The Jackal: Gaza

Showing posts with label Gaza. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Gaza. Show all posts

4 Mar 2026

United States Murders 160 Iranian School Girls




In the rubble of the Shajareh Tayyebeh primary school in Minab, southern Iran, during the morning of 28 February, 2026, lay the bodies of more than 165 young school girls and their teachers. Their deaths, delivered by American and Israeli missiles, are not the unfortunate side-effect of conflict. They are the predictable outcome of a reckless, illegal war launched by the Trump regime with the full-throated support of the war-criminal, Benjamin Netanyahu.
 
The official line from Washington is familiar and repulsive. The strikes, we are told, were necessary to neutralise an Iranian nuclear threat. Yet the evidence for any such threat is entirely absent. International inspectors have found no diversion of nuclear material, no weaponisation programme, no credible signs that Tehran was racing toward a bomb. The claim is a fabrication, recycled from the same playbook that justified the catastrophe in Iraq. It serves only to dress up aggression in the language of self-defence.
 
Yesterday, Al Jazeera reported:

Iran holds mass funeral for girls, staff killed in US-Israel school attack

Thousands gather in Minab for a mass funeral, chanting against the US and Israel after the school bombing.

Iran held a mass funeral ceremony for 165 schoolgirls and staff killed on Saturday in what Iran has described as a United States-Israeli attack on a girls’ school in the southern city of Minab.

The Israeli military has claimed it was not aware of any Israeli or US attacks in that area. Throughout its genocidal war on Gaza, Israel has denied multiple deadly attacks on Palestinian civilians, only to later backtrack when irrefutable evidence emerged, then terming such attacks as “accidental”.

What makes the lie particularly grotesque is the precision with which the same forces operate when it suits them. The United States and Israel can target and murder senior Iranian leaders with clinical accuracy. Drones and missiles found their marks without hesitation. Yet when the target was a school full of seven to twelve-year-old girls attending morning classes, suddenly the technology faltered and the deaths were dismissed as an unfortunate accident. The contrast isn't a failure of intelligence; it is a failure of morality.

This latest outrage fits a now-familiar pattern in Donald Trump’s behaviour. Whenever fresh details surface about his longstanding connections to Jeffrey Epstein’s paedophile network, new documents, flight logs, or witness accounts, Trump reaches for the oldest trick in his book: start a war. Domestic scandal looms, public attention must be diverted, and what better way than to pose as the strongman defending civilisation against a manufactured enemy? It is cynical, it is predictable, and it is drenched in the blood of innocents.
Netanyahu bears equal guilt. Dogged by his own political troubles and accusations of war crimes in Gaza, he has long agitated for confrontation with Iran. The two leaders feed off each other’s belligerence, each using the other to shore up domestic support while the bodies of children pile up. Their warmongering is not about security; it is about survival, political survival purchased at the price of the lives of other people’s children.

The economic consequences are already rippling outward and will reach New Zealand shores soon enough. Oil prices have surged on fears of disrupted supply routes. Global stock markets have plunged, erasing billions in value overnight. For an import-dependent economy like ours, the fallout is straightforward: higher fuel costs, rising inflation, squeezed household budgets, and the real risk of a broader slowdown. This is not abstract market volatility. It is the direct, measurable cost of two leaders choosing missiles over diplomacy, something that our current spineless Prime Minister should be condemning without hesitation.

The world has seen this horror movie before, and the ending is never noble. Trump and Netanyahu have once again demonstrated that civilian lives, especially those of Muslim girls in a country they have unjustly demonised, count for nothing when weighed against personal political expediency. Their sanctimonious claims of precision and necessity collapse under the weight of dead children.
 
New Zealanders, like people of goodwill everywhere, should recognise this for what it is: naked imperialism dressed up as defence. The slaughter in Minab is not an accident of war. It is the logical result of warmongers who believe they can bomb their way out of trouble at home. Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu have blood on their hands that no amount of spin will wash away. The international community must name this outrage for what it is and refuse to let it pass without consequence.
Published by the Jackal



14 Aug 2025

A Parliamentary Travesty: Brownlee's Authoritarian Overreach

The spectacle that unfolded in Parliament this week, Where Gerry Brownleee, the Speaker of the House, bumbled his way through Standing Orders, represents nothing short of a constitutional crisis wrapped in the Speaker's robes.

Chlöe Swarbrick, the Green Party co-leader, was unceremoniously booted from the House for the remainder of the week for the grievous sin of suggesting that "If we find six of 68 Government MPs with a spine, we can stand on the right side of history" regarding Israel's ongoing war crimes in Gaza.

This isn't just parliamentary theatre; it's a damning indictment of Speaker Gerry Brownlee's authoritarian tendencies and his fundamental inability to apply standing orders with even a semblance of consistency or fairness.
 

Yesterday, 1 News reported:


Swarbrick kicked out of Parliament after refusing to apologise

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick has again been kicked out of Parliament after refusing to apologise for a comment she made yesterday in the House.

Yesterday, Swarbrick was kicked out of Parliament during an urgent debate on recognising Palestine as a state.

The debate was called after Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the Government was weighing up its position on the issue.

In recent times, the UK, Canada, France and Australia have announced plans to recognise Palestine as a state.

During the debate on Tuesday, Swarbrick said MPs could "grow a spine" and support her bill which would impose sanctions on Israel.

In response, Speaker of the House Gerry Brownlee said: "That is completely unacceptable to make that statement. Withdraw it and apologise." When she refused, Brownlee said she would have to leave for the rest of the week and removed her from the House.

 

The hypocrisy here is so brazen it would be laughable if it weren't so deeply concerning for our democratic institutions. When John Key famously roared at the entire Labour Party to "get some guts" during his tenure as Prime Minister, did we see Brownlee, then in opposition, calling for suspensions? Quite the contrary. Brownlee himself applauded most vociferously, treating Key's insulting outburst with admiration. Brownlee was similarly accepting of Brooke van Velden's use of the word "Cunt". However, when Swarbrick uses less insulting language, calling for government MPs to show some "spine," suddenly we're dealing with language that's "completely unacceptable" to parliamentary standards.

This selective enforcement isn't just inconsistent, it reveals Brownlee's fundamental bias as Speaker, a bias that has been exhibited throughout his tenure. As Speaker of the House, his role demands impartiality, yet time and again we witness him wielding the Speaker's power like a partisan cudgel, particularly against opposition MPs who dare challenge the government's moral failings.

Brownlee's authoritarian streak isn't new. Earlier this year, his handling of the Te Pāti Māori MPs who performed a haka in Parliament demonstrated the same heavy-handed approach. Hana-Rāwhiti Maipi-Clarke and co-leaders Debbie Ngarewa-Packer and Rawiri Waititi have been hit with sanctions for what was fundamentally an expression of cultural protest against legislation threatening Treaty rights.

Rather than recognising the profound cultural and constitutional significance of their protest, Brownlee chose punishment over understanding. The parallel is striking: whether it's Māori MPs defending indigenous rights or Swarbrick calling for international law enforcement, Brownlee consistently sides with unfair authoritarian silencing over justified democratic debate.

Most concerning is Brownlee's apparent disregard for parliamentary procedure itself. Standing Orders clearly state that following an MP's suspension for one sitting day, "the matter is at an end." Yet Brownlee has attempted to extend Swarbrick's punishment across an entire week, a ruling that fundamentally contradicts established parliamentary practice.

This isn't just procedural pedantry; it's the difference between rule of law and rule of the whims of a deluded right winger who doesn't understand the correct proceedures that govern his position, or even remember what he himself has said in the past.

