Since when do people in NZ throw shoes at others because of their nationality?
January 8th, 2009 by Brad HeapOkay,I have been very reluctant to blog about the ongoings in Israel partly because I have been busy, and partly because Kiwiblog have been doing a good job of keeping the issue balanced, at least in the NZ Blogosphere.
But the reason why I am blogging now is because John Minto and his rent a protest crowd have really got my back up in the last two days.
Now I will come back to Minto and his bunch of loonies in a few minutes but first lets get things in perspective.
Israel is not a large country. I have combined an image of Israel and part of the north island together to show it in comparison to NZ.
The Gaza Strip is highlighted in Red. It is about the same size as the distance from Manukau to Huntly. 100km max. And Gaza city itself is about the same size as Auckland City, as in the city city, not Manukau, Waitakere or the shore.
So as you can see they are fighting over a very small piece of land, but at the same time a very heavily populated land. So as you can expect when you are dropping bombs or firing tank shells civilians are naturally going to be caught in the crossfire.
However that is no excuse for not defending yourself. And that is what Israel are doing.
Israel has spent the past week inside its own land trying to prevent terrorists from firing rockets and random into civilian towns. Rockets that have rained down for the last 8 years, or 400 weeks for those of you who want things in perspective.
Israel is the only jewish state in the world. There are many many christian states, many muslim states, and many states of other religions, but only one jewish state. And more importantly for those who don’t believe in religion, Israel is the only democracy in the Mid East.
And so I find all the protests against Israel quite ironic. But at the same time it doesn’t surprise me when they are vastly outnumbered in terms of supporters (primarily due to religious beliefs).
Okay so lets come back to New Zealand.
Firstly Wellington. There was a lovely “peaceful” protest down there earlier this week. And I say “peaceful” in quotes because I am disgusted by the actions of a priest of the catholic church who thought it was wise to mix blood with paint and smear it on a jewish memorial.
Now two things strike me about this action. The first is that how would NZ’s respond if an environmentalist decided that Sir Ed’s grave was a good place to smear blood on after all he sent polluting tractors to the south pole and therefore help start melting the ice caps by putting out too much heat and carbon. People would think that they are crazy and demand that they be prosecuted to the nth degree of the law. However NZ just turns a blind eye to the actions of a high ranking public individual who vandalises a memorial. Would I be arrested if I were to throw red paint over his church for all the killing the catholic church has done through the ages?
The second thing is this. The accidental symbolism. In jewish custom smearing blooding over a door frame protects you from G-d’s destruction. That is the Exodus story. The passover. This priest appears to have accidentially asked G-d to passover Israel’s sins, so in a way I thank him for doing that.
And now lets come to today in Auckland. John Minto is the hero of the 1980s and the anti Springbok tour protests. At the time they were good things. Because they actually had an impact because they were a nationally sanctioned team.
But today, threatning to throw shoes at an Israeli individual who has no ties to the Government is disgusting. Whatever happened to welcome to New Zealand, what ever happened to respecting everyone? Since when did NZders’s throw shoes at people just because of their nationality?
And for those who have no idea what I am blogging about check this out: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10550934
Tags: Auckland, Gaza, Israel, John Minto, Protest, War, Wellington
