Terror, human shields, and de-legitimising Israel

Written By: - Date published: 2:29 pm, November 21st, 2023 - 43 comments
Categories: International, israel, Palestine, war - Tags:

Hamas is deploying a set of tough ethical calculations as it planned its attack on Israeli civilians to kill, rape, and kidnap as it did.

One of them is in the use of human shields for their ongoing operations for those in Hamas in Gaza who may survive and continue to fight the Israel Defence Force (IDF). Hamas calculates that the more it provokes Israel into pursuing them even at the expense of civilian death and injury, the more Israel will be delegitimised by the media in more and more countries. Hamas leadership reaffirmed the human shield logic this year that they built the tunnels to keep its own organisation intact at the expense of its own civilians:

Interviewer: “Many people are asking: Since you have built 500 kilometers of tunnels, why haven’t you built bomb shelters, where civilians can hide during bombardment?”

Mousa Abu Marzouk: “We have built the tunnels because we have no other way of protecting ourselves from being targeted and killed. These tunnels are meant to protect us from the airplanes. We are fighting from inside the tunnels.

This is a simple admission that the tunnels are a convenient way for Hamas to hide its military assets underneath civilian infrastructure. This is a textbook use of human shields, which is prohibited under international law.

By locating Palestinian civilians in or above its military positions, Hamas calculates it cannot lose. Either using human shields will prevent Israel from attacking altogether as Israel determines it can’t attack without harming civilians, or as it has done now, attack even at the cost of civilian casualties. Hamas then doesn’t have to do more than let the international footage do its work generating moral outrage of a scale that delegitimises Israel further into equivalence with the terror of Hamas.

This Hamas logic is such a longstanding issue that the United States Congress passed the Sanctioning the Use of Civilians as Defenceless Shields Act in 2018. This law specifically called out Hamas.

Since at least 2014 the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), whose sole mission is to provide relief to for Palestinians, has repeatedly found stores of Hamas rockets hidden in tunnels beneath its schools.

In 2014, a human rights lawyer on CNN said:

The idea that Palestinians use their children as human shields is racist and reprehensible.”

To which host Jake Tapper responded:

We have video of the Hamas spokesman on television telling people to stay in their homes, that it’s an effective way to make sure to fight off the Israelis. That’s not racist. That’s just a fact.”

From research conducted by NATO, Hamas’ most common uses of human shields have been going on since at least 2007 and include:

  • Firing rockets, artillery, and mortars from or in proximity to heavily populated civilian areas, often from or near facilities which should be protected according to the Geneva Convention (e.g. schools, hospitals, or mosques)
  • Locating military or security-related infrastructures such as HQs, bases, armouries, access routes, lathes, or defensive positions within or in proximity to civilian areas
  • Protecting terrorists’ houses and military facilities, or rescuing terrorists who were besieged or warned by the IDF.
  • Combating the IDF from or in proximity to residential and commercial areas, including using civilians for intelligence gathering missions.

There is a specific ethical equation Hamas has to make to get anything out of what it instigated in its attack.

The use of human shields is an example of ‘lawfare’; the use of the legal system against an enemy by delegitimising them, and winning a public relations victory that may gain international support in such bodies as the United Nations Security Council. It a way a small actor magnifies its power against a much more powerful force like Israel. No matter how Israel justifies a strike, the framing of the image of dead and wounded civilians frames the narrative.

Even if at the end of the war Israel justifies each and every one of its attacks from a legal perspective with well considered legal arguments, public opinion shifts further away from supporting Israel at all: politics trumping law.

National governments should be able to justify their position and reveal their adversary’s use of civilians with well documented incidents and supportive messages, working across multiple channels to convey those narratives.

Israel is in some senses being defeated by Hamas either by attacking to destroy Hamas and killing innocent people, or not attacking and causing complete political chaos inside Israel and massive triumph to its multiple state and terrorist enemies which surround it.

The 27 European Union nations see this growing dilemma clearly, with the European Union nations jointly condemning Hamas for what they described as the use of hospitals and civilians as “human shields” in the war against Israel.

Last week the EU nations said in a statement they join “calls for immediate pauses in hostilities and the establishment of humanitarian corridors, including through increased capacity at border crossings and through a dedicated maritime route, so that humanitarian aid can safely reach the population of Gaza.” And they reiterated their “call on Hamas for the immediate and unconditional release of all hostages. It is crucial that the International Committee of the Red Cross is granted access to the hostages.”

And as a key tenet, it said that “the EU condemns the use of hospitals and civilians as human shields by Hamas.”

A further brual success was at the United Nations Security Council resolution last week, which notably the US let through rather than veto. The resolution made no mention of a ceasefire. It didn’t refer to Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7th. It called for the formation of humanitarian corridors for civilians to pass through, and the release of captives. Hamas would view this resolution as a diplomatic triumph.

So Hamas knows that it can win another part of the diplomatic war in part if it can turn the EU against Israel and ensure that its sole remaining strong ally would be the United States. Even in the United States, Israel has continued to lose support among younger generations because the Israeli government has turned harder and harder right since the 1990s and completely walked away from the ideals that it started with in the immediate decade after 1947.

Hamas has found its win-win weapon: now when the IDF uses kinetic power and the number of civilian causalities surges, Hamas can use that as a weapon in the lawfare it conducts. It would be able to accuse the IDF (and Israel) of committing war crimes, which in turn could result in the imposition of a wide array of sanctions and further loss of international support. That is a serious result for Hamas after killing 1,300 people, wounding many more, terrorising whole towns and kidnapping many Israeli citizens for ends in which few will survive to live again.

That makes for a neat but dark Hamas calculus used effectively over many years and used effectively now.

43 comments on “Terror, human shields, and de-legitimising Israel ”

  • Comments are now closed

  1. adam 1
    21 November 2023 at 4:42 pm

    The Gaza strip is about 360 square km or just over half the size of Urban Auckland. Not Auckland region which is 4,941.13 km2.

    It is at it widest point 14 km and shortest just under 10km. Length wise it is about 41 Km.

    When the war started there were 2.1 million people living their. This meant that the population density was roughly 8,100 people per square km. Now it's a bit less. As so far, 1% of the population has been killed by the IDF.

    Have you been to Auckland? Did you know in Auckland there is a Navy base situated right next to the well to do urban population, of Devonport. Or the Army base which is smack bang in a new urban development in Papakura. Also we should not forget the one which is not so close to civilians – Whenuapai Air Base.

    Crumbs major cities everywhere have military close to and on top of civilian areas. Who would have thought that was a good idea? Not me.

    But lets talk about the hostages shall we. In your world it seems they are important – more important than it is to Israel government. As they seem to not care in the slightest, what with the indiscriminate bombing. Or, the use by the IDF of Hellfire missiles on cars on day one – some of which, in all probability, contained hostages.

    Lets talk about day one shall we. Lets use your figure of 1,300 people. How many were IDF? And on active duty? Killing military combatants is now not allowed? I've heard figures of 500 at the top end. How many of the dead Israel citizens were killed by the IDF? You have seen the pictures, and some of the video. A lot of those killed were not killed by weapons Hamas have. Hellfire missiles leave tell tale signs. As they were designed to deal with armour. Truly ugly images when they hit building and cars, and I'm not going to post war porn here. You can go google it yourself if that your thing.

    I know it's not a good idea to stay in your home when a enemy is bombing it and all around you to death. But, people are funny. They have things like attachments to places and people. The fear loss, the think they will be OK, bad shit happens to other people. They remember history. A ugly history which if your a Palestinian keeps repeating. al-Nakba, al-Nakba, al-Nakba.

    • SPC 1.1
      21 November 2023 at 5:39 pm

      Where one bases ones military is probably a function of a security assessment. Any nation that attack us where we are, will win. Our security is our location.

      For Hamas, it is having their (any) military based underground. But given they are not a recognised governing body, any use of force by its military wings is seen as a terrorist act.