In 2008, Gerry Brownlee accused Michael Cullen of not having a backbone. So how can he now say in all honesty that a Green's MP essentially saying the same thing is misconduct?

Here is Brownlee using the exact same language:

Does he agree with Trevor Mallard when he stated in the same speech: “any decent leader would have had the backbone to turn round, go the other way, and not greet Tame Iti,”; if so, does his trio of hongi with Tame Iti last week indicate that he is not a decent leader and has no backbone, because he did not take the strongly worded advice of his wise colleague?

 

When Speakers start making things up as they go along, particularly to silence opposition voices, we're witnessing the erosion of democratic norms that took centuries to establish.

This pattern of believing rules don't apply to him isn't new territory for Brownlee. In 2014, while serving as Transport Minister, he offered to resign after deliberately bypassing airport security in Christchurch, leading two staff members through an exit door to avoid security screening because he was apparently running late for a flight. The Civil Aviation Authority investigation revealed that the dishonest Brownlee had "plenty of time" to go through security correctly and still catch the flight, as a review of screening times that day showed the process took less than two minutes per passenger.

Perhaps we shouldn't be surprised by this display of authoritarian overreach from a man whose ministerial career is marked by catastrophic failure. As Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery, Brownlee presided over one of the most bungled reconstruction efforts in New Zealand's history. The Christchurch rebuild became synonymous with delay, cost overruns, and bureaucratic incompetence under his watch. Communities waited years for basic infrastructure while Brownlee's ministry shuffled papers and shifted blame.

Then there's Brownlee's budget bungling, most notably his increases to the petrol excise duty and user charges because Bill English couldn't balance the budget properly. Not to mention Brownlee's press secretary, Nick Bryant, involvement in Cameron Slater's attack campaign against a public servant which resulted in death threats. Throughout his parliamentary career, Brownlee has demonstrated a particular talent for inflammatory and often racist rhetoric and campaigning when it suits him, yet now he demands standards of discourse he never applied to himself. His history of intemperate outbursts and partisan attacks sits poorly with his current position as supposed guardian of parliamentary decorum.

Swarbrick's comments weren't frivolous parliamentary point-scoring, they addressed New Zealand's immoral position regarding Israel's documented war crimes in Gaza. International courts have established clear evidence of violations of international humanitarian law, but our government appears to be paralysed by political calculation rather than moral clarity.

When an MP calls for basic adherence to international law and human rights obligations, the appropriate response isn't suspension, particularly in a country that prides itself for it's leadership on democratic principles. Instead, we have a Speaker who treats legitimate criticism of government inaction as grounds for silencing robust debate. This isn't protecting parliamentary standards; it's protecting the government from accountability.

Brownlee's ruling represents a dangerous precedent where Speakers can essentially manufacture extended punishments beyond established procedures. If this stands unchallenged, we're accepting that parliamentary rules can be bent to suit political convenience, a path that leads inevitably to the erosion of democratic safeguards. The real travesty isn't Swarbrick's call for moral courage; it's Brownlee's attempt to silence it through procedural authoritarianism.

Published by the Jackal



4 Aug 2025

Israel Continues to Lie About Gaza’s Starvation Crisis

In the grim shadow of Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe, a sinister disinformation campaign, orchestrated by Israel and amplified by right-wing politicians and propagandists, seeks to obscure the deliberate starvation of Palestinians. This grotesque manipulation of truth, peddled by figures like New Zealand’s Cameron Slater, Juliet Moses, Ani O’Brien, and Rachel Stewart, attempts to whitewash a genocide by blaming Palestinian suffering on medical conditions or external failures, while Israel’s blockade strangles even more innocent civilians to death.
 

On Monday, the Las Angeles Times reported:

Israelis rebuff Trump, insisting images of starvation in Gaza are ‘fake’

The Israeli government is defending a top military officer who dismissed images of starving Palestinians as “fake” over the weekend, despite President Trump stating Monday that he believes the pictures are real.

The rupture comes amid growing international pressure on Israel over dire circumstances in the Palestinian enclave, and as two Israeli human rights groups, in a first, characterized the Israeli operation in Gaza as a genocide.


In recent days, photographs and videos of desperate Palestinians crowding aid stations and of emaciated children have spread across the globe. Even so, Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said Sunday that “there is no starvation in Gaza.”

And on Sunday, during a press tour of a small area of the Gaza Strip, Effie Defrin, a commanding officer and Israel Defense Forces spokesman, told reporters that visuals emerging from Gaza were “breaking our hearts.”

“But most of it is fake, fake distributed by Hamas,” Defrin said. “It’s a campaign. Unfortunately, some of the Israeli media, including some of the international media, is distributing this information and those false pictures, and creating an image of starvation which doesn’t exist.”



Much of the mainstream media, too often weak in the face of Israel's propaganda machine, has often been complicit in amplifying these lies, failing to challenge the narrative with the rigour it demands. As the United Nations, aid agencies, and even starving Hamas prisoners bear witness to this engineered famine, the world must confront the moral bankruptcy of those who excuse Israel’s actions while children waste away in front of our eyes.

Israel’s campaign hinges on a cruel distortion: that images of emaciated Palestinian children, like one-year-old Muhammad Zakariya al-Matouq, reflect pre-existing medical conditions rather than widespread starvation. Right-wing propagandists in New Zealand have eagerly echoed this disgusting lie. Rachel Stewart, in a venomous X post on 1 August 2025, criticised Stuff for supposedly using a photo of a “malnourished” Gazan child, falsely claiming the New York Times retracted its use due to the child’s cerebral palsy.

Juliet Moses, Cameron Slater, and Ani O’Brien have similarly been cited for pushing this narrative, alleging media exaggerate starvation to vilify Israel. These claims, rooted in selective truths, ignore the undeniable: Muhammad’s condition worsened due to Israel’s blockade, which denies food and medical supplies, as confirmed by his doctor. This tactic, highlighting medical issues to dismiss intentional starvation, is a hallmark of Israel’s “Pallywood” propaganda, designed to dehumanise Palestinians and deflect blame.

The mainstream media’s susceptibility to this disinformation is a scandal in itself. Outlets like the New York Times and BBC have faced criticism for initially omitting medical context in stories about children like Muhammad, but their clarifications, such as the Times’ note on 23 July 2025, affirm that starvation compounds these conditions. However, when propagandists like Moses and Slater seize on these oversights, they distort the narrative to suggest no famine exists, a claim contradicted by overwhelming documented evidence.
 

On 23 July, PBS reported:

More than 100 aid groups sign open letter warning of starvation in Gaza

Experts say Gaza is at risk of famine because of Israel’s blockade and offensive, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack. The head of the World Health Organization said Gaza is “witnessing a deadly surge” in malnutrition and related diseases, and that a “large proportion” of its roughly 2 million people are starving.

Israel says it allows enough aid into the territory and faults delivery efforts by U.N. agencies, which say they are hindered by Israeli restrictions and the breakdown of security.

...

In an open letter, 115 organizations, including major international aid groups such as Doctors Without Borders, Mercy Corps and Save the Children, said they were watching their own colleagues, as well as the Palestinians they serve, “waste away.”

The letter blamed Israeli restrictions and “massacres” at aid distribution points. Witnesses, health officials and the U.N. human rights office say Israeli forces have repeatedly fired on crowds seeking aid, killing more than 1,000 people. Israel says its forces have only fired warning shots and that the death toll is exaggerated.

The Israeli government’s “restrictions, delays, and fragmentation under its total siege have created chaos, starvation, and death,” the letter said.


