A team of thirty people from the Flaxmere Christian Fellowship Church in Hastings, which included a pastor from the Revive Church, left the Church grounds in Flaxmere at 7:00 AM in three buses bound for Wellington. After an easy trip of around four and a half hours, we finally arrived at the main entrance on Molesworth Street, from which our people disembarked with our rally gear and the van drivers drove off to park in pre-paid spots.
Our purpose was to upset and interfere with the proposed rally by the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa (PSNA) which was scheduled to arrive at Parliament at 12:45 after a march from Midland Park. Having arrived by noon we would be there to greet them. In the meantime, our group began to grow to as many as a hundred before Act MP Simon Court came to welcome us and thanked us for our stand against antisemitism. He showed he is a true friend of the Jewish people and their nation state and encouraged us in what we were doing that day. This is the third time Simon had acquiesced to our invitations to support our rallies, having done so in the previous two December’s.
While waiting for our detractors to arrive David Swartz of the Wellington Jewish Community spoke, as did Helma Vermuelen from Wanganui, and Barrister Ian Dunwoodie from Wellington. Ian was helpful in promoting the counter-rally and gathering others to join us at Parliament. Two other Church pastors from the Welligton area also joined us which shows growing support from Church ministers to appear at these sorts of rallies.
When a couple of hundred Palestinian sympathizers arrived, we began the real work. Between singing Ha Tikvah, chanting “From the River to the Sea, Israel will always be!”, and continuously sounding the megaphone sirens – we interrupted, disrupted, and upset the peddlers of lies, propaganda and falsehoods. Chloe Swarbrick spoke as did Mārama Davidson and a few others. The Pally’s knew we were there, as did the public going past, as did the employees at Parliament including the members of Parliament. MP for Port Waikato Andrew Bayly Facebooked, “This is real democracy in action. Pro-Palestinian supporters’ side by side with Pro-Israeli supporters on the front lawn of Parliament. Not sure either group could hear the other above the din!”
When the Pally’s marched off to the American embassy at 2:00 PM we were happy to see the back of them with John Minto in the lead. John only got a few sentences in as their last speaker. We take responsibility for that. We were glad to be there to contest what the other side was saying. No need to repeat their garbage here, we’ve all heard it before. Particularly this time they were calling for sanctions against Israel. We were calling for no sanctions and more trade with Israel. I guess it must be disheartening for Chloe Swarbrick to see the biscuit tin being slowly emptied while her proposed bill remains in it turning a wee-bit stale by now.
If we weren’t at Parliament on Wednesday, the Pro-Palestinian supporters would have had the center stage occupying the entire front lawn. Because we were there, they were shunted off center while we occupied the prime spot. Because we were there, MP Andrew Bayly was able to post his photo on Facebook telling what it looks like to make full use of democratic values in this nation. If we weren’t there, people may have been mistakenly inclined to think that Israel has no support in this nation. Because we were there they know otherwise. We are looking forward to our next campaign at Parliament.
VIDEO FOOTAGE
PHOTOGRAPHS
RALLY POSTER
One Response
We are so proud of you. Thankyou for standing for Israel on our behalf. We admire you taking the time and effort to travel to Wellington to stand for Israel – Gods nation and apple of his eye. Thankyou for your bravery and courage in standing up for your beliefs.