      That they attack Israel to provoke a response while hiding underground (civilian shield) is a war crime. Israel was required to warn people in Gaza City to leave, as to bomb an urban area without doing so would have also been a war crime. Hamas asked them to stay.

      If Hamas recognised the state of Israel and were acting on behalf of a 1967 state – given the occupation policy since 2009 (and especially since 2022), it could have been seen as a defensive actor. Even then by attacking only Israeli military positions around Gaza and only taking unarmed civilians hostage.

      I know it's not a good idea to stay in your home when a enemy is bombing it and all around you to death. But, people are funny. They have things like attachments to places and people. The fear loss, the think they will be OK, bad shit happens to other people. They remember history. A ugly history which if your a Palestinian keeps repeating. al-Nakba, al-Nakba, al-Nakba.

      Sure, half of that was psychological. The rest some simply did not have their own transportation and others the assurance of a secure path and time for helping them.

      • adam 1.1.1
        21 November 2023 at 9:43 pm

        Hamas asked them to stay.

        Got proof of that? Other than sources from the IDF?

        Or is it this quote – not quite asking them to stay is it. "remain steadfast in your homes and to stand firm in the face of this disgusting psychological war waged by the occupation".

        So your saying military targets are now civilians, because Hamas military wing are called terrorist's?

        George Washington should have all his images and statues wiped from existence, because he was the leader of a terror group as far as the British were concerned. Oh wait they won, so not terrorist.

        The IDF have lied about who was kill, and the fact they killed their own, and and you playing lawyer word games to defend them. Classy.

  2. Descendant Of Smith 2
    21 November 2023 at 5:15 pm

    So explain to me why it is OK for Israeli citizens to simply takeover Palestinian houses in order to expand Israel further – to move in and make them their own houses.

    How is this lawful? How could such behaviour not cause people to oppose them?

    There is hate and fault on both sides. It isn't a one or the other. Not helped in my view in believing in non-existent gods and thinking that old and ancient mythical rules are the way to live.

  3. francesca 3
    21 November 2023 at 5:30 pm

    Gosh

    Those horrible Hamas people are weaponising

    Israeli war crimes now .

    What will they not stoop to ?

    Forcing those innocentl Israelis to barbarism mayhem and murder.

    They should be strung up and Netenyahu should be awarded a peace prize.

    This has been a long time coming .

    Why are we only paying attention now?

  4. SPC 4
    21 November 2023 at 5:53 pm

    It called for the formation of humanitarian corridors for civilians to pass through, and the release of captives. Hamas would view this resolution as a diplomatic triumph.

    It was something Israel then did.

    While talks about a 5 day cease-fire with some hostages released was and is still going on.

    Otherwise it is surely onto provision of shelter, food and power in the south and a makeshift hospital there and a hospital ship off the coast.

  5. Tony 5
    21 November 2023 at 6:46 pm

    Unbelievable misinformation Advantage.

    [You still have Mod notes to respond to (https://thestandard.org.nz/open-mike-04-11-2023/#comment-1975285), so please complete this task before you comment here again.

    Given the piss-poor quality of your contributions here, I can say that you won’t be missed if you decide to opt for a ban instead – Incognito]

  6. Tiger Mountain 6
    21 November 2023 at 6:51 pm

    Given the scale of non combatant death and destruction in an asymmetrical attack, this is actually a rather appalling post from ADVANTAGE. 75 years of horror, humiliation, land theft, brutality, arrest without due process, settler attacks, ignoring UN resolutions…is what gave rise to the likes of Hamas.

    It would be nice to see people here urging the government and NGOs to send aid and try to break the Gaza blockade–yes the real politik–most Governments are shit scared of US Imperialism it seems. Unions around the world are now supporting trade bans and BDS against the Apartheid state.

    • SPC 6.1
      22 November 2023 at 8:02 am

      Israel supported a two state peace in 1948.

      Why was there no advocacy for a 1948 border Palestinian state during the Egypt and Jordan occupation of Gaza and the West Bank?

      The PA/PLO leadership were offered a (1948) 1967 border state with East Jerusalem as a capital in 2000.

      They said no because they also wanted right of return of refugees into the state of Israel and objected to (Jordan River) border security arrangements.

      The fences and the arrests were a result of intifada afterwards. Till 2000 (even as late as 2009) the settler project was only seen as serious by Likud, Labour saw it as a mere pressure for peace and would withdraw from them with any peace.

      • lprent 6.1.1
        22 November 2023 at 8:24 am

        Plus they wanted the removal of the Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza as a precondition. That was the actual sticking point. Right of return was not the sticking point.

        Gaza settlements were removed in 2005 as part of Israels military disengagement from Gaza in favour of a land-sea-air blockage and effective siege, and 4 unlawful under Israeli law settlements were removed from the West Bank.

        However the most obvious signal of Israeli government intentions was the repeal of the law that allowed for the removal of unlawful settlements.

        Israel repeals 2005 act that removed West Bank settlements

        Netanyahu’s government has put settlement expansion at the top of its agenda and has already advanced thousands of new settlement housing units and retroactively authorized nine wildcat outposts in the West Bank.

        As Advantage is so invested in internationally unlawful activities, perhaps he'd like to comment on that set of activities.

        Because that is a much clearer violation of international law than the difficulties of mounting a resistance movement in what is effectively a concentration camp under a internationally unlawful decades long siege. Every place in the Gaza strip is close to medical facilities, schools, refugee camps – including the border with Israel. Any kinds of defensive or offensive structures will be close to civilians. So raising this as a topic is like saying ‘it is ok to get raped if it is close quarters’ because conforming to these ‘laws’ inside Gaza removes any ability to resist Israeli attacks or to take offensive actions in a 70+ year civil war in Palestine is impossible.

        Perhaps if the Israeli government actually followed international laws itself, then this wouldn’t be an issue. But there is always parties like teh Irgun, Likud and Benjamin Netanyahu and other war-mongering arseholes in the way.

  7. Cinder 7
    21 November 2023 at 11:00 pm

    This is some extremely weak sauce. You even left your fingerprints at the scene of the crime

    1 – Your citation of "Rocket in tunnels under schools".

    No tunnels.
    Schools vacant and un-used
    This little detail at the bottom of the article

    • "AFTERNOTE

    UNRWA Jabalia Elementary “C” and Ayyobiya Boys School on 22 July 2014

    The Secretary-General convened a UN HQ Board of Inquiry (BOI) on 10 November 2014 in order to investigate a number of incidents between 8 July and 26 August 2014 affecting or involving United Nations personnel, premises and operations, including the report of the presence of weaponry at this school. The Secretary-General released a summary of the BOI report on 27 April 2015 (S/2015/286). The summary indicates that the items found were not rockets; the Board concluded that it was highly likely that a Palestinian armed group might have used the premises to hide weapons but was unable to confirm with certainty what type of weapon might have been hidden at the school.

    2 – Then you cite MEMRI. Founded by Israeli intelligence officers (one of whom is neo-conservative buddy of Richard Perle and Netanyahu) and with a history of bias and willful mistranslation of Arabic and other languages. I wouldn't trust anything that they claim without being able to access and understand the primary sources, especially the context. Thats how bad MEMRI are.

    3 – The use of "human shields" still does not remove the need for proportionality in the actions taken. Thats international law too – Why did you not mention that? Is it because you have seen the before and after satellite images of Gaza?

    4 – Its Israel – they have consistently claimed the enemy uses human shields on numerous occasions but never provide any proof. Its always just a few days away, just wait, hang on…. And then a year later they admit that they did indeed kill an entire family in a car for no reason except they were Palestinian. The destruction of the building used by AP and Al Jazeera was conducted under this claim, no proof was ever provided and thats just a single example where it would have been in their interests to do so.

    The only “evidence” you have provided did not mention tunnels, just un-used schools.
    Everything seems to be “The Israelis told us”

    Meanwhile – The use of humans as actual shields by the IDF has been documented repeatedly for over 2 decades.