The World Health Organisation reported 63 malnutrition deaths in July alone, and one in five children under five facing acute malnutrition. But the true picture will be much worse. The media’s failure to consistently challenge Israel's disinformation about the cause of these deaths and mass starvation, often due to fear of being labelled antisemitic, allows these disgusting lies to fester, undermining the truth of Gaza’s man-made famine.


Israel’s blockade, intensified from March through to July 2025, slashed aid to a trickle, compared to the 500–600 trucks required each and every day, as per UN estimates. The Gaza Health Ministry reports 127 hunger-related deaths since October 2023, including 85 children. Of course, given the difficulties in locating people who have starved to death in a "war" zone, this will be an underestimation. Even Hamas prisoners, held in dire conditions, are starving, not because of Hamas’s actions, but because Israel’s restrictions ensure there’s not enough food to go around.

The claim that Hamas diverts aid lacks evidence; USAID and UN reviews, who have no reason to counter the Israeli narrative other than to tell the truth, found no systematic theft. Yet, Israeli officials like David Mencer and Benjamin Netanyahu shamelessly blame Hamas and the UN, accusing them of engineering shortages while ignoring Israel’s role in blocking aid. This is a grotesque inversion of responsibility: Israel, not Hamas, is starving both civilians and prisoners. They are doing this with the help of many western leaders, including Donald Trump, whose propaganda concerning the genocide is often just as dishonest as Israel's. The atrocities we are witnessing would end tomorrow if Western leaders truly wanted them to.


The disinformation campaign also targets the United Nations and surrounding countries, falsely claiming they fail to distribute aid. Israel’s ambassador Danny Danon accused UN aid chief Tom Fletcher of colluding with Hamas, offering no evidence at all to back up his false claims. COGAT, Israel’s aid coordination body, claimed 4,500 trucks entered since May 2025, but the UN notes these are insufficient and face military restrictions, rendering distribution nearly impossible.

Airdrops, lauded by Israel and the US as major humanitarian gestures, are a farcical distraction. UNRWA’s Philippe Lazzarini called them “expensive, inefficient, and dangerous,” with many landing in the sea or without parachutes, killing desperate civilians. The US and Israel’s Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), supposedly replacing UN systems, has been a complete disaster, with over 1,000 Palestinians killed at its militarised aid sites so far. Many of these civilians are being murdered by Western soldiers who then return to their home countries without any consequences.

The United States and Israel's theatrics of providing aid mask the reality that aid volumes are a fraction of what’s required. The World Food Programme warns of famine-like conditions for 470,000 people, making a joke of the promise that this type of genocide would never happen again.

The right-wing's lack of action to curb this crisis, enabled by a disinformation campaign and amplified by discredited muckrakers like Slater, Moses, O’Brien, and Stewart, isn't just dishonest, it’s complicity in genocide. The blood of these starved children is on their hands. By parroting Israel’s lies, they obscure a crisis where women and children die daily from hunger, their bodies “eating themselves” in a slow, cruel death, as Dr Omar Abdel-Mannan described. The UN’s Michael Fakhri calls this “the fastest starvation campaign in modern history,” preventable yet enabled by international inaction and impunity.

Two Israeli human rights groups, B’tselem and Physicians for Human Rights, have labelled it a genocide, citing deliberate starvation tactics, which is clearly another war crime perpetrated by Israel and its accomplices. The mainstream media must reject their propaganda, amplify the voices of the besieged and starving, and hold Israel accountable. New Zealanders, too, must see through the lies of local propagandists and demand justice for Gaza’s rightful inhabitants. Because if we don't stop this type of genocide, aided and abetted by right-wing propagandists, it will continue into other countries, perhaps even your own.

Published by the Jackal



28 Jul 2025

Sean Plunket - Arsehole of the Week

Sean bloody Plunket, once a prominent voice in New Zealand’s media landscape, has descended into an ugly caricature of his former self, a broadcaster whose penchant for provocation has long overshadowed any claim of journalistic integrity.

His latest foray into controversy, a tweet mocking the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by referencing “anorexia” in a manner that denies Israel is murdering children through mass starvation (another war crime), marks a new low in a sad career littered with offensive outbursts.

The disgusting now deleted anorexia tweet not only drew rightful condemnation from all corners of New Zealand's politisphere, but also provided further justification for millionaire Wayne Wright Jr to have apparently cut Plunket's funding back in March 2024. This incident, however, is merely the latest in a long line of deplorable statements that have exposed his disregard for decency.

Plunket’s history reads like a catalogue of conceited moralising and divisive hot takes. In 2024, he compared Māui dolphins to “Down syndrome kids” and declared they “deserve to die,” a remark that sparked yet another public apology from the deluded washed up has-been. His 2021 claim that a Māori iwi “did not care about child abuse” during a COVID-19 discussion led to a Broadcasting Standards Authority complaint, a fine for MediaWorks, and his exit from MagicTalk, where colleagues later described a toxic workplace rife with homophobic, misogynistic, and transphobic rhetoric.

In 2023, he waded into the culture wars swamp, asking Prime Minister Chris Hipkins to define “what is a woman” in a press conference stunt that went viral for all the wrong reasons. That same year, he amplified anti-transgender activist Posie Parker (aka Kellie-Jay Keen-Minshull), decrying counter-protests as “mob rule” while prioritising white female callers, revealing a clear ideological bias against a marginalised group.

His social media presence is equally peppered with reprehensible and dangerous rhetoric. Plunket’s received numerous Twitter suspensions, most notably in 2023 for breaching “hateful conduct” rules by sharing the banned Christchurch mosque shooter’s manifesto and private court information about David Farrier’s protection order. He again became an apologist for genocidal Israel in 2023 by retweeting a baseless theory blaming incest for “sickly children” in Gaza, further cementing his reputation for peddling harmful and dishonest narratives designed to blame the victims.

Misinformation is a recurring theme: in April 2023, he shared a fake ad claiming Jacinda Ardern hid a speaking engagement, only retracting it after it did the damage he intended. Plunket then falsely alleged Stuff was somehow biased because it received funding from Ngāi Tahu, a claim debunked by Stuff’s owner, Sinead Boucher. Rather than fostering free speech through open discussion, these incidents highlight the dishonesty of an unprincipled hack only interested in divisive rhetoric to gain the public's attention.

Plunket’s fall from relevance is stark. Once a fixture on Radio New Zealand and TV3, his departure from mainstream media and retreat into fringe outlets such as The Platform, his own online echo chamber with regular appearances by New Zealand's most deluded cookers, signal a career in terminal decline. The loss of advertisers, funding, and public trust, underscored by legal battles, like a 2025 Employment Relations Authority ruling against him for workplace aggression, reflects badly on an old man terribly out of step with the ethical requirements that modern journalism demands. His provocative style, once a drawcard, is now so unhinged that it alienates more than it engages, leaving him preaching to a shrinking choir of similarly deranged contrarians desperately battling with their own insignificance.

In a media landscape that increasingly values accountability and empathy, Plunket’s brand of shock-jock vitriol is an anachronism. His disgusting Gaza tweet, mocking a preventable humanitarian catastrophe, isn't just a moral failure but a professional one, proving he no longer commands any semblance of respect for the profession. New Zealand deserves journalists who inform rather than inflame, and Plunket, with his track record of cruelty and misinformation, is no longer fit for that role. His legacy is one of squandered potential, a cautionary tale of how chasing controversy can reduce a once-respected voice to irrelevance.

