One of New Zealand’s activists against South African apartheid in the 1980s was John Minto. His voice, along with others, helped to change the apartheid system in that country. Unfortunately nearly forty years later Mr. Minto has changed tact from a just cause to a very unjust cause. He is holding meetings (very small in fact) throughout New Zealand maligning the State of Israel as being racist and apartheid. This is completely wrong. When we learned that John was going to be appearing at such a meeting at Napier’s McLean Park we were there to confront him and oppose him to his face for his blatant lies and distortions of the facts.
The Flaxmere Christian Fellowship and supporters gathered a team of around 50 people to face it off with what appeared to be a small meeting of no more than 15 people who had gathered to listen to Mr. Minto. The report of our campaign is best told in the video, newspaper clippings, and pictures that follow.
Letters Published in the Local Paper:
PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE EVENING
Rally handout – ISRAEL IS NOT AN APARTHEID STATE!
HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION ON RACISM-make a submission before 23 November 2021
There is a good opportunity to make a submission against the racist lies we have been protesting about. The Human Rights Commission is receiving submissions until November 23. Ian Dunwoodie, who was a practicing lawyer, has made his expertise available to anyone who would like to stand up for Israel by making a submission. Anti-Semitism is rife throughout the world, including in New Zealand, and this is an opportunity for Israel-lovers to say something. It’s not that hard – just look at the files Ian has provided below: