NZ prime minister shielding foreign affairs minister over Israel blunder
Prime Minister Bill English has confirmed Foreign Affairs Minister Murray McCully did not have approval from cabinet to support a United Nations Security Council (UNSC) resolution criticising Israel, says New Zealand First.
Winston Peters
“Section 5.73 of the cabinet manual expressly requires that any international proposal, including ‘denunciation’, must first be approved by cabinet,” says New Zealand First Leader and MP for Northland Winston Peters.
Yet Mr English has repeatedly refused to state if the ‘spirit of unanimity’ in which the UNSC passed resolution 2334 was signed-off by cabinet.
In Parliament today, Mr English wrongly stated cabinet approval was not required on the matter.
“Mr McCully should never have been allowed to act unilaterally on such an important issue,” says Mr Peters.
So what would the NZ cabinet have decided if consulted?
UN Ambassadors have to make decision and this one, like it or not, was pretty clear cut.
Note that the five permanent members (USA, Russia, China, UK and France) of the Security Council voted for the resolution too.
It is obvious that the vote against Israel was not authorised otherwise why not say so. Politicians seem to think that the public are stupid and carry on as if it is only their own opinions that matter. It is time that the politicians remember that they represent us and what we want and not what they want.
Mr English and Mr McMully- it’s clear that the values to which they subscribe are the values not of Israel, but the values of the rest of the Middle Eastern societies.
Let them wallow.