Published by the Jackal



10 Jul 2025

The Dust of Israel's Genocide Settles Across the World

In the annals of human cruelty, the Holocaust stands as a grotesque monument to industrialised slaughter. Hitler’s regime exterminated six million Jews, alongside Romani people, disabled individuals, political dissidents, LGBTQ+ communities, and intellectuals, a genocide shrouded in secrecy, its full horrors only grasped after the German's were defeated.

Fast forward to present day, as Israel’s war machine grinds Gaza into dust, we witness a genocide not hidden in the shadows, but broadcast in real-time, livestreamed, tweeted, TikToked, into our living rooms. 

In the 1940's, after WW2 had begun, the world knew little of the Nazi's extermination camps; today, we watch Palestinian children being burnt alive by white phosphorus, entire families buried under rubble, mass graves and starving civilians shot while scrambling for poisoned flour. And yet, Western governments, complicit in arms and rhetoric, look on and do nothing to bring an end to this modern day atrocity.

The Nazi genocide unfolded largely beyond global scrutiny. Western nations, even those at war with Germany, possessed only fragmented intelligence on Hitler's extermination camps. The 1942 Riegner Telegram, confirming Hitler’s plan to annihilate European Jewry, was met with disbelief. 

Newspapers buried reports; governments hesitated to act. By 1945, when Allied forces liberated Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz, the scale of mechanised murder stunned the world, but by then, it was too late. This historical blindness is often invoked to excuse inaction. "We didn’t know," they said. But today, there is no such defence. 

 

On Monday, the Guardian reported:

Israeli plan for forced transfer of Gaza’s population ‘a blueprint for crimes against humanity’

Military ordered to turn ruins of Rafah into ‘humanitarian city’ but experts call the plan an internment camp for all Palestinians in Gaza

Israel’s defence minister has laid out plans to force all Palestinians in Gaza into a camp on the ruins of Rafah, in a scheme that legal experts and academics described as a blueprint for crimes against humanity.

Israel Katz said he has ordered Israel’s military to prepare for establishing a camp, which he called a “humanitarian city”, on the ruins of the city of Rafah, Haaretz newspaper reported.

Palestinians would go through “security screening” before entering, and once inside would not be allowed to leave, Katz said at a briefing for Israeli journalists.

Israeli forces would control the perimeter of the site and initially “move” 600,000 Palestinians into the area – mostly people currently displaced in the al-Mawasi area.

Eventually the entire population of Gaza would be housed there, and Israel aims to implement “the emigration plan, which will happen”, Haaretz quoted him saying.

Since Donald Trump suggested at the start of the year that large numbers of Palestinians should leave Gaza to “clean out” the strip, Israeli politicians including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, have enthusiastically promoted forced deportation, often presenting it as a US project.


Israel’s assault on Gaza has killed at least 57,645 Palestinians according to official counts, though the true death toll is catastrophically higher. With over 10,000 bodies still buried under rubble and thousands more missing, independent analysts estimate the actual fatalities likely exceed 150,000, a figure that includes entire families erased from civil records. 

Among the dead are more than 20,000 children, many burned alive by US-supplied white phosphorus or crushed in their homes by 2,000-pound bunker-buster bombs. Hospitals, designated as shelters, have been systematically targeted and now serve as mass graves.

The UN reports that 90% of Gaza's children now suffer acute food deprivation, with Israeli snipers routinely shooting those who approach aid trucks. Unlike the Holocaust, this extermination campaign unfolds before our eyes, journalists document mothers cradling their children's severed limbs, teenagers bleeding to death in gutted streets, and bulldozers piling corpses into anonymous trenches. 

These images flood social media in real time, yet Western leaders like Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz respond by accelerating weapons shipments to Israel.

The United States, Britain, Germany, and other allies have armed Israel to the teeth. Since October 2023, the Biden and Trump administrations fast-tracked over 100 weapons transfers, including 2,000-pound bunker busters that flatten entire blocks. British-supplied fighter jets bomb UN shelters. German-made tanks crush ambulances. This is not self-defence; it is extermination. 

Worse still is the legal cover provided. The US vetoed multiple UN ceasefire resolutions. The ICC’s warrant for Netanyahu was met with outrage from Washington and London, the same capitals that once vowed "Never Again." The hypocrisy is staggering: Putin is a war criminal for Ukraine, but Netanyahu gets a blank cheque.

Some still parrot the fiction of Israeli "self-defence." But no nation has a right to "defend" itself by starving two million people to death, half of them children. No war justifies bombing hospitals, shooting paramedics, or executing entire families. 

The International Court of Justice has ruled Israel’s actions a genocide, a finding largely ignored by Western media who still often try to justify Israel's actions by framing Palestinian deaths as "collateral damage." This is not war. It is slaughter. And it is funded by our taxes. 

 

"The world will not be destroyed by those who do evil, but by those who watch them without doing anything." ~ Albert Einstein


What Must Be Done

Silence is complicity. The Holocaust was allowed to happen because the world turned away. Today, we cannot claim ignorance—only cowardice.

1. Boycott & Divest: Pressure companies arming Israel (Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems, Elbit). Demand pension funds divest from genocide.
2. Streets, Not Petitions: Protests must escalate. General strikes. Blockades. The anti-apartheid movement didn’t win with polite letters.
3. Vote Out the Complicit: Donald Trump, Keir Starmer and Friedrich Merz all are complicit. Support candidates who call for an arms embargo.
4. Amplify Palestinian Voices: Share their testimony. Challenge media bias. The truth is their only weapon.

History will judge this moment harshly. When the next generation asks, "What did you do?" What will you be able to say?

Published by the Jackal



19 Jun 2025

Israel’s Pretext for War With Iran Isn't Achievable

Benjamin Netanyahu’s pretax for war with Iran, their supposed nuclear program, is an exercise in hubris wrapped up in flimsy excuses. The Israeli PM claims his military’s recent strikes, launched 13 June 2025, were a pre-emptive blow to stop Iran from building a nuclear bomb. But this pretext for war isn't achievable by Israel.

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and US intelligence, including a March 2025 statement from Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, have consistently reported Iran isn’t pushing uranium enrichment beyond 60%, well short of the 90% needed for weapons-grade material. 

So why’s Netanyahu rattling sabres over a threat that doesn’t exist? It’s a distraction, a geopolitical tantrum, and a bloody stupid way to start a war Israel and its allies are unlikely to win.

 

Yesterday, Aljazeera reported:

Iran war gives Netanyahu political breathing room in Israel

Israeli PM faced uncertain future last week amid no-confidence vote, but confrontation with Iran unites Israel’s politicians.

Two confidence votes, each fewer than seven days apart, tell much of the story of Israel’s political transformation since it launched attacks on longstanding regional nemesis Iran on Friday.

Early on Thursday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s far-right government narrowly survived a vote that ensured its continuation after an 11th-hour deal was reached with ultra-Orthodox parties who are a key force within it. Had a deal not been found, then parliament would have been dissolved and new elections called, leaving Netanyahu vulnerable as opposition against him grew.

But then on Monday, a similar attempt to dissolve parliament failed miserably after no confidence motions brought forward by parties led by Palestinian citizens of Israel failed to attract any support from the centre and the right.

Of course, in between, Israel had launched its attacks on Iran, upending domestic Israeli politics as well as regional geopolitics.


We've heard it all before from the consummate liar, Netanyahu. For over four decades, Israel has peddled the same tired narrative: Iran is on the cusp of a nuclear bomb, and only pre-emptive strikes can save the world. From Yitzhak Rabin’s warnings in 1984 to Benjamin Netanyahu’s latest claim on 13 June 2025, where he tried to justify his unprovoked attacks, the script hasn’t changed.

