raised about the practices of UNRWA; its treatment of refugees<\/a>, their school curriculum<\/a>, policies around granted loans<\/a>, and their role perpetuating the conflict<\/a> rather than contributing to its resolution. Little wonder some have asked<\/a>why UNRWA continues to exist at all, and why former Labour Member of the Israeli Parliament, Dr Einat Wilf wrote<\/a>:<\/p>\n

One of the greatest obstacles to peace, and certainly the least acknowledged, is the perpetuation of the Palestinian refugee problem and the inflation of its scale by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)\u201dDr Einat Wilf<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Clearly Morgan was as unquestioning of UNRWA as he was of his guides in North Korea<\/a> \u2013 in fact, Morgan tells us that he\u2019s \u201dputting some resource in\u201d to help UNRWA. Nevermind the agency has a per capita budget twice that of the UNHCR<\/a>, which is responsible for all other refugees in the world, and which actually succeeds in resettling refugees<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Morgan, following his meeting with UNRWA and like-minded people, reduces the Arab Palestinian-Israeli conflict to a simple argument: Netanyahu is a \u2018monster\u2019, and Israel is ruled by the \u2018far right\u2019 whose \u2018tactics are obscene\u2019, whose \u2018behaviour is totally despicable\u2019 and who have \u2018lost their humanity\u2019. He describes their mission as \u2018pure, unadulterated imperialist aggression\u2019.<\/p>\n

However, it is difficult to see how Morgan\u2019s narrative squares with historical fact. An imperialist power doesn\u2019t give back land won in a defensive war, as Israel did with Egypt<\/a>, it doesn\u2019t force its own people to leave their homes and business as Israel did in Gaza in 2005<\/a>. It certainly doesn\u2019t make the offers for peace as Israel did in 1947, 2000 and 2008<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When questioned about his failure to apportion any blame to terrorist organisation Hamas, which calls for the destruction of the Jewish State and the Jewish people, Morgan philosophically proffered that the Hamas Charter<\/a> was written because \u201cSqueeze a people too much and of course you get radicalisation\u201d. Evidently, Morgan has little idea about historic events or the nature of the Charter which was written in 1988, 17 years before Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza<\/a>, and states:<\/p>\n

The Day of Judgement will not come about until Moslems fight the Jews (killing the Jews) \u2026 Initiatives, and so-called peaceful solutions and international conferences, are in contradiction to the principles of the Islamic Resistance Movement.\u201dHamas Charter<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Morgan displays an abject disregard for facts and context when he blames Israel alone for terror attacks perpetrated against Israeli citizens. Among the many factors he ignores \u2013 or wasn\u2019t told by those he met with \u2013 is the role of incitement by Palestinian leadership<\/a> and their sponsorship of terror<\/a>.<\/p>\n

When asked specifically about the posting of anti-Semitic comments and incitement to violence on Facebook by UNRWA employees, Morgan responded: \u201cIf you saw the IDF in action [you] would empathise with that frustration\u201d. Statements such as \u201cStab Zionist dogs\u201d and posts that glorify terrorism<\/a> are apparently totally understandable to Gareth Morgan and something to empathise with.<\/p>\n

The absurdity of Morgan\u2019s blog post continues, as Morgan claims the security fence is \u201can offensive not a defensive device\u201d. He cites his own military experience as evidence of \u201chaving been to several theatres where zones are used to separate hostile sides\u201d and the lack of \u201ca no-man\u2019s-land which acts as a buffer between the two sides\u201d.<\/p>\n

However, Morgan ignores the fact that the wall was built after the outbreak of intifada in order to stop terror attacks<\/a>. He ignores the evidence that shows how successful the security barrier is<\/a> in preventing attacks. He instead attributes the most sinister intentions to Israel that the wall was \u201cdesigned deliberately to inflict maximum hurt on the Palestinians\u201d. Morgan claims that \u201cthe wall and the settlements are the main tools the Israelis are using to attack the Palestinian settlements\u201d. He has nothing to say about the knives, cars and bombs which are the main tools Palestinians are using to attack Israelis.<\/p>\n

