On 5 December 2024 the Nelson City Council voted in favor of sanctioning businesses connected in any way to the Israeli settlements on the West Bank. Although the Council had no current contracts with Israeli businesses the vote was another stab in the back against Israel in the propaganda war being waged by John Minto of the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa. This follows a similar move by the Christchurch City Council in November. I had emailed Mayor Nick Smith in November advising him not to support this move, advice which he seemingly followed, but he was bound by the democratic vote of the other elected members of his council. Here is my email sent to Nick, which became a standard email that I subsequently sent to all New Zealand mayors and city councilors throughout our country in November.
Standard Email to all NZ Mayors:
Dear Mayor Nick Smith,
I am writing to you as I am to all New Zealand Mayors warning them for the second time of the agenda and work of one John Minto of the Palestinian Solidarity Network Aotearoa who continues his campaign of mis-information and sometimes blatant lies against the State of Israel. Recently John stirred the Christchurch City Council to follow his advice in voting to boycott Israeli goods or companies who have anything to do with the Israeli communities living on the historical Jewish homeland of Judea and Samaria, more commonly referred to in international politics as the West Bank. The motion was carried I think mainly due to the ignorance of well-meaning but ill-informed councillors on that Council. I would hate to see your Council reach the same conclusion. After the Christchurch vote I sent this to Mayor Mauger which offers you a bit more insight in this saga:
_______________________
Dear Mayor Mauger,
I am a Church pastor living in Hastings, originally from the South – Oamaru, Dunedin, Timaru, and Motueka. Along with many people I am appalled at the decision reached by the Christchurch City Council to ban the purchase of goods purchased from companies involved in Judea and Samaria – the historical heartland of Jewish sovereignty (Judea means land of the Jews). Known by most as the West Bank and controversially as “Occupied Palestinian Territories”, the CCC has made judgement that the land of so much controversy belongs only to the “Palestinians”, without giving any respect to the historical and indigenous rights of the Jewish people to their ancestral land. This was supposed to have been sorted out by negotiations between the Israels and the Palestinians but unfortunately in 2008 President Mahmoud Abbas, after refusing a deal that gave almost 100 percent of the disputed territory to the Palestinians, decided to try another tact in order to get more – unilateral decisions at the United Nations, a tact that the CCC has now supported. The answer will never be unilateral decisions at the UN, but negotiations between the parties, a course the CCC should have encouraged instead.
You have listened to one of the outspoken haters of Israel in New Zealand – John Minto. I have countered John at several rallies and am appalled at his misinformation, distortions, and sometimes outright lies regarding the State of Israel. In my opinion you have listened to an antisemite. The boycotts of Israeli goods he calls for is reminiscent of the Nazi boycotts of Jewish shops and businesses in the 1930s, something the CCC has now become part of.
John Minto wrongfully stated that the current government supported UNSC Res. 2334 (2016), when in fact the National Party after losing power in 2017 came out a year later in 2018 and admitted that resolution was a mistake – here https://youtu.be/HcU6CeHIDDI
I am asking the CCC to revisit its decision, and to seek a balanced view from informed people, instead of basing its now foreign policy on the words of someone who is virulently anti-Israel. Better still, I am asking the CCC to make a policy that it will never involve itself again in foreign affairs and instead leave that to central government.
With due respect to you and your council,
____________________________
I hope Mayor Smith that you will not follow down this path. By the way, in that communication to mayor Mauger I gave reference to two things:
- In 2008 Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected the most generous offer of almost the entire “West Bank” with East Jerusalem as their capital and other generous concessions by the Israelis. I didn’t mention that his predecessor Yassa Arafat declined an almost equally generous offer made by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in 2000 at Camp David with President Bill Clinton. The Israelis really do want peace, but it will only work through negotiation.
- The National Government co-sponsored the UN Security Council Resolution –UNSC Res.2334 – of 23 December 2016, and it referred to Israeli communities (settlements) as “illegal” under international law. This led to an outcry in New Zealand and overseas as people were outraged at the biased opinion of the UN, influenced by the huge bloc of nations called the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and many other non-democratic nations. Simon Bridges when he became National’s leader in Opposition in 2018 changed the National Party policy regarding that resolution and publicly admitted it was wrong, something not reported in mainstream media. He made that change because he understood that impositions through unilateral decisions at the UN will not work, whereas negations between the parties will. The Israelis are still waiting for the Palestinians to return to the Table.
I sincerely hope that your Council will not follow down this biased antisemitic path. Please do not hesitate to contact me if I can be of further assistance.
Thank you for your time.
Yours sincerely,
Nigel Woodley
Nelson City Council Motion 5.12.24
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