Despite IAEA and U.S. intelligence reports, most recently in March 2025, confirming Iran isn’t enriching uranium beyond 60% or pursuing weaponisation, Israel persists with its fearmongering. Netanyahu’s timeline, from “3–5 years” in 1992 to “days away” in February 2025, is a broken record. This reckless war, sold on a lie, risks catastrophic escalation for a goal Israel cannot achieve.

  • 1984: Israeli Defence Minister Yitzhak Rabin warns Iran’s nuclear programme could threaten Israel, urging U.S. action (no specific timeline given).
  • 1992: Netanyahu, as a Knesset member, claims Iran is 3–5 years from a nuclear bomb.
  • 1995: In Fighting Terrorism, Netanyahu repeats Iran is 3–5 years away from nuclear capability.
  • 1996: Netanyahu tells U.S. Congress Iran’s nuclear bomb is “extremely close.”
  • 2002: Before a U.S. committee, Netanyahu links Iran and Iraq, saying Iran is advancing toward nuclear weapons.
  • 2009: In The Atlantic, Netanyahu calls Iran a “messianic cult” nearing nuclear bomb capability.
  • 2012: At the UN, Netanyahu uses a bomb diagram, claiming Iran is months from completing medium enrichment, nearing a bomb by 2013. Leaked Israeli intelligence later shows Iran wasn’t weaponizing.
  • 2015: Netanyahu tells U.S. Congress the JCPOA will let Iran build a bomb in under a year.
  • 2018: At the UN, Netanyahu alleges Iran has a “secret atomic warehouse” in Tehran, proving bomb intent.
  • 2019: Netanyahu claims Iran is close to nuclear weapons, urging IAEA action.
  • 2023: In interviews, Netanyahu warns of “horrible nuclear war” if Iran gets a bomb, claiming it’s imminent.
  • February 2025: On Newsmax, Netanyahu says Iran is “days away” from bomb-grade uranium.
  • June 2025: Post-strikes, Netanyahu claims Iran has uranium for nine bombs and could weaponize in “weeks or months.”


The crown jewel of Iran’s nuclear programme, the Fordow enrichment facility, is buried 80–90 metres into the side of a mountain near Qom. It’s a fortress, purpose-built to shrug off airstrikes. Israel’s arsenal, even with its shiny F-35s and bunker-busting munitions, lacks the firepower to penetrate Fordow’s depths.

The IAEA’s Rafael Grossi confirmed on 17 June 2025 that Fordow sustained “little or no visible damage” from Israel’s attacks. Without taking out Fordow, where Iran houses advanced centrifuges and a chunk of its 60% enriched uranium, Israel’s goal of crippling Iran’s nuclear capability is a pipe dream.

And here’s the kicker: Israel can’t do it alone. The only weapon with a shot at Fordow is the US’s GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, a 30,000-pound beast carried exclusively by B-2 stealth bombers. But even this isn’t a sure bet, Fordow’s depth and reinforced structure pose technical challenges, and a strike risks releasing toxic chemicals like hydrofluoric acid or radiological contamination. 


Coordinating such an attack with Israel would be a logistical nightmare, fraught with classified hurdles and international blowback. A US strike could be seen as an illegal attack on Iran’s sovereignty, potentially dragging America into a wider regional war, something even Trump, with his non-interventionist base, should be wary of.

Israel’s goal of destroying Fordow is a technical pipe dream. Buried 80–90 metres into the granite or basalt Qom mountainside, Fordow’s rocky overburden and reinforced concrete would likely defy even the U.S.’s GBU-57 Massive Ordnance Penetrator, which penetrates up to 60–100 metres of earth but only 8–10 metres of reinforced concrete. The bomb’s vertical trajectory would struggle against Fordow’s fortified depth. Multiple strikes may also fail, and a ground offensive is unthinkable. Iran’s 600,000-strong army and 200,000 reservists, entrenched in rugged terrain, dwarf Israel’s 170,000 troops, making invasion a non-starter.

Israel’s strikes, however, have done more than miss military targets, they’ve hardened Iran’s resolve. By bombing non-military sites, including Iran’s state-run Press TV headquarters in Tehran on 13 June 2025, Israel has turned a strategic blunder into a propaganda gift for the Islamic Republic. The attack, which killed three journalists and disrupted broadcasts, was condemned by Iran’s Foreign Ministry as a “war crime” aimed at silencing reporting of Israel's unjustified attacks. 

Far from weakening Iran, these strikes have rallied its people against a foreign aggressor, framing Israel as a bully flouting international law. Social media posts from Iranians show surging national unity, and with Israel's defences like the Iron Dome failing, that unity could translate into a defeat for Israel that most of the world wouldn't lament. Recent developments in Gaza, whereby Israel forces are luring starving Palestinians with promises of food aid and then murdering them has ensured that Israel has entirely lost the propaganda war.

Starting a war on a false pretext, knowing you lack the tools to finish the job, is peak idiocy. Netanyahu’s strikes have killed Iranian scientists and damaged Natanz and Isfahan, but Fordow stands untouched, and Iran’s nuclear know-how is irreversible. This isn’t strategy; it’s posturing, gambling with lives to prop up Benjamin Netanyahu’s strongman image. Without US help, Israel’s campaign is a loud but impotent gesture. And even with Uncle Sam’s bombers, success is a long shot. The real cost? Escalation, civilian deaths, a region teetering on chaos and an Iran without a reason to negotiate or reign in their nuclear developments, all for a goal that was never achievable.

Published by the Jackal



12 Jun 2025

Gaza’s Rising Death Toll Demands More Diplomatic Action

The recent sanctions placed on just two Israeli ministers, Itamar Ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, by New Zealand, alongside Australia, Canada, Norway, and the United Kingdom, mark a timid but critical step toward halting Israel’s relentless genocide.

However, targeting these two for their vile incitement of violence against Palestinians is the bare minimum Aotearoa could muster. Given the staggering scale of Israel’s atrocities, bolder action is urgently needed to try and stop this blood-soaked crisis. 

 

Yesterday, 1 News reported:

Two 'extremist' Israeli politicians banned from travelling to NZ

New Zealand Foreign Minister Winston Peters said the pair have used their leadership positions to advocate for the annexation of Palestinian land and the expansion of illegal settlements, undermining the two state solution supported by New Zealand.

The pair are banned from travelling to New Zealand.

“Our action today is not against the Israeli people, who suffered immeasurably on October 7 and who have continued to suffer through Hamas’ ongoing refusal to release all hostages," Peters said in a statement.

"Nor is it designed to sanction the wider Israeli government.

“Rather, the travel bans are targeted at two individuals who are using their leadership positions to actively undermine peace and security and remove prospects for a two-state solution."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio condemned the sanctions, and said they did not advance US-led efforts to achieve a ceasefire, bring hostages home and end the war.


Let's get real. These two monsters were never going to travel to New Zealand. So the sanctions from Winston Peters are completely performative. The unhinged reactions from Israel and the United States, coupled with the pitifully narrow scope of these measures, expose a gutless global response to a government hell-bent on entrenching apartheid and settler-colonialism. If the western world is serious about justice, sanctions on all Israeli politicians are long overdue.

Let’s not kid ourselves: Ben-Gvir and Smotrich aren’t rogue players, they’re the ugly face of an Israeli government that thrives on violence and displacement. Smotrich, as Finance Minister, has bankrolled the expansion of illegal settlements in the West Bank, while Ben-Gvir, National Security Minister, has egged on settler attacks and regularly calls for Palestinian expulsion.

