Hipkins and NZ Labour call for Israel-Hamas ceasefire

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The New Zealand Labour Party has called for a ceasefire in the Israel-Gaza conflict, breaking with caretaker conventions to declare its policy.

Chris Hipkins

Outgoing Prime Minister Chris Hipkins declared his party’s position while still holding office on Sunday, saying it had become “untenable” for him not to speak out.

“We are seeing devastation and loss of life on a massive scale and Gaza and Israel,” he said.

“It has become untenable for me and it runs against Labour party values to stand by and watch the horrific scenes we are witnessing without calling for a ceasefire.

“The loss of civilian lives must stop.”

While it is completely normal for political parties to declare their positions on issues such as this ceasefire, the timing of Mr Hipkins’ announcement raises eyebrows as he is still holding office.

The Labour party remains in power, but is effectively an opposition in waiting after losing the October 14 election, continuing on as a caretaker government while the centre-right National party negotiates a governing arrangement with parties on the right.

Those government negotiations have now lasted 36 days.

Mr Hipkins said he approached National to make a call for a ceasefire New Zealand’s formal policy – in keeping with policy-making practice during the caretaker period – but incoming Prime Minister Chris Luxon did not agree.

The two parties have agreed on assistance to the region, with New Zealand donating $NZ10 million ($A9.2 million) to “urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel” over the past month.

Mr Hipkins said after more than a month waiting for Mr Luxon to negotiate a government deal with the right-wing ACT and New Zealand First parties, he was within his rights to begin to articulate Labour’s positions.

“It’s been five weeks,” he said.

“Negotiations for the next governing arrangement continue to drag on and we have no certainty from the parties involved as to how much longer that’s going to take.”

Talks to form a government have ratcheted up in the past week, with Mr Luxon, ACT leader David Seymour and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters meeting on a near-daily basis at Auckland hotels.

The three parties are attempting to form a full coalition, thrashing out their policy differences and agreeing to a shared work program for the next three years.

Post-election government negotiations are the norm in New Zealand since electoral reform in 1996.

However, the length of the talks are beginning to irk many Kiwis.

Of the 10 elections held under this system, this is the second-longest New Zealanders have had to wait from election day for government formation.

Mr Luxon said negotiations were close to the finish line, with a few “very difficult and complex” areas remaining.

“We’re in the final stages and just want to continue to talk about one or two issues and that’s what we’re going to keep closing up,” he told journalists in Auckland on Sunday.

A spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council told J-Wire: “The NZJC is distressed by the loss of life in both Gaza and Israel and is saddened by the actions of Hamas on October 7th, and the fact that it chooses to use its own people as human shields, has led to unnecessary sufferng.

In the abstract, no one disagrees with the idea of a ceasefire. Sometimes, however, politicians make aspirational statements with no relation to the real situation. If the Prime Minister had issued a statement calling for an immediate ending of cancer, no one would have disagreed. But actually realising that vision is a different thing.

It should be noted that a ceasefire existed until Hamas entered Israel and brutally murdered, tortured and raped Israelis and foreign nationals and took over 200 people hostage. Since then, the hostages remain in Gaza and Hamas, in contravention of International Law, has not allowed them medical or other aid.

Hamas leadership have expressed time and time again that they wish to perpetuate the atrocities of October 7th and will do so until Israel is entirely destroyed. This is not the fringe view of some members of Hamas, but rather core strategy.

This context shows that negotiating a ceasefire is impossible at this time. For a ceasefire to be able to come into effect, Hamas would first have to release all the hostages and then indicate a willingness to comply with the terms of any ceasefire.”

AAP/J-Wire