Solidarity must start with truth

As Eid approaches — a time meant for reflection, compassion, and renewal — it is deeply disheartening to witness a public statement from the Islamic Women’s Council of New Zealand (IWCNZ) that abandons those very values in favour of selective outrage, inflammatory rhetoric, and historical amnesia.

IWCNZ claims to stand “in unwavering solidarity” with the Palestinian people. But what their statement reveals is not solidarity with peace or justice — it is solidarity with a narrative that erases context, ignores terror, and vilifies only one side of a complex and painful conflict. In their 800-word declaration, not once is Hamas mentioned — the very actor whose October 7 massacre triggered the current war.

That omission is not accidental. It is ideological. And it is indefensible.

The War Hamas Started

On October 7, 2023, Hamas terrorists crossed into Israel and brutally slaughtered over 1,200 people — men, women, and children — in the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust (1). They raped women (2), burned infants alive (3), executed entire families, and took over 250 hostages (4), many of whom remain captive in Gaza’s underground tunnels. This was not “resistance.” It was terrorism: deliberate, barbaric, and genocidal in both method and intent.

IWCNZ’s total silence on these atrocities is not merely a moral failing — it is a political choice. A choice to whitewash terror. A choice to erase Jewish suffering. A choice that speaks volumes about the Council’s true priorities.

Rewriting International Law to Fit a Narrative

IWCNZ throws around loaded terms like genocide, ethnic cleansing, and collective punishment with little regard for their actual legal meaning. Their statement reads like a courtroom verdict — but with no evidence presented, no opposing view considered, and no due process observed.

If the Council truly believes in international law, they should acknowledge:

• The Genocide Convention requires clear intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Israel’s stated and observable aim is to dismantle Hamas, not the Palestinian people (5).
• The Rome Statute prohibits intentionally targeting civilians. Hamas’s strategy of launching attacks from civilian areas and using human shields is itself a war crime (6).
• The Geneva Conventions require combatants to distinguish themselves from civilians and avoid placing military targets among civilian infrastructure — a principle Hamas routinely violates (7).
• UN Security Council resolutions call for recognition of Israel’s right to exist and for the cessation of terror. IWCNZ conveniently ignores these obligations (8).

This is not international law — it is ideological lawfare, where legal instruments are distorted into political weapons.

A Moral Double Standard

IWCNZ urges New Zealand to impose sanctions, suspend military ties, and condemn Israel. But what of Hamas? The Council makes no demands of Gaza’s ruling power:

• No call to release the hostages — including children, women, and elderly people (9).
• No call to stop launching rockets — over 15,000 since October 7 (10).
• No call to stop using hospitals, schools, and mosques as military infrastructure, despite extensive evidence (11).
• No call to accept ceasefire proposals that Hamas has rejected (12).

This is not solidarity with justice. It is complicity in silence. If IWCNZ truly cared about the people of Gaza, they would demand the end of Hamas’s rule — a regime that has brought only war, ruin, and repression since its violent 2007 coup against the Palestinian Authority (13).

The Humanitarian Crisis — But Who’s Blocking Aid?

IWCNZ blames Israel for starvation in Gaza but omits the many documented ways Hamas has sabotaged aid:

• Hamas has looted aid trucks, bombed the Kerem Shalom crossing, and diverted food and fuel for fighters (14).
• Israel has facilitated over a million tonnes of humanitarian aid since October 7 through multiple crossings (15).
• Egypt has kept the Rafah crossing closed in part due to Hamas’s armed presence and threats to border security (16).
• The UN, USAID, and other donors have raised alarm about Hamas’s theft and diversion of aid — not Israeli obstruction (17).

Omitting these facts is not oversight. It is deception.

New Zealand Values Demand Honesty, Not Hostility

New Zealand is rightly proud of its commitment to human rights and justice. But true solidarity requires honesty and courage — not slogans. That means recognising:

• Israel has both a right and duty to defend its citizens under international law (18).
• Hamas’s strategy is to maximise Palestinian suffering to drive international outrage against Israel, even if it means prolonging the misery of its own people (19).
• Peace is not served by demonising one party while excusing or ignoring the crimes of the other.

IWCNZ’s statement, though cloaked in the language of compassion, reads more like propaganda than peace-making.

Eid Is a Time for Truth and Compassion — Not Propaganda

To invoke the sacred spirit of Eid while issuing a statement devoid of empathy for Jewish victims, and blind to the actions of Hamas, is a betrayal of the occasion’s core values. True compassion must extend to all innocent people — Israeli and Palestinian. And true justice begins with truth, not ideology.

New Zealanders deserve better. Muslims, Jews, and all people of conscience deserve better. Let this Eid be a moment not for political posturing, but for principled clarity — and for a shared commitment to truth, to peace, and to never staying silent in the face of lies.

References

1. Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, “October 7: The Hamas Massacre.”
2. The New York Times, “Hamas Attack Included Rape, Sexual Violence,” Nov. 2023.
3. BBC News, “Israel Says Babies Were Burned by Hamas,” Oct. 2023.
4. UN Watch, “Bring Them Home Now Campaign,” 2024.
5. IDF, “Operation Iron Swords: Israel’s Stated Objectives,” Oct. 2023.
6. Amnesty International, “Hamas War Crimes: Indiscriminate Attacks,” July 2014.
7. Human Rights Watch, “Hamas War Crimes Against Civilians,” Dec. 2023.
8. UN Security Council Resolution 242, 1967.
9. BringThemHomeNow.net, 2024.
10. IDF Rocket Statistics Dashboard, 2024.
11. CNN, “IDF Releases Evidence of Hamas Activity in Gaza Hospitals,” Nov. 2023.
12. Axios, “Hamas Rejects Ceasefire Proposal,” March 2024.
13. Council on Foreign Relations, “Hamas: Background and History.”
14. The Guardian, “Hamas Stealing Aid Trucks,” Feb. 2024.
15. COGAT, “Aid Tracker Dashboard,” 2024.
16. Reuters, “Egypt Keeps Rafah Crossing Closed Over Hamas Threat,” May 2024.
17. USAID, “Pause in Gaza Aid Due to Hamas Diversion,” April 2024.
18. UN Charter, Article 51 – Right to Self-Defence.
19. Col. Richard Kemp, “Hamas’s Strategy: Maximise Civilian Deaths,” Gatestone Institute, 2024.
20. Geneva Conventions, ICRC Documentation.
21. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.
22. United Nations Genocide Convention, 1948.