Their actions aren’t anomalies; they’re the blueprint of a state that’s killed over 53,000 Palestinians in Gaza since October 2023, mostly women and children, and displaced 8,000 in the West Bank while murdering 700, according to UN figures. This is state-sponsored terror, not a few bad apples.

Here are just a few of Itamar Ben-Gvir's violence inciting statements:

  • June 2023: “In this government, we have killed 120 Palestinians in the last six months, and there will be more in the future. The public expects us to do more, and we have the capacity to meet those expectations.”
  • August 2023: “A Jew who defends himself and others from murder by Palestinians is not a murder suspect, but a hero who will get full backing from me.”
  • February 2024: “We cannot have women and children getting close to the border... anyone who gets near must get a bullet in the head.”
  • April 2024: “Why are there so many arrests? Can’t you kill some? Do you want to tell me they all surrender? What are we to do with so many arrested? It’s dangerous for the soldiers.”
  • April 2024: Applying the death penalty to Palestinian detainees who are “terrorists” is the “right” solution to tackle the problem of prison overcrowding.
  • July 2024: “Prisoners should be shot in the head instead of being given more food. Until then, we will give them minimal food to survive. I do not care about this.”
  • March 2025: “Annihilate, smash, eradicate, erase, crush, shatter, burn, be cruel, punish, ruin, crush. Annihilate!”


Israel’s response to the sanctions was predictable. Foreign Minister Gideon Saar called them “outrageous” and “scandalous,” while Smotrich bragged about sabotaging Palestinian statehood. The US, ever the loyal enabler, had Secretary of State Marco Rubio decry the sanctions as “extremely unhelpful,” whining that they derail ceasefire talks.

This is rich coming from a nation that’s funnelled billions in military "aid" to Israel while it bombs Gaza to dust. The United State’s blind defence, fixating on Hamas as the sole villain, conveniently sidesteps Israel’s systematic violations of international law, as confirmed by the International Court of Justice’s July 2024 ruling.


Here are a few of Bezalel Smotrich's disgusting statements as well:

  • March 2023: “The Palestinian people are an invention from the past century. There is no such thing as Palestinians because there’s no such thing as the Palestinian people.”
  • June 2023: “We must kill thousands of Palestinians.”
  • November 2023: “When they say that Hamas needs to be eliminated, it also means those who sing, those who support and those who distribute candy, all of these are terrorists.”
  • January 2024: “The war with Hamas presented an opportunity to concentrate on encouraging the migration of the residents of Gaza.”
  • January 2025: “Sooner or later, we will erase the smile on their [Palestinian] faces and turn it into screaming for the breakdown of those who remained alive. The Palestinians are animals who love death and dance for the destruction of their life.”
  • February 2025: “Removing Palestinians from Gaza is the only solution that will bring peace and security to Israel.”


For New Zealand, these sanctions are the bare minimum…a token gesture when we should be throwing our weight behind real accountability. The UN General Assembly’s November 2024 vote for sanctions against Israel, the first in 42 years, shows the world’s patience is wearing thin. It also shows that Israel’s propaganda about antisemitism is no longer working. 

Targeting just two ministers is like putting a plaster on a gaping wound. The entire Israeli cabinet, led by the butcher Benjamin Netanyahu, is complicit in policies that the UN and ICJ have deemed illegal. Sanctioning only Ben-Gvir and Smotrich largely lets the rest off the hook to carry on with their systemic human rights abuses.

Aotearoa needs to step up. If we’re serious about stopping the conflict escalating, we must push for comprehensive sanctions on all Israeli politicians enabling the fascist Israeli regime. A military embargo, as demanded by 52 states at the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and Arab League summit, would hit where it hurts. Freezing assets, banning travel, and severing economic ties with Israel’s government. This would send a clear signal that Israel and the United States would have difficulty ignoring.

New Zealand has a moral duty to lead, not just tag along dragging its heels. Recognising Palestine, expelling Israel’s ambassador and backing the International Criminal Court are steps we should’ve taken yesterday.

The tantrums from a few politicians mean nothing when Israel has continued to murder innocent Palestinians, around more since the sanctions were announced. These sanctions might sting, but they’re a pinprick when a sledgehammer is needed. The free world needs to sanction the whole rotten apparatus. New Zealand’s current move is the least we could do…now it’s time to do more.

Published by the Jackal



9 Jun 2025

Deluded Damien Grant versus Phil Goff Over Gaza


Former New Zealand High Commissioner Phil Goff has never been one to shy away from calling a spade a spade, and his recent comments on Israel’s actions in Gaza are no exception to this rule. In a searing piece published on Stuff, Goff didn’t mince words, stating that Israel “doesn’t care how many innocent people it’s killing” in its relentless genocide.

But along comes the deluded Damien Grant, a largely irreverent journalist whose only claim to infamy is doing time for 34 convictions of credit card fraud and appearing on the now defunct Working Group podcast. Not content with shooting fireworks at his neighbours, Grant has scribbled a retort that Stuff has for some unknown reason chosen to publish, claiming the Gaza conflict is more "complicated” than Goff’s assessment.

Unfortunately for him, Grant’s attempt to make excuses for Israel and muddy the waters doesn’t hold up when you dig into the numbers and the reality on the ground.

 

Last week, Stuff reported:

Phil Goff: Israel doesn’t care how many innocent people it’s killing

This is not the once progressive pioneer Israel, led by people who had faced the Nazi Holocaust and were fighting for the right to a place where they could determine their own future and be safe.

Sadly, a country of people who were themselves long victims of oppression is now guilty of oppressing and committing genocide against others.

New Zealand recently joined 23 other countries calling out Israel and demanding a full supply of foreign aid be allowed into Gaza. Foreign Minister Winston Peters called Israel’s actions “ intolerable”. He said that we had “had enough and were running out of patience and hearing excuses”.



Goff’s argument is rooted in grim statistics that paint a stark picture. The United Nations reports that over 14,000 babies in Gaza are currently suffering from severe acute malnutrition, with half a million people, a quarter of Gaza’s population, facing starvation due to Israel’s aid restrictions. The Gaza Health Ministry, as cited by Al Jazeera, estimates over 43,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel since October 2023, with 70% of those being women and children. That’s roughly 30,100 non-combatants dead in a population of just 2.3 million. The UN also notes that 1.9 million Gazans, 83% of the population, are displaced, often multiple times, with nowhere safe to go.

Goff calls Israel’s partial lifting of the aid ban a “token effort,” and he’s not wrong. The UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in May 2025 that only 12% of required humanitarian aid reached Gaza in the first quarter of the year, despite international pressure. This isn’t complexity; it’s a deliberate stranglehold on basic necessities. Goff’s point is clear: Israel’s actions prioritise military objectives over civilian lives, a stance that aligns with reports from Haaretz, where Israeli soldiers themselves admit that outdated target lists lead to civilian deaths, with buildings struck repeatedly even after being identified as non-threatening.

Enter the Israeli apologist Damien Grant, who argues the conflict’s complexity excuses Israel’s actions. He suggests Goff oversimplifies a messy situation involving Hamas, regional politics, and Israel’s security needs. But Grant’s framing conveniently sidesteps the disproportionate toll on Palestinian civilians. He implies that Hamas’ presence justifies the scale of destruction, yet fails to mention that Israel’s own military data shows a failure to update target lists, directly endangering non-combatants. 

The self-proclaimed Libertarian also ignores evidence from the Hind Rajab Foundation, which uses Israeli soldiers’ own social media footage to document war crimes, like the killing of a five-year-old girl and paramedics trying to save her. This isn’t “complicated”; it’s a pattern of impunity that is leading to a genocide of the Palestinian people.