    “Israeli soldiers had used Palestinian children to enter potentially dangerous buildings before them and to stand in front of military vehicles to deter stone-throwing, it said.”

    https://www.reuters.com/article/us-palestinian-israel-children/palestinian-children-tortured-used-as-shields-by-israel-u-n-idUSBRE95J0FR20130620/

    5 – NATO – Why would that military organisation take such a deep interest in urban combat operations? Ooooo….

    "there are massive profits to be made from testing Israeli military innovations on the more than four million Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank."

    https://www.wrmea.org/2013-september/the-lab-israel-tests-weapons-tactics-on-captive-palestinian-population.html

    6 – Why would the Europeans be giving the Israelis a blank cheque? Nothing to do with the centuries of anti-semitism, expulsions, exoduses, pogroms and genocides which took place there I'm sure. And I'm sure the rising tide of anti-immigrant nationalism in the EU had nothing to do with it either

    7 – Do you really think Israel gives two wet farts about international law? Really?

    A country which thought that it was an act of war when we co-sponsored a UN resolution condemning the illegal settlements?

    A country which kidnapped a number of our citizens in international waters while maintaining an illegal blockade?

    If they really believe in international law then they should sign up to the Rome Statute.

    But they won't…

    Anyhoo – All of your post was rather pointless as the Israelis let the cat out of the bag over a month ago:

    IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari made the startling admission that “hundreds of tons of bombs” had already been dropped on the tiny strip, adding that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy”.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/10/right-now-it-is-one-day-at-a-time-life-on-israels-frontline-with-gaza

    You don't need to reply to this, no-one does.

    How about instead we check back in 12 months once the ethnic cleansing is complete and we can see if you have found a moral compass

    • SPC 7.1
      21 November 2023 at 11:30 pm

      This may not mean what you think it does.

      Anyhoo – All of your post was rather pointless as the Israelis let the cat out of the bag over a month ago:

      IDF spokesperson R Adm Daniel Hagari made the startling admission that “hundreds of tons of bombs” had already been dropped on the tiny strip, adding that “the emphasis is on damage and not on accuracy”.

      The reason why they asked people of Gaza City to leave was because they were going to level the place (so as) to fight Hamas underground. That is, there would be no targeted bombing apart from not hitting the hospitals.

      Rome

      Some countries have signed but not ratified.

      Four signatory states—Israel in 2002, the United States 2002, Sudan on 26 August 2008, and Russia on 30 November 2016—have informed the UN Secretary General that they no longer intend to become states parties and, as such, have no legal obligations arising from their signature of the Statute.

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome_Statute

      India and China have not signed.

      International humanitarian law requires all parties to a conflict to avoid locating, to the maximum extent feasible, military objectives within or near densely populated areas. Other obligations to protect civilians from the effects of attacks include removing civilians from the vicinity of military objectives and giving effective warning of attacks that may affect the civilian population.

      https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/08/ukraine-ukrainian-fighting-tactics-endanger-civilians/

      This covers most, if not all, issues.

      From warning people to leave before an area is bombed to expecting those that place an urban area under siege (war zone) to allow civilians to leave.

      https://www.icrc.org/sites/default/files/document/file_list/challenges-report_urbanization-of-armed-conflicts.pdf

      • Cinder 7.1.1
        21 November 2023 at 11:43 pm

        Over a million people.

        In less than 24 hours.

        To an area the IDF were already bombing and shelling.

        Put down your crack pipe.

      • lprent 7.1.2
        22 November 2023 at 8:45 am

        The reason why they asked people of Gaza City to leave was because they were going to level the place (so as) to fight Hamas underground. That is, there would be no targeted bombing apart from not hitting the hospitals.

        I guess that also explains why at least a third of the deaths have been inside the the Israeli designated 'safe areas'. The IDF appear to have been just using bombs, missiles, and artillery in a in discriminatory manner and making up stories about their targets afterwards – or at least that

        If what you assert if correct, then why there have there been many documented atrocities against civilians on the roads from the north to the south before the IDF sent troops in to cut the road. Even when there have been announced safe periods for evacuation from north to south, those appear to have just been guidelines on good times for the ill-disciplined IDF soldiers to perpetuate more atrocities against civilians on the evacuation roads.

        I could give you links, but I'm pretty sure that you could find them yourself once you remove your horse blinders…

        • SPC 7.1.2.1
          22 November 2023 at 9:33 am

          Whatever.

          I am quite well aware of the apparent incoherence of asking people to move south and then bombing areas to the south.

          The fact remains, the large scale bombing of Gaza City did require the warning that they would need to leave. The bombing to the south was supposedly more targeted. As in earlier bombing of Gaza – but then as now, civilians have died.

          I have no idea what the policy is for strikes on targets on the roads (as per artillery or missiles), or direction to forces on the ground there to fight Hamas (as to identifying threats). Before, or after the designation of times and routes for safe passage. Others with more expertise can compare it to policy in the occupation of Iraq during the insurgency.

  8. Tiger Mountain 8
    22 November 2023 at 7:12 am

    It is rather pointless playing quote ping pong with Israeli apologists. IDF/Israeli state are bent beyond belief. Back in 2014 their online troll farms were exposed, whereby 24/7, students in particular were paid for online propaganda activity.

    https://electronicintifada.net/content/inside-israels-million-dollar-troll-army/27566

    I was targeted for several weeks on social media by a small pack of them for criticising Gaza bombing on Facebook. When Lorde declined to play there, boy did they go off.

    So what is to be done is continue solidarity actions with Palestine–march, rally, protest, BDS, union trade bans, hit the Israeli state where it hurts–economically and culturally.
    Israeli businesses around the world need to be boycotted and politicians sent the message–stop backing the apartheid state and US Imperialism.

    The true nature of too many Israelis has been revealed over some years by photos of settlers sitting on sofas on ridges, on the piss, cheering on plane strikes on Gaza.

    “In our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians!”
    –Roger Fowler, Kia Ora Gaza AO/NZ

    • SPC 8.1
      22 November 2023 at 8:07 am

      Those people and those who do not join us in demonising them are the baddies.

      You would have been a great McCarthyist.

      • lprent 8.1.1
        22 November 2023 at 8:51 am

        I think it is more about you simply not wanting to hear anything bad about Israeli techniques.

        So what do you think should happen in the south Levant aka Palestine to get rid of the mess that the UK and the UN left there in 1948.

        Currently I lean towards simply removing the state of Israel as being the main impediment to the continual warfare and the way that keeps spilling over into the rest of the region and world.

        • SPC 8.1.1.1
          22 November 2023 at 9:01 am

          I think it is more about you simply not wanting to hear anything bad about Israeli techniques..

          So you have the same tendency to partisan portrayal of those you see as on another side.

          I would have thought it obvious that debating an issue indicates the opposite.

          So what do you think should happen in the south Levant aka Palestine to get rid of the mess that the UK and the UN left there in 1948.

          Currently I lean towards simply removing the state of Israel as being the main impediment to the continual warfare and the way that keeps spilling over into the rest of the region and world.

          I don't see the elimination of a state of Israel, or the prevention of a Palestinian state, as lawful in international law. Nor just.

        • Tiger Mountain 8.1.1.2
          22 November 2023 at 9:33 am

          The proverbial in the room surely is the massive US financial support for the Israeli State & Military. If that were substantially cut or removed the behaviour of the IDF etc. would change, and quickly.
          https://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2023-10-10/how-much-aid-does-the-u-s-give-to-israel

          The tipping point will likely be reached as in South Africa, after this slaughter fest.
          https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2023/11/16/apartheid-south-africa-reached-a-tipping-point-israel-will-too

          The answer has to be a one state country with equal rights for all–and while few would say that would be easy–what other path is there for some reasonable peace in the Mid East.

        • Belladonna 8.1.1.3
          23 November 2023 at 5:03 pm

          Simply removing the state of Israel – and leaving the current population/s in place, will just continue war/terrorism/whatever label you want to apply. People will go on fighting and killing and terrorizing everyone on the 'other' side.

