By the NZ Herald…
A hotline for reporting Israeli soldiers holidaying in New Zealand has been labelled “hateful” and “antisemitic”.
Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) national chairman John Minto has launched a campaign for the public to report sightings of Israeli soldiers in New Zealand.
“This is part of holding Israel to account for genocide when our Government is complicit in the most horrendous war crimes of the 21st century – there’s no place in NZ for rest and recreation for perpetrators of genocide,” Minto said in a post online.
He later said in a statement: “We wouldn’t allow Russian soldiers to come here for rest and recreation from the invasion of Ukraine so why would we accept soldiers from the genocidal, apartheid state of Israel?”
Te Amokapua Chief Human Rights Commissioner Dr Stephen Rainbow said the commission had received more than 90 complaints about the hotline, and called for the immediate end of its promotion.
“The promotion may not be unlawful, however, the chief commissioner sees it as potentially harmful to Israeli and Jewish people in Aotearoa New Zealand,” Rainbow said.
Read the full story on the NZ Herald here.
And read the NZ Herald’s follow up story – Police investigate social media message for genocide hotline targeting Israeli soldiers – here.
