Guest speakers Rami Abu Ali, Rahman Bashir, Billy Hania 

Thursday 15^th February at 7.30pm 

Unite, 486 New North Road, Kingsland  

Like millions around the world, protesters in Aotearoa have gathered around the country every weekend to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and the end of the Israeli occupation. The crisis in Gaza is extreme. Approximately 27, 500 people are dead. International criminal charges of genocide against Israel brought by South Africa are failing to stop the violence partly due to the many conflicts of interest in the International Court of Justice. 

The New Zealand government has now been drawn in to support military action by the United States, Israel and Britain against Yemen after weeks of attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial vessels in the Red Sea. Winston Peters says the attacks by Houthi rebels on commercial shipping will have an impact on ‘innocent consumers’ worldwide.  

The Houthi rebels, also known as Ansar Allah, have been staunch supporters of the Palestinian cause. Their aims are based on religious, ideological, and geopolitical alignments and they view the Israeli occupation as an extension of imperialist and capitalist influence in the region. 

They see the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories as a grave injustice and that powerful capitalist entities and Western powers interfere in the Middle East to protect their economic interests, disregarding the suffering of the Palestinian people. 

As part of their support for Palestine, the Houthi rebels have taken various actions to demonstrate their solidarity. They argue that the Israeli occupation serves the interests of capitalist forces, particularly multinational corporations that benefit from the exploitation of Palestinian resources and labor. They see the situation in Palestine as a glaring example of how capitalism and imperialism go hand in hand, with powerful economic and political actors benefiting at the expense of oppressed populations. Despite the complex geopolitical dynamics at play, the Houthi rebels remain unwavering in their support for Palestine, advocating for an end to the Israeli occupation. 

There is still a lot of support for the Netanyahu led government within Israel. Remarkably, despite this several hundred protesters were able to come together last weekend in Israel’s third largest city Haifa demanding a ceasefire, the exchange of prisoners and hostages and full equality for Arabs in Israel. The organizers had to apply to the Supreme Court of Justice for the right to demonstrate for two hours. Chants of ‘refuse to kill’, ‘refuse to fight’ and ‘refuse to murder ‘rang out through the streets which were packed with Israeli Jews and Palestinian Israelis.  

Rabbi Elhanan Beck has stated that Israel is the most dangerous place in the world for Jewish people. This has been so ever since the Nakba of 15 May 1948, the day which marks the ongoing forcible expulsion and massacre of Palestinians carried out through the genocidal violence of the Zionist project which has created this dangerous situation, with the full backing of the United States. The economic interests of the United States are served by supporting Israel with its military might so that it can maintain its interests in the oil rich Middle East. The extremism of Netanyahu and the Israeli government is creating a problem for the United States by going too far this time and causing such catastrophic destruction in Gaza. The United States is losing the propaganda war. Colonized people around the world are demanding justice and equality in solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.  

Hundreds of thousands of people have been rallying in major cities around the world to demand a ceasefire in Gaza, from London to Paris, Washington DC to Johannesburg and Kuala Lumpur to name just a few. In Malaysia there has been a blockade in place since December against Israeli ships coming into and out of their ports to unload goods. In the Pacific Islands there have been protests in solidarity with Palestine by activists in Samoa, Fiji, Rarotonga, and other Pacific nations who see the links with their own anti-colonial struggles.  

Here in Aotearoa Māori people are coming together in unity to fight the new right wing New Zealand government and protect their rights. Huge Toitū te Tiriti protests demanding the honouring of te Tiriti o Waitangi were held on Saturday 20^th January and on Waitangi day. There is a growing sense of solidarity between all the movements for indigenous self-determination. As is the understanding that the capitalist economic system is driving the inequality which causes so much division and violence.