          If you are proposing to remove the Israeli population – where do you propose to send them?

          Have to say – most of the wars in the Middle East this century have had nothing to do with Israel.

          • lprent 8.1.1.3.1
            26 November 2023 at 1:23 am

            Have to say – most of the wars in the Middle East this century have had nothing to do with Israel.

            Bullshit. Do you ever read anything? Most of the 21st century middle east conflicts all started from Al-Queda. That doctrinal base for that fell out from the Russian invasion of Afghanistan. But the occupation of Palestine by the state of Israel was the other extant example. Ummm. Name section in https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Qaeda

            The doctrinal concept of "Al-Qaeda" was first coined by the Palestinian Islamist scholar and Jihadist leader Abdullah Azzam in an April 1988 issue of Al-Jihad magazine to describe a religiously committed vanguard of Muslims who wage armed Jihad globally to liberate oppressed Muslims from foreign invaders, establish sharia (Islamic law) across the Islamic World by overthrowing the ruling secular governments; and thus restore the past Islamic prowess. This was to be implemented by establishing an Islamic state that would nurture generations of Muslim soldiers that would perpetually attack United States and its allied governments in the Muslim World. Numerous historical models were cited by Azzam as successful examples of his call; starting from the early Muslim conquests of the 7th century to the recent anti-Soviet Afghan Jihad of 1980s

            IS ran on the same basic philosophy, so does Hamas, etc. Al-Queda specifically was opposed to the stationing of American bases in the Arabian near the holy cities after the first Gulf War.

            Partially the reason for that deployment was for the protection of the gulf states against Iraq.

            But mainly for US domestic reasons and concerns by Arab states about the aggression of Israel. It was also because of the Iraqi Scud missile campaign against Israel in the first Gulf war and the Israeli concerns about WMD programs in Iraq. The implicit security guarantee for Israel was that the US would be in a position to interdict development of WMD in Iraq by having bases in the Arabian peninsula, and that Israeli was to not provoke a another widespread war by preemptively attacking Iraq WMD sites.

            Because of that secular western military presence in the Arabian Peninsula, the whole reason for the the September 11th and earlier attacks was to provoke the US to attack a Muslin country using that organisational base. Which is what happened. That in turn triggered a instabilities of all the 21st century wars in the middle east.

            At the centre of the causative effect is the state of Israel and its inability to accommodate the Palestinian refugees that it deliberately created in 1948 and the occupied territories that it seized since.

            Right now it is mass killing Palestinian civilians in Gaza in what looks like purely collective punishment massacres, allowing its armed soldiers and settlers to kill and injure civilians in occupied areas without any consequences from law fro the same reason, attacking civilian infrastructure like community solar arrays in Lebabon for the same reason. Herding Palestinians into ghettos in Gaza and the WEst Bank to make it easier to murder civilians efficiently in military and settler pogroms (south Gaza and Hebron being obvious examples).

            The IDF and settlers appear to be using all of the possible techniques to perform ethnic cleansing and at the same times to further the cause of more extremist Palestinians groups.

            Basically Israel as a state can easily continue to be seen as the centre for trouble in the reason because of its behaviour. The rest of the world would have been be way safer without them colonising that region.

            People will go on fighting and killing and terrorizing everyone on the 'other' side.

            We won't know while the state of Israel refuses to deal equitably with the refugee and occupied communities that they deliberately created and control. About 20% of the Israeli state are Palestinians. That doesn't appear to be an issue apart from some of the the racist/religous inequality.

            Most of the Israeli internal terrorism is from extremist settler, extremist Zionist or religious Jewish nut-bars.

  9. John 9
    23 November 2023 at 11:56 am

    One state with equal rights for all sounds sensible but is it realistic?

    • Belladonna 9.1
      23 November 2023 at 5:05 pm

      Given the hatred and the totally incompatible bottom lines from the most extreme wings of both sides – I'd have to say it was entirely unrealistic.

      It doesn't matter how much international negotiation goes on, if there are substantial populations who are entirely prepared to ignore anything other than 'total' victory for their side.

      • lprent 9.1.1
        26 November 2023 at 1:25 am

        Plus 40+ years of Israel refusing to deal with the mess that they created back in 1948 with their planned and executed forcing of a refugee ethnic cleansing campaign.

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    New Zealand now has the fourth most depressed construction sector in the world behind China, Qatar and Hong Kong. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 8:46am on Thursday, May 2:The Lead: ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 hours ago

  • Brainwashed People Think Everyone Else is Brainwashed
    Hi,I am just going to state something very obvious: American police are fucking crazy.That was a photo gracing the New York Times this morning, showing New York City police “entering Columbia University last night after receiving a request from the school.”Apparently in America, protesting the deaths of tens of thousands ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    5 hours ago

  • Peters’ real foreign policy threat is Helen Clark
    Winston Peters’ much anticipated foreign policy speech last night was a work of two halves. Much of it was a standard “boilerplate” Foreign Ministry overview of the state of the world. There was some hardening up of rhetoric with talk of “benign” becoming “malign” and old truths giving way to ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 hours ago

  • NZ’s trans lobby is fighting a rearguard action
    Graham Adams assesses the fallout of the Cass Review — The press release last Thursday from the UN Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls didn’t make the mainstream news in New Zealand but it really should have. The startling title of Reem Alsalem’s statement — “Implementation of ‘Cass ...
    Point of OrderBy gadams1000
    14 hours ago

  • Your mandate is imaginary
    This open-for-business, under-new-management cliché-pockmarked government of Christopher Luxon is not the thing of beauty he imagines it to be. It is not the powerful expression of the will of the people that he asserts it to be. It is not a soaring eagle, it is a malodorous vulture. This newest poll should make ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    19 hours ago

  • 14,000 unemployed under National
    The latest labour market statistics, showing a rise in unemployment. There are now 134,000 unemployed - 14,000 more than when the National government took office. Which is I guess what happens when the Reserve Bank causes a recession in an effort to Keep Wages Low. The previous government saw a ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    21 hours ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Discontent and gloom dominate NZ’s political mood
    Three opinion polls have been released in the last two days, all showing that the new government is failing to hold their popular support. The usual honeymoon experienced during the first year of a first term government is entirely absent. The political mood is still gloomy and discontented, mainly due ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    21 hours ago

  • Taking Tea with 42 & 38.
    National's Finance Minister once met a poor person.A scornful interview with National's finance guru who knows next to nothing about economics or people.There might have been something a bit familiar if that was the headline I’d gone with today. It would of course have been in tribute to the article ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    22 hours ago

  • Beware political propaganda: statistics are pointing to Grant Robertson never protecting “Lives an...
    Rob MacCulloch writes – Throughout the pandemic, the new Vice-Chancellor-of-Otago-University-on-$629,000 per annum-Can-you-believe-it-and-Former-Finance-Minister Grant Robertson repeated the mantra over and over that he saved “lives and livelihoods”. As we update how this claim is faring over the course of time, the facts are increasingly speaking differently. NZ ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    23 hours ago

  • Winding back the hands of history’s clock
    Chris Trotter writes – IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in acknowledgement of electoral victory: “We’ll govern for all New Zealanders.” On the face of it, the pledge is a strange one. Why would any political leader govern in ways that advantaged the huge ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    23 hours ago

  • Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidence
     Bryce Edwards writes – The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill ...
    Point of OrderBy xtrdnry
    23 hours ago

  • Business confidence sliding into winter of discontent
    TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy at 10:06am on Wednesday, May 1:The Lead: Business confidence fell across the board in April, falling in some areas to levels last seen during the lockdowns because of a collapse in ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    1 day ago

  • Gordon Campbell on the coalition’s awful, not good, very bad poll results
    Over the past 36 hours, Christopher Luxon has been dong his best to portray the centre-right’s plummeting poll numbers as a mark of virtue. Allegedly, the negative verdicts are the result of hard economic times, and of a government bravely set out on a perilous rescue mission from which not ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    1 day ago

