Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Middle East

January 19, 2009

Southerners aren't buying the anti-Israel propaganda

The Southland Times of Invercargill, where the Turkish cafe incident occurred, published five letters that unanimously condemned the cafe owner for refusing to serve Israelis. Four out of five also expressed an understanding of Israel's actions, pointing out the role of Hamas in causing the conflict. Following are excerpts from four letters, plus the full letter by the KBRM chairman

Shocking way to treat a visitor
...For the record: Hamas (the terrorist organisation governing Gaza) has been sending rockets into Israel for eight years to kill and terrorise men, women and children (not military targets) and they hide among their own civilians and use them for human shields, showing no respect for the lives of their own people. Their leader... urges them to keep killing Israelis. Only after eight years of provocation and long suffering has Israel decided now to deal with them. In short, if the Arabs lay down their weapons, there will be no fighting. If Israel lays down its weapons there will be no more Israel.
Malcolm Swanson, Lora Gorge

Did they stop to ask?
...I am sad to say if my neighbour continued sending his fireworks over my fence, damaging my property, my family, I would do something about it and not just take it...
N. McPherson, Invercargill

Image flawed
...The reported actions of your cafe owner and his racist discrimination flaws that image of Invercargill. I, for one, am sickened by those who have immigrated here and brought their racial prejudices, ancient hatreds and centuries of internecine fighting with them...
Lee Goffin, Auckland

The part Hamas plays
It's interesting how some people choose to ignore the part Hamas and other Islamist groups are playing in the violence taking place in Gaza and further afield... We have also had other protests in New Zealand condemning Israel's current action in Gaza. Yet little, if anything, is said about Hamas' provocation in persistently firing rockets into Israeli towns and killing Israeli civilians...
R. Tomlinson, Invercargill

Selective concern
Enough already about ‘innocent women and children’.
If the Gazans didn't want to be attacked, they shouldn't have elected Hamas as their government, with its known goal of destroying Israel and its many suicide bombings and rocket attacks aimed at Israeli women and children.
What did they expect?
And why did not Mr. Tekinkaya protest those acts by refusing to serve Muslims? His concern for ‘innocent women and children’ seems to be very selective.
Unfortunately, civilian casualties are inevitable in time of war, especially since Hamas operates among, and even uses, civilians - including women and children. During WWII, no one suggested that we should stop bombing Germany because "innocent women and children" were killed.
If there is a solution, it is not for Israel to stop its attack on Gaza, it is for Hamas to stop (I mean, really stop) its attacks on Israel. Gaza might even become a prosperous nation instead of a hell-hole.
Rodney Brooks, chairman, Kiwis for Balanced Reporting on the Mideast

The one-sided outpouring continued the next day with 13 more letters criticising the cafe owner and/or defending Israel's actions, and only three in support of the cafe owner and/or Hamas. Nine of these letters were placed in a special section, and the leadoff letter was by a KBRM member:

There's no place in NZ for poisonous cultural baggage
A Muslim cafe owner's refusal to serve coffee to a Jewish woman in Invercargill will not bring peace to the Middle East, nor will it restore to life even one dead Palestinian or Israeli child. It only brings the bitter poison of ethnic hatred to this country.
In this nation of immigrants, there is no place for the animosities that have ignited wars and caused bloodshed for hundreds of years. Whatever our ethnic backgrounds, by settling in New Zealand we are choosing to make a new life in a new country.
We may bring with us the strengths of our diverse cultures, but we must not bring with us the poisonous cultural baggage of hatred, mistrust and prejudice. We must leave them behind when we choose to come here.
I hope Mr Tekinkaya realises that his unkind and racist treatment of Mrs Bennie and Ms Shefa has no place in Aotearoa New Zealand. I also hope that when he feels outrage at the deaths of innocent women and children, he is able to feel the same sorrow for Jewish women and children killed in Israeli cities, as he does for Muslim women and children killed in Gaza.
Kirsty Walker, Hamilton