Pro-Israel rally on Shabbat
A rally showing solidarity with Israel was held in the New Zealand city of Hastings on Saturday…by Christian supporters of the Jewish State.
Pastor Nigel Woodley talks to media
As rallies took place in various cities throughout the country calling for boycotts against Israel, 100 members of the Hastings-Napier community held a peaceful meeting in the centre of Hastings in support of Israel.
Rally spokesman Pastor Nigel Woodley of the Flaxmere Chrisitian Fellowship issued the following statement ahead of the meeting:
“Our purpose is to stand alongside the State of Israel and show solidarity and support for its right to defend itself against the jihadist and dictatorial regime of the Hamas government in Gaza.
We hold no animosity or ill-will toward those who disagree with us. However, we have decided to exercise our democratic right in rallying in support of Israel. We cannot understand why the only true bastion of democracy and freedom in the Middle East is so often the target of hostile reporting in the West. We also do not understand why major news agencies fail to report the atrocities and repression of the Hamas regime in Gaza, an organization that is against everything we hold dear: freedom, justice and peace.
We state today:
- We have no hatred toward anyone, but we choose to stand with Israel.
- Israel is a peace-loving nation that is forced to fight to protect its citizens.
- Israel is exercising its right to defend itself.
- The people of Gaza are suffering because of the belligerence of Hamas.
- There will be peace if Hamas stops firing its rockets into Israel.
- The International Community, and in particular the media, have wrongly put the blame on Israel for the deaths of civilians in Gaza.
- The peoples of the Middle East must recognise that Israel is a Jewish State and has the right to live in that land.
We as ordinary Kiwis have come together to make this public stand in the hope of bringing greater awareness of the truth to our community.”
In the media release sent by Pastor Woodley is an image of what is allegedly a Hamas supporter pinning two children to a fence.
Following the rally Pastor Woodley told J-Wire: “We were successful in securing the site in the city centre ahead of the pro-Palestinian group which held a rally at the same time. We wanted to show the hypocrisy of a group on the one hand calling for BDS against Israel while on the other chanting “from the river to the sea” a true indication that there is no room for Jews in the world they seek. Our civilisation is not used to handling situations involving jihadists and others like Hamas. But the Israeli government does know how to handle their bluffing”. He added that the rally had been conducted peacefully and without incident.
Approximately 100,000 people live in Napier-Hastings.