  • New HOP readers for future payment options
    Auckland Transport have started rolling out new HOP card readers around the network and over the next three months, all of them on buses, at train stations and ferry wharves will be replaced. The change itself is not that remarkable, with the new readers looking similar to what is already ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    1 day ago

  • 2024 Reading Summary: April (+ Writing Update)
    Completed reads for April: The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling Carnival of Saints, by George Herman The Snow Spider, by Jenny Nimmo Emlyn’s Moon, by Jenny Nimmo The Chestnut Soldier, by Jenny Nimmo Death Comes As the End, by Agatha Christie Lord of the Flies, by ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    2 days ago

  • At a glance – Clearing up misconceptions regarding 'hide the decline'
    On February 14, 2023 we announced our Rebuttal Update Project. This included an ask for feedback about the added "At a glance" section in the updated basic rebuttal versions. This weekly blog post series highlights this new section of one of the updated basic rebuttal versions and serves as a ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Road photos
    Have a story to share about St Paul’s, but today just picturesPopular novels written at this desk by a young man who managed to bootstrap himself out of father’s imprisonment and his own young life in a workhouse Read more ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    2 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Paula Bennett’s political appointment will challenge public confidence
    The list of former National Party Ministers being given plum and important roles got longer this week with the appointment of former Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett as the chair of Pharmac. The Christopher Luxon-led Government has now made key appointments to Bill English, Simon Bridges, Steven Joyce, Roger Sowry, ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    2 days ago

  • NZDF is still hostile to oversight
    Newsroom has a story today about National's (fortunately failed) effort to disestablish the newly-created Inspector-General of Defence. The creation of this agency was the key recommendation of the Inquiry into Operation Burnham, and a vital means of restoring credibility and social licence to an agency which had been caught lying ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Winding Back The Hands Of History’s Clock.
    Holding On To The Present: The moment a political movement arises that attacks the whole idea of social progress, and announces its intention to wind back the hands of History’s clock, then democracy, along with its unwritten rules, is in mortal danger.IT’S A COMMONPLACE of political speeches, especially those delivered in ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Sweet Moderation? What Christopher Luxon Could Learn From The Germans.
    Stuck In The Middle With You: As Christopher Luxon feels the hot breath of Act’s and NZ First’s extremists on the back of his neck and, as he reckons with the damage their policies are already inflicting upon a country he’s described as “fragile”, is there not some merit in reaching out ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • A clear warning
    The unpopular coalition government is currently rushing to repeal section 7AA of the Oranga Tamariki Act. The clause is Oranga Tamariki's Treaty clause, and was inserted after its systematic stealing of Māori children became a public scandal and resulted in physical resistance to further abductions. The clause created clear obligations ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    2 days ago

  • Poll results and Waitangi Tribunal report go unmentioned on the Beehive website – where racing tru...
    Buzz  from the Beehive The government’s official website – which Point of Order monitors daily – not for the first time has nothing much to say today about political happenings that are grabbing media headlines. It makes no mention of the latest 1News-Verian poll, for example.  This shows National down ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    2 days ago

  • Listening To The Traffic.
    It Takes A Train To Cry: Surely, there is nothing lonelier in all this world than the long wail of a distant steam locomotive on a cold Winter’s night.AS A CHILD, I would lie awake in my grandfather’s house and listen to the traffic. The big wooden house was only a ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Comity Be Damned! The State’s Legislative Arm Is Flexing Its Constitutional Muscles.
    Packing A Punch: The election of the present government, including in its ranks politicians dedicated to reasserting the rights of the legislature in shaping and determining the future of Māori and Pakeha in New Zealand, should have alerted the judiciary – including its anomalous appendage, the Waitangi Tribunal – that its ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Ending The Quest.
    Dead Woman Walking: New Zealand’s media industry had been moving steadily towards disaster for all the years Melissa Lee had been National’s media and communications policy spokesperson, and yet, when the crisis finally broke, on her watch, she had nothing intelligent to offer. Christopher Luxon is a patient man - but he’s not ...
    Bowalley Road
    2 days ago

  • Will political polarisation intensify to the point where ‘normal’ government becomes impossible,...
    Chris Trotter writes –  New Zealand politics is remarkably easy-going: dangerously so, one might even say. With the notable exception of John Key’s flat ruling-out of the NZ First Party in 2008, all parties capable of clearing MMP’s five-percent threshold, or winning one or more electorate seats, tend ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Tuesday, April 30
    TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:30am on Tuesday, May 30:Scoop: NZ 'close to the tipping point' of measles epidemic, health experts warn NZ Herald Benjamin PlummerHealth: 'Absurd and totally unacceptable': Man has to wait a year for ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country
    Bryce Edwards writes – Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    2 days ago

  • Worst poll result for a new Government in MMP history
    Luxon will no doubt put a brave face on it, but there is no escaping the pressure this latest poll will put on him and the government. Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    2 days ago

  • Pinning down climate change's role in extreme weather
    This is a re-post from The Climate Brink by Andrew Dessler In the wake of any unusual weather event, someone inevitably asks, “Did climate change cause this?” In the most literal sense, that answer is almost always no. Climate change is never the sole cause of hurricanes, heat waves, droughts, or ...
    Skeptical Science
    2 days ago

  • Serving at Seymour's pleasure.
    Something odd happened yesterday, and I’d love to know if there’s more to it. If there was something which preempted what happened, or if it was simply a throwaway line in response to a journalist.Yesterday David Seymour was asked at a press conference what the process would be if the ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    2 days ago

  • Webworm LA Pop-Up
    Hi,From time to time, I want to bring Webworm into the real world. We did it last year with the Jurassic Park event in New Zealand — which was a lot of fun!And so on Saturday May 11th, in Los Angeles, I am hosting a lil’ Webworm pop-up! I’ve been ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    2 days ago

  • “Feel good” school is out
    Education Minister Erica Standford yesterday unveiled a fundamental reform of the way our school pupils are taught. She would not exactly say so, but she is all but dismantling the so-called “inquiry” “feel good” method of teaching, which has ruled in our classrooms since a major review of the New ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    2 days ago

  • 6 Months in, surely our Report Card is “Ignored all warnings: recommend dismissal ASAP”?
    Exactly where are we seriously going with this government and its policies? That is, apart from following what may as well be a Truss-Lite approach on the purported economic “plan“, and Victorian-era regression when it comes to social policy. Oh it’ll work this time of course, we’re basically assured, “the ...
    exhALANtBy exhalantblog
    3 days ago

  • Bread, and how it gets buttered
    Hey Uncle Dave, When the Poms joined the EEC, I wasn't one of those defeatists who said, Well, that’s it for the dairy job. And I was right, eh? The Chinese can’t get enough of our milk powder and eventually, the Poms came to their senses and backed up the ute ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    3 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: Why Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating in the country
    Polling shows that Wellington Mayor Tory Whanau has the lowest approval rating of any mayor in the country. Siting at -12 per cent, the proportion of constituents who disapprove of her performance outweighs those who give her the thumbs up. This negative rating is higher than for any other mayor ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    3 days ago

  • Justice for Gaza?
    The New York Times reports that the International Criminal Court is about to issue arrest warrants for Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, over their genocide in Gaza: Israeli officials increasingly believe that the International Criminal Court is preparing to issue arrest warrants for senior government officials on ...
    No Right TurnBy Idiot/Savant
    3 days ago

  • If there has been any fiddling with Pharmac’s funding, we can count on Paula to figure out the fis...
    Buzz from the Beehive Pharmac has been given a financial transfusion and a new chair to oversee its spending in the pharmaceutical business. Associate Health Minister David Seymour described the funding for Pharmac as “its largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff”. ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    3 days ago

  • FastTrackWatch – The case for the Government’s Fast Track Bill
    Bryce Edwards writes – Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    3 days ago

