On Sunday March 2, hundreds of people gathered to mourn the Bibas family, and to call for the release of the hostages, in ceremonies in Auckland, Hastings, Christchurch, Dunedin and Invercargill.
At the Auckland vigil, speakers included ACT MP Simon Court, Jewish National Fund president Rob Berg, and Indigenous Embassy Jerusalem director Dr Sheree Trotter. There was music and songs, and poems were read.
Today, I had the honor of attending a vigil for the Bibas family, and for the remaining hostages still held by Hamas and their allies in Gaza.
To my friends in the Jewish and Israeli communities, I hear your fears and hopes—not just since October 7, 2023, but over many years. The pain of families like the Bibas family, whose loved ones have been exploited by Hamas for propaganda, is a tragedy we will never forget.
As an ACT MP, I stand firmly with you. It’s crucial that New Zealand supports Israel, a beacon of liberty and democracy in a region where these values are rare. The attacks on Israel are clearly no longer about land; they are an assault by militant Islamists who seek to eliminate a nation and its people.
New Zealanders are horrified by the violence of October 7 and the tragic loss of lives. We must call out and condemn the actions of those who apologise for terrorism and align themselves with militant Islamism, undermining the safety and dignity of the Jewish community.
Today, I stand with you, advocating for the safe return of hostages, for lasting peace, and for the healing of broken hearts.
Am Yisrael chai.
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Dr Sheree Trotter’s address to the Auckland vigil can be read HERE.
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Here’s one of the poems read at the vigil:
Ariel’s Cape
Beneath a sky of smoke and cries,
A little cape in darkness lies,
Black as night, a hero’s dream,
Stitched with hope in every seam.
Ariel ran, his laughter bold,
In Batman’s world, four years old,
The cape would flap, a savior’s sign,
To chase the shadows, cross the line.
But tunnels deep stole flight away,
No Gotham dawn, no justice day,
The cape now still, a silent plea,
A child’s lost fight to just be free.
We see it wave in memory’s air,
A fragile cloth of deep despair,
For Ariel, whose wings were torn,
A hero’s heart forever mourned.
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Watch a video clip of images from the Auckland vigil HERE. The photos in the clip and in this story are all by photographer Ilan Wittenberg, and can also be seen on Wittenberg’s website HERE. They are reproduced here with permission.