Yesterday, Stuff reported:

The conflict in Gaza is more complicated than Phil Goff makes out, writes Damien Grant

Goff quotes the death toll, 54,000 killed, but neglects to mention that this is from the Hamas-controlled Gaza Ministry of Health. Now. This doesn’t mean that the figure is wrong, we have little other data to work with, but Hamas has done enough to allow us to question their credibility.

Hamas and its domestic allies committed horrendous crimes against civilians on October 7 and failed to keep many of their hostages alive, with credible evidence that some were killed in captivity.

Again. Reasonable people can question if the military response is proportionate, or will prove effective, but it is not reasonable to write, as Goff does, that: “Sadly, a country of people who were themselves long victims of oppression is now guilty of oppressing and committing genocide against others.”

The genocide claim is inflammatory. The assertion is often justified by reference to the Convention on Genocide’s expansive definition that includes “Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group.”

 

Clearly Grant’s biased article leans heavily on Israel’s security narrative without acknowledging reports from Haaretz or the UN that highlight systemic issues in Israel’s military tactics, such as targeting civilian infrastructure. This selective framing undermines his claim of complexity. I mean Israel isn't exactly being complex when they bomb children in tents are they?

While Grant correctly notes the conflict’s multifaceted nature, his propaganda misrepresents the scale of civilian suffering and Israel’s documented war crimes, such as the humanitarian aid blockade. Statistics from the UN, Al Jazeera, and Haaretz, showing 43,000 deaths, 70% civilian, 1.9 million displaced, and severe malnutrition, support Goff’s critique over Grant’s dismissal. Grant’s failure to engage with these figures and his selective focus on Hamas’ actions render his analysis misleading and therefore largely irrelevant.

The befuddled insolvency practitioner's attempts to downplay the crisis also clashes with international findings. The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November 2024 for Israeli leaders, citing “reasonable grounds” for war crimes, including the use of starvation as a weapon. Meanwhile, Grant’s claim that Hamas’ actions drive the conflict ignores that 65% of Gaza’s casualties are women and children, hardly the “combatants” he insinuates are causing the conflict. Like the BBC, Grant misreporting Palestinian combatants as civilians doesn’t negate the overwhelming data on civilian deaths.


Goff’s outspokenness cost him his diplomatic post, sacked by Foreign Minister Winston Peters for earlier comments on Trump. Yet, his willingness to call out Israel’s actions echoes the sentiment of 22 countries also condemning the aid ban.

Grant, by contrast, offers no substantive counter to the stats or the humanitarian toll. No ideas on how to initiate peace other than to wipe Hamas out. His “complexity” argument feels like a dodge, a way to avoid confronting the moral and legal failures laid bare by the numbers. It''s a similar position taken by the current coalition of chaos government. Where exactly is New Zealand's condemnation of the genocide in Gaza? Despite a few platitudes and a bit of posturing, Winston Peters is once again MIA. He obviously has no concern for Palestinian lives or peace negotiations, negotiations that Israel and the United States are making a mockery of.

The Gaza conflict isn’t a puzzle too intricate to solve. When 83% of a population is displaced, 30,100 non-combatants have been obliterated, and babies are starving to death, the numbers scream louder than any apologist’s prose. Goff’s right: silence is complicity. Grant’s wrong: complexity doesn’t absolve accountability. Maybe Damien Grant should just sit this one out. After all, it's better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you're a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.

Published by the Jackal



22 Apr 2025

Help Stop the Gaza Genocide Through Activism

As a living breathing human being, you’ve likely seen the heart-wrenching images from Gaza...homes reduced to rubble, children burnt to cinders, families displaced, and a death toll that’s beyond comprehension. What is going on in Gaza is most definitely a genocide, the suffering is real, and it’s easy to feel helpless. But here’s the truth: you, the average person, have more power than you think to help stop this crisis of humanity. From grassroots activism, economic pressure, and political advocacy, let’s break down how ordinary people can step up and make a difference.

First off, let’s talk grassroots activism. You don’t need a PhD to amplify Gaza’s plight. Start with your phone or PC…and the internet which is a goldmine for sharing verified info from groups like Amnesty International and other Palestinian voices on the ground. Post a video, share a thread, or create an infographic that cuts through the noise. But don’t stop at the screen. Get out there! Join a protest, organize a vigil, or host a community hui to talk about what’s happening. Movements like Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) show how collective action can shake things up.


Today, Aljazeera reported:

 
Before he died, Pope Francis called for peace in Gaza. Will anyone listen?

Amid international indifference to the continuing genocide in Palestine, the Pope used his last address to call for a ceasefire.

Pope Francis died today at the age of 88 following a prolonged illness. Just yesterday, in his Easter Sunday address in Saint Peter’s Square in Vatican City, the leader of the Roman Catholic Church chose to express his “closeness to the sufferings of Christians in Palestine and Israel, and to all the Israeli people and the Palestinian people”.

He went on to state that he was “think[ing] of the people of Gaza, and its Christian community in particular, where the terrible conflict continues to cause death and destruction and to create a dramatic and deplorable humanitarian situation” – a toned-down reference, of course, to Israel’s ongoing genocide in the Gaza Strip, which has officially killed more than 51,200 Palestinians since October 2023.

 

We need to hit them where it hurts: their wallets. Economic pressure is your secret weapon. BDS has a hit list of companies tied to the conflict, like Hewlett-Packard, which supplies tech to Israeli forces. Boycott these brands. Check your KiwiSaver or pension fund. Does it invest in dodgy companies? Demand divestment or swap providers. Even small choices, like buying from businesses that back Palestinian rights or donating to Gaza charities, add up. It’s like refusing to buy from a dodgy fish-and-chip shop...enough of us say no, and they’ll feel the pinch.

Then there’s political advocacy. Governments aren’t untouchable; they’re swayed by people like you. Fire off an email to your MP demanding humanitarian aid for Gaza or an arms embargo. Ask them to put pressure on Israeli and United States diplomats to end the atrocities. Groups like Jewish Voice for Peace have templates to make it easy. Better yet, vote for candidates who give a damn about human rights and international law. Sign petitions on Change.org or join advocacy crews like CODEPINK to keep the pressure on. It’s not glamorous, but it’s like turning up to a council meeting...your voice matters when it’s heard.

Look, it’s not all smooth sailing. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a tangled mess, and misinformation can make your head spin. Plus, you might cop flak for speaking out. Stay sharp—read up on Palestinian perspectives, Israeli peace activists, and UN reports. Link arms with others, whether it’s a local activist group or an online crew, to keep the fire burning. History’s got our back here: ordinary people helped topple apartheid in South Africa showing that people power can work.

I know it might feel like it, but you’re not powerless. Share, protest, boycott, vote, and keep at it. Every action...big or small...builds a movement for peace that can’t be ignored. Let’s stand with Gaza and show the world what everyday people can do. Ka whawhai tonu mātou. Let’s keep fighting the good fight.

Below is a curated list of relevant links to help you stop the genocide in Gaza:

Economic Pressure

BDS - Boycott Targets List
Link: https://bdsmovement.net/get-involved/what-to-boycott
Description: BDS lists specific companies, like Hewlett-Packard (HP), targeted for boycotts due to their ties to Israeli forces. This resource helps readers follow your advice to boycott brands and check investments like KiwiSaver funds. 

American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) - Investigate Database
Link: https://investigate.afsc.org/
Description: AFSC’s database identifies companies profiting from the occupation, useful for divestment campaigns. It supports your suggestion to check pension funds and demand divestment from complicit companies. 