  • Bernard’s pick 'n' mix for Monday, April 29
    TL;DR: Here’s my top 10 ‘pick ‘n’ mix of links to news, analysis and opinion articles as of 10:10am on Monday, April 29:Scoop: The children's ward at Rotorua Hospital will be missing a third of its beds as winter hits because Te Whatu Ora halted an upgrade partway through to ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Gordon Campbell on Iran killing its rappers, and searching for the invisible Dr. Reti
    span class=”dropcap”>As hideous as David Seymour can be, it is worth keeping in mind occasionally that there are even worse political figures (and regimes) out there. Iran for instance, is about to execute the country’s leading hip hop musician Toomaj Salehi, for writing and performing raps that “corrupt” the nation’s ...
    Gordon CampbellBy lyndon
    3 days ago

  • Auckland Rail Electrification 10 years old
    Yesterday marked 10 years since the first electric train carried passengers in Auckland so it’s a good time to look back at it and the impact it has had. A brief history The first proposals for rail electrification in Auckland came in the 1920’s alongside the plans for earlier ...
    Greater AucklandBy Matt L
    3 days ago

  • Coalition's dirge of austerity and uncertainty is driving the economy into a deeper recession
    Right now, in Aotearoa-NZ, our ‘animal spirits’ are darkening towards a winter of discontent, thanks at least partly to a chorus of negative comments and actions from the Government Photo: Lynn Grieveson / The KākāTL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    3 days ago

  • Disability Funding or Tax Cuts.
    You make people evil to punish the paststuck inside a sequel with a rotating castThe following photos haven’t been generated with AI, or modified in any way. They are flesh and blood, human beings. On the left is Galatea Young, a young mum, and her daughter Fiadh who has Angelman ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    3 days ago

  • Of the Goodness of Tolkien’s Eru
    April has been a quiet month at A Phuulish Fellow. I have had an exceptionally good reading month, and a decently productive writing month – for original fiction, anyway – but not much has caught my eye that suggested a blog article. It has been vaguely frustrating, to be honest. ...
    A Phuulish FellowBy strda221
    4 days ago

  • 2024 SkS Weekly Climate Change & Global Warming News Roundup #17
    A listing of 31 news and opinion articles we found interesting and shared on social media during the past week: Sun, April 21, 2024 thru Sat, April 27, 2024. Story of the week Anthropogenic climate change may be the ultimate shaggy dog story— but with a twist, because here ...
    Skeptical Science
    4 days ago

  • Pastor Who Abused People, Blames People
    Hi,I spent about a year on Webworm reporting on an abusive megachurch called Arise, and it made me want to stab my eyes out with a fork.I don’t regret that reporting in 2022 and 2023 — I am proud of it — but it made me angry.Over three main stories ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    4 days ago

  • Vic Uni shows how under threat free speech is
    The new Victoria University Vice-Chancellor decided to have a forum at the university about free speech and academic freedom as it is obviously a topical issue, and the Government is looking at legislating some carrots or sticks for universities to uphold their obligations under the Education and Training Act. They ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    4 days ago

  • Winston remembers Gettysburg.
    Do you remember when Melania Trump got caught out using a speech that sounded awfully like one Michelle Obama had given? Uncannily so.Well it turns out that Abraham Lincoln is to Winston Peters as Michelle was to Melania. With the ANZAC speech Uncle Winston gave at Gallipoli having much in ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    4 days ago

  • 25
    She was born 25 years ago today in North Shore hospital. Her eyes were closed tightly shut, her mouth was silently moving. The whole theatre was all quiet intensity as they marked her a 2 on the APGAR test. A one-minute eternity later, she was an 8.  The universe was ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    4 days ago

  • Fact Brief – Is Antarctica gaining land ice?
    Skeptical Science is partnering with Gigafact to produce fact briefs — bite-sized fact checks of trending claims. This fact brief was written by Sue Bin Park in collaboration with members from our Skeptical Science team. You can submit claims you think need checking via the tipline. Is Antarctica gaining land ice? ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Policing protests.
    Images of US students (and others) protesting and setting up tent cities on US university campuses have been broadcast world wide and clearly demonstrate the growing rifts in US society caused by US policy toward Israel and Israel’s prosecution of … Continue reading → ...
    KiwipoliticoBy Pablo
    5 days ago

  • Open letter to Hon Paul Goldsmith
    Barrie Saunders writes – Dear Paul As the new Minister of Media and Communications, you will be inundated with heaps of free advice and special pleading, all in the national interest of course. For what it’s worth here is my assessment: Traditional broadcasting free to air content through ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Bryce Edwards: FastTrackWatch – The Case for the Government’s Fast Track Bill
    Many criticisms are being made of the Government’s Fast Track Approvals Bill, including by this writer. But as with everything in politics, every story has two sides, and both deserve attention. It’s important to understand what the Government is trying to achieve and its arguments for such a bold reform. ...
    Democracy ProjectBy bryce.edwards
    5 days ago

  • Luxon gets out his butcher’s knife – briefly
    Peter Dunne writes –  The great nineteenth British Prime Minister, William Gladstone, once observed that “the first essential for a Prime Minister is to be a good butcher.” When a later British Prime Minister, Harold Macmillan, sacked a third of his Cabinet in July 1962, in what became ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • More tax for less
    Ele Ludemann writes – New Zealanders had the OECD’s second highest tax increase last year: New Zealanders faced the second-biggest tax raises in the developed world last year, the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) says. The intergovernmental agency said the average change in personal income tax ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    5 days ago

  • Real News vs Fake News.
    We all know something’s not right with our elections. The spread of misinformation, people being targeted with soundbites and emotional triggers that ignore the facts, even the truth, and influence their votes.The use of technology to produce deep fakes. How can you tell if something is real or not? Can ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    5 days ago

  • Another way to roll
    Hello! Here comes the Saturday edition of More Than A Feilding, catching you up on the past week’s editions.Share ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    5 days ago

  • Simon Clark: The climate lies you'll hear this year
    This video includes conclusions of the creator climate scientist Dr. Simon Clark. It is presented to our readers as an informed perspective. Please see video description for references (if any). This year you will be lied to! Simon Clark helps prebunk some misleading statements you'll hear about climate. The video includes ...
    Skeptical Science
    5 days ago

  • Cutting the Public Service
    It is all very well cutting the backrooms of public agencies but it may compromise the frontlines. One of the frustrations of the Productivity Commission’s 2017 review of universities is that while it observed that their non-academic staff were increasing faster than their academic staff, it did not bother to ...
    PunditBy Brian Easton
    6 days ago

  • Luxon’s demoted ministers might take comfort from the British politician who bounced back after th...
    Buzz from the Beehive Two speeches delivered by Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters at Anzac Day ceremonies in Turkey are the only new posts on the government’s official website since the PM announced his Cabinet shake-up. In one of the speeches, Peters stated the obvious:  we live in a troubled ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • This is how I roll over
    1. Which of these would you not expect to read in The Waikato Invader?a. Luxon is here to do business, don’t you worry about thatb. Mr KPI expects results, and you better believe itc. This decisive man of action is getting me all hot and excitedd. Melissa Lee is how ...
    More Than A FeildingBy David Slack
    6 days ago

  • The Waitangi Tribunal is not “a roving Commission”…
    …it has a restricted jurisdiction which must not be abused: it is not an inquisition   NOTE – this article was published before the High Court ruled that Karen Chhour does not have to appear before the Waitangi Tribunal Gary Judd writes –  The High Court ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Is Oranga Tamariki guilty of neglect?
    Lindsay Mitchell writes – One of reasons Oranga Tamariki exists is to prevent child neglect. But could the organisation itself be guilty of the same? Oranga Tamariki’s statistics show a decrease in the number and age of children in care. “There are less children ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    6 days ago

