David Cumin
IINZ
You might remember an Auckland character named Penny Bright. She was infamous for refusing to pay Auckland rates for 11 years (11 YEARS!). Her steadfast refusal was founded on her principled stand for full transparency of council spending, with a motto of “open the books”.
I’m not inclined to go to the extreme lengths of blatantly defying the law by refusing to pay taxes or illegally obtaining water and power, but I have respect for anyone who has the conviction to jeopardise their home and freedoms on principle. Especially a principle that is hard to argue with.
I also have respect for anyone who is able to learn and change course from a hardline position. The ability to adapt to new information and admit to being wrong is a virtue too few have in the age of outrage and social media.
And I have deep respect for people who are able to take opposing but equally principled views and still show respect for each other. Ms Bright passed away in 2018, but not before a visit from former Auckland Mayor John Banks, who had her forcibly removed from a public meeting a few years previous.
The past few years, in particular, have given me a new appreciation for Ms Bright, and her principled stubbornness, and for Mr Banks’ show of respect to a fierce political opponent.
For many years – since at least 2019 – the Israel Institute of New Zealand has been trying to raise awareness about the deep flaws with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA).
I was naive enough to believe that presenting our 2019 report and meeting with MFAT officials like Stuart Horne would be enough to stop taxpayers funding schools that glorify the murder of Jews – at the very least.
What has become apparent over the years is that the officials who advise our ministers don’t really mind funding that hateful school curriculum, teachers who incite violence, infrastructure that is used and abused by terrorists, staff who are actual terrorists and an organisation that is essentially dedicated to the destruction of Israel.
I wish someone could show me where I’m wrong.
In several responses to OIA requests, MFAT officials have also told us that they do not believe they fund any hate or incitement. Because this is false (there are decades of evidence for hate in UNRWA schools and from UNRWA staff) and not an isolated incident, we took the serious step of formally complaining to the Ombudsman.
We have also learned from documents released under OIA that there are some senior MFAT staff who were aware of the issues and yet raised no concerns to the minister and did not oppose funding. For example, in minutes of a meeting between MFAT and UNRWA, we read that Deb Collins, divisional manager of Partnerships, Humanitarian and Multilateral Division, said that she found the findings of the EU-funded report by the Georg Eckert Institute (GEI) “not surprising”.
The GEI report found examples of egregious antisemitism, glorification of terror, rejection of peace, delegitimisation of Israel and incitement to violence in the curriculum used by UNRWA.
We have publicly called out the senior MFAT officials who have been associated with recommending funding for UNRWA, and we believe they may have failed to fully inform the minister about the serious nature of the incitement and ties to Hamas terror, just as they have misled in their OIA responses.
Due to there being clear evidence that UNRWA employed terrorists and UNRWA facilities were used by terrorists, we have also written to NZ Police, as there may be a case that they have acted recklessly in breach of the Terrorism Suppression Act.
In response to the naming of senior officials – who are also named in documents obtained under OIA and named on the MFAT website – we have been threatened by MFAT with legal action. The CEO of MFAT, Brent Carey, claims that we have ‘harassed’ the staff members and he has lodged a complaint with NZ Police and Netsafe and threatened to escalate to the Privacy Commission. His letter to us is here and the social media posts he considers are so egregious are here. MFAT have also refused to respond to any more of my/our OIA requests, even with all names redacted.
This is where we are at.
I am more than happy to retract and apologise if there is any error in the analysis that UNRWA has promoted hate and supported terror – as is evidenced over decades – or if any of the MFAT staff we have named have opposed sending our taxes to that hate and terror support. Please let me know what I have missed if you can see it.
I hope that one day Mr Carey will show us similar respect that Mr Banks showed Ms Bright. As I’ve repeatedly said, we are more than open to bona fide discussion. I would genuinely like to understand the reasons for MFAT’s continued, unconditional support for UNRWA in light of all the evidence showing how deeply flawed and counterproductive it is, and in light of the plethora of alternatives that are available to deliver aid to the people who need it.
I also hope that we can count on your continued support as we face the prospect of actions from Police, Netsafe and the Privacy Commissioner.
This article was originally published by the Israel Institute of New Zealand.