A point made numerous times in both the article and by Morgan in his comments is that the \u201cFar Right\u201d government of Israel does not want two states. Morgan doesn\u2019t want to even engage with anyone until this theory is enshrined as fact, saying \u201cDialogue\u2026is not really possible unless they acknowledge that Israel\u2019s Far Right does not accept a Palestinian State\u201d. Labelling the protagonists as \u2018far right\u2019 apparently gives Morgan permission to use extreme demonising language.<\/p>\n

Once again, Morgan\u2019s theories don\u2019t stand up to scrutiny. The majority of Israel\u2019s citizens \u2013 Jewish, Arab, and other \u2013 still support a two-state solution<\/a> and the official position of the Israeli government is still<\/a> a two-state solution. As recently as last month Prime Minister Netanyahu told the UN<\/a>:<\/p>\n

I have not given up on peace. I remain committed to a vision of peace based on two states for two peoples \u2026 I believe that for that broader peace to be fully achieved the Palestinians have to be part of it. I\u2019m ready to begin negotiations to achieve this today \u2013 not tomorrow, not next week, today. President Abbas spoke here an hour ago. Wouldn\u2019t it be better if instead of speaking past each other we were speaking to one another?\u201dBenjamin Netanyahu<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Neither the majority of Israelis nor any Palestinian are afforded any agency by Morgan. The continuing terror attacks against Israelis<\/a> cannot be anything but the fault of the Israeli government, according to Morgan who says \u201cthe radicalisation of the population in Palestine is steadily being manufactured by the regime of Benjamin Netanyahu\u201d, as if this Prime Minister wants his citizens stabbed and run over. Morgan ignores, or is ignorant of, the fact that Palestinian society honours those who murder Jews<\/a>. Instead, a singular devil is named without any hint of objectivity, reason, or fairness.<\/p>\n

In Morgan\u2019s world, there is no need for the terror attacks to stop or for the Palestinian leadership to even acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state<\/a>. For Morgan, what\u2019s needed is simply \u201cthe UN Security Council \u2026 to resolve to censure Israel\u201d. The negotiations that Netanyahu asked of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas last month<\/a> are not the way forward for Morgan \u2013 Israel needs to be punished. Just how that will enable negotiation is left for the reader to guess.<\/p>\n

Morgan tries to call on \u2018global consensus\u2019 and UN declarations to bolster his argument, ignoring the fact that certain bodies of the UN, due to their predominantly Muslim and Arab majorities have an inherent anti-Israel bias<\/a>. Ban Ki-Moon has admitted to this<\/a> bias on more than one occasion, as did former UN leader Kofi Anan<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Morgan\u2019s one-sided polemic ends with a linguistic trick that equates the Holocaust with modern-day Palestine \u2013 resulting in a form of \u201csoft-core\u201d Holocaust denial<\/a> that truly underscores Morgan\u2019s imbalance:<\/p>\n

Isn\u2019t it ironic, that from a land formed as a shelter for the victims of the worst atrocity of the modern era, have emerged descendants from that terrible time who compromise their own humanity in order to inflict as much harm as they can get away with on another people\u201dGareth Morgan<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is not surprising that Morgan has adopted such a twisted, distorted view of the Palestinian situation given the poisonous well from which he has been drinking. Excusing terrorism and justifying anti-Semitism are not Kiwi values \u2013 Mr Morgan should change the description he gives himself or acknowledge there is another side to this story.<\/p>\n

Source: Shalom.kiwi<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Gareth Morgan describes himself as an \u201cEconomist, investment manager, philanthropist, opinionated, addicted global biker, staunch advocate of Kiwi values, Phoenix FC owner & fan\u201d. Most Kiwis would be shocked to think that Mr \u201cKiwi values\u201d Morgan also justifies terrorism and anti-Semitism \u2013 as he has done in his recent blog post and Facebook comments. Many […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":719,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34,447,446],"tags":[82,78,72,81,80,79],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=718"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":720,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/718\/revisions\/720"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/israelinstitute.nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}