  • Three Strikes saw lower reoffending
    David Farrar writes: Graeme Edgeler wrote in 2017: In the first five years after three strikes came into effect 5248 offenders received a ‘first strike’ (that is, a “stage-1 conviction” under the three strikes sentencing regime), and 68 offenders received a ‘second strike’. In the five years prior to ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • Luxon’s ruthless show of strength is perfect for our angry era
    Bryce Edwards writes – Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has surprised everyone with his ruthlessness in sacking two of his ministers from their crucial portfolios. Removing ministers for poor performance after only five months in the job just doesn’t normally happen in politics. That’s refreshing and will be extremely ...
    Point of OrderBy poonzteam5443
    6 days ago

  • 'Lacks attention to detail and is creating double-standards.'
    TL;DR: These are the six things that stood out to me in news and commentary on Aotearoa-NZ’s political economy in the two days to 6:06am on Thursday, April 25:Politics: PM Christopher Luxon has set up a dual standard for ministerial competence by demoting two National Cabinet ministers while leaving also-struggling ...
    The KakaBy Bernard Hickey
    6 days ago

  • One Night Only!
    Hi,Today I mainly want to share some of your thoughts about the recent piece I wrote about success and failure, and the forces that seemingly guide our lives. But first, a quick bit of housekeeping: I am doing a Webworm popup in Los Angeles on Saturday May 11 at 2pm. ...
    David FarrierBy David Farrier
    6 days ago

  • What did Melissa Lee do?
    It is hard to see what Melissa Lee might have done to “save” the media. National went into the election with no public media policy and appears not to have developed one subsequently. Lee claimed that she had prepared a policy paper before the election but it had been decided ...
    PolitikBy Richard Harman
    6 days ago

  • Skeptical Science New Research for Week #17 2024
    Open access notables Ice acceleration and rotation in the Greenland Ice Sheet interior in recent decades, Løkkegaard et al., Communications Earth & Environment: In the past two decades, mass loss from the Greenland ice sheet has accelerated, partly due to the speedup of glaciers. However, uncertainty in speed derived from satellite products ...
    Skeptical Science
    7 days ago

  • Maori Party (with “disgust”) draws attention to Chhour’s race after the High Court rules on Wa...
    Buzz from the Beehive A statement from Children’s Minister Karen Chhour – yet to be posted on the Government’s official website – arrived in Point of Order’s email in-tray last night. It welcomes the High Court ruling on whether the Waitangi Tribunal can demand she appear before it. It does ...
    Point of OrderBy Bob Edlin
    7 days ago

  • Who’s Going Up The Media Mountain?
    Mr Bombastic: Ironically, the media the academic experts wanted is, in many ways, the media they got. In place of the tyrannical editors of yesteryear, advancing without fear or favour the interests of the ruling class; the New Zealand news media of today boasts a troop of enlightened journalists dedicated to ...
    Bowalley Road
    7 days ago

  • “That's how I roll”
    It's hard times try to make a livingYou wake up every morning in the unforgivingOut there somewhere in the cityThere's people living lives without mercy or pityI feel good, yeah I'm feeling fineI feel better then I have for the longest timeI think these pills have been good for meI ...
    Nick’s KōreroBy Nick Rockel
    1 week ago

  • Stronger oversight for our most vulnerable children
    The rights of our children and young people will be enhanced by changes the coalition Government will make to strengthen oversight of the Oranga Tamariki system, including restoring a single Children’s Commissioner. “The Government is committed to delivering better public services that care for our most at-risk young people and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    53 mins ago

  • Streamlining Building Consent Changes
    The Government is making it easier for minor changes to be made to a building consent so building a home is easier and more affordable, Building and Construction Minister Chris Penk says.      “The coalition Government is focused on making it easier and cheaper to build homes so we can ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 hours ago

  • Minister acknowledges passing of Sir Robert Martin (KNZM)
    New Zealand lost a true legend when internationally renowned disability advocate Sir Robert Martin (KNZM) passed away at his home in Whanganui last night, Disabilities Issues Minister Louise Upston says. “Our Government’s thoughts are with his wife Lynda, family and community, those he has worked with, the disability community in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    17 hours ago

  • Speech to New Zealand Institute of International Affairs, Parliament – Annual Lecture: Challenges ...
    Good evening –   Before discussing the challenges and opportunities facing New Zealand’s foreign policy, we’d like to first acknowledge the New Zealand Institute of International Affairs. You have contributed to debates about New Zealand foreign policy over a long period of time, and we thank you for hosting us.  ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    17 hours ago

  • Accelerating airport security lines
    From today, passengers travelling internationally from Auckland Airport will be able to keep laptops and liquids in their carry-on bags for security screening thanks to new technology, Transport Minister Simeon Brown says. “Creating a more efficient and seamless travel experience is important for holidaymakers and businesses, enabling faster movement through ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    20 hours ago

  • Community hui to talk about kina barrens
    People with an interest in the health of Northland’s marine ecosystems are invited to a public meeting to discuss how to deal with kina barrens, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. Mr Jones will lead the discussion, which will take place on Friday, 10 May, at Awanui Hotel in ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Kiwi exporters win as NZ-EU FTA enters into force
    Kiwi exporters are $100 million better off today with the NZ EU FTA entering into force says Trade Minister Todd McClay. “This is all part of our plan to grow the economy. New Zealand's prosperity depends on international trade, making up 60 per cent of the country’s total economic activity. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 day ago

  • Mining resurgence a welcome sign
    There are heartening signs that the extractive sector is once again becoming an attractive prospect for investors and a source of economic prosperity for New Zealand, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. “The beginnings of a resurgence in extractive industries are apparent in media reports of the sector in the past ...
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    1 day ago

  • Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill passes first reading
    The return of the historic Ō-Rākau battle site to the descendants of those who fought there moved one step closer today with the first reading of Te Pire mō Ō-Rākau, Te Pae o Maumahara / The Ō-Rākau Remembrance Bill. The Bill will entrust the 9.7-hectare battle site, five kilometres west ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Government to boost public EV charging network
    Energy Minister Simeon Brown has announced 25 new high-speed EV charging hubs along key routes between major urban centres and outlined the Government’s plan to supercharge New Zealand’s EV infrastructure.  The hubs will each have several chargers and be capable of charging at least four – and up to 10 ...
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    2 days ago

  • Residential Property Managers Bill to not progress
    The coalition Government will not proceed with the previous Government’s plans to regulate residential property managers, Housing Minister Chris Bishop says. “I have written to the Chairperson of the Social Services and Community Committee to inform him that the Government does not intend to support the Residential Property Managers Bill ...
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    2 days ago

  • Independent review into disability support services
    The Government has announced an independent review into the disability support system funded by the Ministry of Disabled People – Whaikaha. Disability Issues Minister Louise Upston says the review will look at what can be done to strengthen the long-term sustainability of Disability Support Services to provide disabled people and ...
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    2 days ago

  • Justice Minister updates UN on law & order plan
    Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith has attended the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva and outlined the Government’s plan to restore law and order. “Speaking to the United Nations Human Rights Council provided us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while responding to issues and ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Ending emergency housing motels in Rotorua
    The Government and Rotorua Lakes Council are committed to working closely together to end the use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua. Associate Minister of Housing (Social Housing) Tama Potaka says the Government remains committed to ending the long-term use of contracted emergency housing motels in Rotorua by the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    2 days ago

  • Trade Minister travels to Riyadh, OECD, and Dubai
    Trade Minister Todd McClay heads overseas today for high-level trade talks in the Gulf region, and a key OECD meeting in Paris. Mr McClay will travel to Riyadh to meet with counterparts from Saudi Arabia and the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). “New Zealand’s goods and services exports to the Gulf region ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Education priorities focused on lifting achievement
    Education Minister Erica Stanford has outlined six education priorities to deliver a world-leading education system that sets Kiwi kids up for future success. “I’m putting ambition, achievement and outcomes at the heart of our education system. I want every child to be inspired and engaged in their learning so they ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • NZTA App first step towards digital driver licence
    The new NZ Transport Agency (NZTA) App is a secure ‘one stop shop’ to provide the services drivers need, Transport Minister Simeon Brown and Digitising Government Minister Judith Collins say.  “The NZTA App will enable an easier way for Kiwis to pay for Vehicle Registration and Road User Charges (RUC). ...
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    3 days ago

