Media release: NZ Jewish Council…

The New Zealand Jewish Council notes and supports the Government’s announcement that it will only recognise a Palestinian state once requirements for statehood have been met. We welcome this pragmatic acknowledgement that recognition cannot be an abstract gesture divorced from the realities on the ground.

The Council has consistently supported a negotiated two-state solution: a secure and recognised State of Israel alongside a peaceful and democratic State of Palestine. Such a resolution must be grounded in mutual recognition, security guarantees, and a renunciation of violence and incitement.

“Recognition should be the outcome of real progress towards peace, not a substitute for it,” said Juliet Moses, spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council. “We note and concur with the view of Minister of Foreign Affairs Winston Peters’ comments that recognition now would be portrayed as victory by Hamas.”

The Council supports the call for aid and an end to the war and for recognition when the time is right and requirements for statehood are met.

The Council stresses that the requirments for recognition must include the release of the 48 hostages still held by Hamas, removal of Hamas from power in Gaza, and the establishment of a unified, effective Palestinian leadership committed to peace with the Jewish state. Recognition in the absence of these steps risks entrenching instability and incentivising violence and bloodshed rather than negotiation and compromise.

Just yesterday, a senior Hamas official stated that the October 7 2023 attack on Israel, which the terrorist group led, created a “golden moment” for the Palestinian people. Hamas spokespeople have, over the past two years, repeatedly promised to repeat such attacks until Israel is destroyed.

“New Zealand has a proud history of advocating for peace and the rules-based international order,” said Moses. “By tying recognition to requirements that uphold those values, our country can play a constructive role in encouraging the difficult but necessary compromises on both sides. Only then will recognition serve as a building block for peace.

We look forward to the day when those requirements are met and the Jewish and Palestinian people will both have self-determination, dignity and security and live in peace.”