Ethical Consumer - Boycott List
Link: https://www.ethicalconsumer.org/ethicalcampaigns/boycotts
Description: Ethical Consumer details boycott campaigns, including BDS calls against HP and others. It offers alternatives to complicit brands, aligning with your advice to make small, impactful economic choices. 

Care4Gaza - Donation Support
Link: https://www.gofundme.com/f/careforgaza 

Description: Care4Gaza is a grassroots initiative for donating to Gaza aid, as mentioned in X posts. It supports your call to fund charities helping Palestinians directly. 

Don’t Buy Into Occupation - European Financial Institutions
Link: https://dontbuyintooccupation.org/
Description: This coalition tracks European investments in companies tied to Israeli settlements, offering a model for New Zealand readers to investigate KiwiSaver or pension fund complicity, as you suggest.

Political Advocacy

Jewish Voice for Peace - Advocacy Templates
Link: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/take-action/
Description: JVP provides email templates and advocacy tools to contact elected officials, aligning with your suggestion to email MPs for humanitarian aid or arms embargoes. 

CODEPINK - Advocacy Campaigns
Link: https://www.codepink.org/palestine
Description: CODEPINK offers petitions, advocacy guides, and campaigns to pressure governments on Gaza, supporting your call to join groups like them for political impact. 

Change.org - Petitions for Gaza
Link: https://www.change.org/petitions?selected_sorts=most_signatures&q=gaza
Description: Change.org hosts petitions demanding humanitarian aid and ceasefires in Gaza, making it easy for readers to sign and share, as you recommend. Ensure petitions are from reputable organizers. 

Amnesty International - Take Action for Palestine
Link: https://www.amnesty.org/en/petition/demand-a-ceasefire-by-all-parties-to-end-civilian-suffering/
Description: Amnesty offers advocacy actions like petitions and letters to pressure governments, supporting your advice to demand action on international law violations. 

UN Reports - Human Rights in Palestine
Link: https://www.ohchr.org/en/countries/palestine
Description: The UN’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights provides reports on Gaza, offering credible sources for readers to stay informed and advocate based on international law, as you suggest.

Additional Context and Staying Informed

Al Jazeera - Gaza Coverage
Link: https://www.aljazeera.com/tag/gaza/
Description: Al Jazeera offers up-to-date reporting on Gaza, including BDS and protests, helping readers verify information and counter misinformation, as you advise.

Electronic Intifada - Palestinian Perspectives
Link: https://electronicintifada.net/
Description: This platform amplifies Palestinian voices and covers grassroots activism, aligning with your call to read Palestinian perspectives for a fuller understanding.

Middle East Eye - Genocide Claims and Analysis
Link: https://www.middleeasteye.net/
Description: Middle East Eye covers claims of genocide in Gaza, as noted in X posts, providing context for your blog’s stance and helping readers stay sharp on the issue. 

The Intercept - Israeli Peace Activists
Link: https://theintercept.com/
Description: The Intercept often features Israeli peace activists and critical perspectives on the conflict, supporting your advice to explore diverse voices, including those within Israel. 

South Africa Anti-Apartheid Movement - Historical Context
Link: https://www.sahistory.org.za/article/anti-apartheid-movement-aam
Description: South African History Online details the anti-apartheid movement, providing historical context for your comparison to BDS and people power toppling oppressive systems.

Published by the Jackal



17 Apr 2025

NZ Must Undertake a Peacekeeping Role in Trump's Wars

Donald Trump’s return to the White House and aggressive posturing is undermining global diplomacy, and New Zealand must stand firm in rejecting his reckless, fascist-driven policies that are dragging the world toward chaos.

As a nation with a proud history of peacekeeping and principled foreign policy, we should limit our role to humanitarian rebuilding efforts and steer clear of any complicity in conflicts sparked by Trump’s dangerous anti-prosperity agenda.

Aotearoa must not be seen to be taking sides, particularly against our largest trading partner, China. There is no doubt that Trump will cause international relations to destabilise, and we’d be fools to get sucked into the vortex of United States-initiated wars, from the shameful Gaza genocide to the unending Ukraine conflict that the US appears to be swapping sides on.


Yesterday, the BBC reported:

Trump blames Zelensky for starting war after massive Russian attack

"When you start a war, you got to know you can win," the US president said.

Trump has repeatedly blamed Zelensky and Biden for the war, despite Russia invading Ukraine first in 2014, five years before Zelensky won the presidency, and then launching a full-scale invasion in 2022.


Trump’s idiotic claims and destructive rhetoric are a lit fuse for global conflict. His proposal to “take over” Gaza, displacing two million Palestinians to turn the war-torn strip into a “Riviera of the Middle East,” is not just delusional...it’s a blatant endorsement of ethnic cleansing. This plan, coupled with his unwavering support for Israel’s Nazi-like government, pours fuel on an already catastrophic fire.

By suggesting U.S. troops could occupy Gaza and permanently resettle its people, Trump is greenlighting annexation and further violence, thumbing his nose at international law and the two-state solution. His cosy relationship with Netanyahu, who smirked through Trump’s Gaza press conference, shows a shared contempt for Palestinian rights and regional stability.

The U.S., under Trump’s influence, has long played a dirty hand in global conflicts. In Gaza, decades of American military and diplomatic support for Israel have enabled the ongoing genocide, with over 50,000 Palestinian deaths, most of them children, since October 2023. The Biden administration laid the groundwork, but Trump’s explicit backing of Israeli settler policies and his withdrawal from UN human rights bodies signal a new level of complicity.

 

Last week, The Guardian reported:

Trump was ‘the candidate of peace’. Now he’s fanning the flames of war

But less than 100 days into his second term, Trump has not only instigated economic and political chaos at home, he is also stoking multiple conflicts abroad. Last month, Trump launched a new US bombing campaign against Houthi rebels in Yemen, who have been disrupting international shipping in the Red Sea. Trump also supported the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after he imposed a new siege on Gaza and restarted Israel’s devastating war against the Palestinian territory. And on 28 March, Israel bombed Beirut for the first time since agreeing to a US-brokered ceasefire with the Hezbollah militia in Lebanon, jeopardizing another fragile truce in the region.



In Ukraine, Trump’s “peace diplomacy” is a sham. His push for a rushed ceasefire, demanding Kyiv cede territory and abandon NATO aspirations, effectively rewards Putin’s aggression. The U.S. helped escalate this war by expanding NATO eastward, poking the Russian bear while arming Ukraine to the teeth, turning it into a proxy battleground. Trump’s current posturing as a deal maker only emboldens authoritarian regimes, risking further instability in Europe.

New Zealand’s role must be clear: we are peacekeepers, not pawns in Trump’s imperialist chess game. Our history in East Timor and the Solomon Islands shows we can rebuild communities and foster stability in an effective way that utilises both our skill-set and existing military equipment. Any involvement in or help to escalate Trump’s conflicts...whether in Gaza, Ukraine, or future flash points, risks tainting our reputation and dragging us into unending conflicts that only serve U.S. interests, not ours. We should focus on humanitarian aid, reconstruction, and supporting UN-led peacekeeping missions that prioritise people over power.

Trump’s fascism thrives on division and destruction. New Zealand must reject his warmongering siren call and instead work to promote on our independent, principled foreign policy. Let’s invest in the rebuilding of war torn countries, not help the United States to destroy them...because the world deserves better than Trump’s apocalyptic vision for an Earth on fire.

Published by the Jackal