  • Supporting whānau out of emergency housing
    Whānau with tamariki growing up in emergency housing motels will be prioritised for social housing starting this week, says Associate Housing Minister Tama Potaka. “Giving these whānau a better opportunity to build healthy stable lives for themselves and future generations is an essential part of the Government’s goal of reducing ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Tribute to Dave O'Sullivan
    Racing Minister Winston Peters has paid tribute to an icon of the industry with the recent passing of Dave O’Sullivan (OBE). “Our sympathies are with the O’Sullivan family with the sad news of Dave O’Sullivan’s recent passing,” Mr Peters says. “His contribution to racing, initially as a jockey and then ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Speech – Eid al-Fitr
    Assalaamu alaikum, greetings to you all. Eid Mubarak, everyone! I want to extend my warmest wishes to you and everyone celebrating this joyous occasion. It is a pleasure to be here. I have enjoyed Eid celebrations at Parliament before, but this is my first time joining you as the Minister ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Government saves access to medicines
    Associate Health Minister David Seymour has announced Pharmac’s largest ever budget of $6.294 billion over four years, fixing a $1.774 billion fiscal cliff.    “Access to medicines is a crucial part of many Kiwis’ lives. We’ve committed to a budget allocation of $1.774 billion over four years so Kiwis are ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    3 days ago

  • Pharmac Chair appointed
    Hon Paula Bennett has been appointed as member and chair of the Pharmac board, Associate Health Minister David Seymour announced today. "Pharmac is a critical part of New Zealand's health system and plays a significant role in ensuring that Kiwis have the best possible access to medicines,” says Mr Seymour. ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    4 days ago

  • Taking action on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder
    Hundreds of New Zealand families affected by Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) will benefit from a new Government focus on prevention and treatment, says Health Minister Dr Shane Reti. “We know FASD is a leading cause of preventable intellectual and neurodevelopmental disability in New Zealand,” Dr Reti says.  “Every day, ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • New sports complex opens in Kaikohe
    Regional Development Minister Shane Jones today attended the official opening of Kaikohe’s new $14.7 million sports complex. “The completion of the Kaikohe Multi Sports Complex is a fantastic achievement for the Far North,” Mr Jones says. “This facility not only fulfils a long-held dream for local athletes, but also creates ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Diplomacy needed more than ever
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters’ engagements in Türkiye this week underlined the importance of diplomacy to meet growing global challenges.    “Returning to the Gallipoli Peninsula to represent New Zealand at Anzac commemorations was a sombre reminder of the critical importance of diplomacy for de-escalating conflicts and easing tensions,” Mr Peters ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    5 days ago

  • Anzac Commemorative Address, Buttes New British Cemetery Belgium
    Ambassador Millar, Burgemeester, Vandepitte, Excellencies, military representatives, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen – good morning and welcome to this sacred Anzac Day dawn service.  It is an honour to be here on behalf of the Government and people of New Zealand at Buttes New British Cemetery, Polygon Wood – a deeply ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    6 days ago

  • Anzac Commemorative Address – NZ National Service, Chunuk Bair
    Distinguished guests -   It is an honour to return once again to this site which, as the resting place for so many of our war-dead, has become a sacred place for generations of New Zealanders.   Our presence here and at the other special spaces of Gallipoli is made ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • Anzac Commemorative Address – Dawn Service, Gallipoli, Türkiye
    Mai ia tawhiti pamamao, te moana nui a Kiwa, kua tae whakaiti mai matou, ki to koutou papa whenua. No koutou te tapuwae, no matou te tapuwae, kua honoa pumautia.   Ko nga toa kua hinga nei, o te Waipounamu, o te Ika a Maui, he okioki tahi me o ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    7 days ago

  • PM announces changes to portfolios
    Paul Goldsmith will take on responsibility for the Media and Communications portfolio, while Louise Upston will pick up the Disability Issues portfolio, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon announced today. “Our Government is relentlessly focused on getting New Zealand back on track. As issues change in prominence, I plan to adjust Ministerial ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • New catch limits for unique fishery areas
    Recreational catch limits will be reduced in areas of Fiordland and the Chatham Islands to help keep those fisheries healthy and sustainable, Oceans and Fisheries Minister Shane Jones says. The lower recreational daily catch limits for a range of finfish and shellfish species caught in the Fiordland Marine Area and ...
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    1 week ago

  • Minister welcomes hydrogen milestone
    Energy Minister Simeon Brown has welcomed an important milestone in New Zealand’s hydrogen future, with the opening of the country’s first network of hydrogen refuelling stations in Wiri. “I want to congratulate the team at Hiringa Energy and its partners K one W one (K1W1), Mitsui & Co New Zealand ...
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    1 week ago

  • Urgent changes to system through first RMA Amendment Bill
    The coalition Government is delivering on its commitment to improve resource management laws and give greater certainty to consent applicants, with a Bill to amend the Resource Management Act (RMA) expected to be introduced to Parliament next month. RMA Reform Minister Chris Bishop has today outlined the first RMA Amendment ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Overseas decommissioning models considered
    Overseas models for regulating the oil and gas sector, including their decommissioning regimes, are being carefully scrutinised as a potential template for New Zealand’s own sector, Resources Minister Shane Jones says. The Coalition Government is focused on rebuilding investor confidence in New Zealand’s energy sector as it looks to strengthen ...
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    1 week ago

  • Release of North Island Severe Weather Event Inquiry
    Emergency Management and Recovery Minister Mark Mitchell has today released the Report of the Government Inquiry into the response to the North Island Severe Weather Events. “The report shows that New Zealand’s emergency management system is not fit-for-purpose and there are some significant gaps we need to address,” Mr Mitchell ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Justice Minister to attend Human Rights Council
    Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith is today travelling to Europe where he’ll update the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Government’s work to restore law and order.  “Attending the Universal Periodic Review in Geneva provides us with an opportunity to present New Zealand’s human rights progress, priorities, and challenges, while ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Patterson reopens world’s largest wool scouring facility
    Associate Agriculture Minister, Mark Patterson, formally reopened the world’s largest wool processing facility today in Awatoto, Napier, following a $50 million rebuild and refurbishment project. “The reopening of this facility will significantly lift the economic opportunities available to New Zealand’s wool sector, which already accounts for 20 per cent of ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Speech to the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective Summit, 18 April 2024
    Hon Andrew Bayly, Minister for Small Business and Manufacturing  At the Southland Otago Regional Engineering Collective (SOREC) Summit, 18 April, Dunedin    Ngā mihi nui, Ko Andrew Bayly aho, Ko Whanganui aho    Good Afternoon and thank you for inviting me to open your summit today.    I am delighted ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Government to introduce revised Three Strikes law
    The Government is delivering on its commitment to bring back the Three Strikes legislation, Associate Justice Minister Nicole McKee announced today. “Our Government is committed to restoring law and order and enforcing appropriate consequences on criminals. We are making it clear that repeat serious violent or sexual offending is not ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • New diplomatic appointments
    Foreign Minister Winston Peters has today announced four new diplomatic appointments for New Zealand’s overseas missions.   “Our diplomats have a vital role in maintaining and protecting New Zealand’s interests around the world,” Mr Peters says.    “I am pleased to announce the appointment of these senior diplomats from the ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

  • Humanitarian support for Ethiopia and Somalia
    New Zealand is contributing NZ$7 million to support communities affected by severe food insecurity and other urgent humanitarian needs in Ethiopia and Somalia, Foreign Minister Rt Hon Winston Peters announced today.   “Over 21 million people are in need of humanitarian assistance across Ethiopia, with a further 6.9 million people ...
    BeehiveBy beehive.govt.nz
    1 week ago

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