Two open letters on the genocidal Israeli war against Palestine sent to The Press for publication have been ignored in the continued Aotearoa New Zealand media silence over 11 months of atrocities.
Both letters have been sent to the Christchurch morning daily newspaper by the co-presenter of the Plains FM community radio programme Earthwise, Lois Griffiths.
The first letter had been “sent . . . in time for it to be published on 29 August 2024. the anniversary of the Palestinian political cartoonist Naji al-Ali‘s murder”, Griffiths said.
- READ MORE: How Naji al-Ali’s cartoon ‘Handala’ became an emblem of Palestinian resistance
- Handala, a pivotal ship in the Gaza Freedom Flotilla
- The Earthwise programme on Plains FM
A protest boat aimed at breaking the illegal Israeli siege of Gaza, Handala, is named after a cartoon boy created by the cartoonist.
On board the Handala, currently in the Mediterranean ready to break the siege with humanitarian aid for the Palestinians, are two New Zealand-Palestinian crew, Rana Hamida and Youssef Sammour.
Yet even this fact doesn’t make the letter newsworthy enough for publication.
Griffiths sent Naji al-Ali’s cartoon figure Handala with the letter to The Press. The open letter:
Dear Editor,
The situation in Gaza is so very very disturbing . . . those poor people . . . those poor men, women and CHILDREN.
How many readers are aware that 2 New Zealanders are on a boat that hopes to take aid to Gaza. Maybe the brave actions of those 2 Kiwis, joined by other international volunteers, of trying to break the siege of Gaza, will rally the rest of the world to finally stop looking away.
They are on a very special boat, a boat with a name chosen to fit the occasion, the Handala.
Handala is the name chosen by the Palestinian political cartoonist Naji al-Ali, for a cartoon refugee boy who stands with his back to the reader, in the corner of his political cartoons.
Handala witnesses the suffering inflicted on his people.
We have a book of al-Ali’s drawings, A Child in Palestine.
Naji al-Ali was well-loved by the Palestinians for using his skills to share, with the world, stories of what the people had to endure.
On 29 August 1987, the cartoonist died after being shot in London by an unknown assailant.
Yet the memory of Naji al-Ali survives.
The memory of Handala survives. He represents the Palestinian children. And the boat named Handala is sailing for the children of Gaza.
Yours
Lois Griffiths
When Governments Fail, We Sail. Video: Push Pull/Gaza Freedom Flotilla
South Africa then, why not Israel now?
In the other letter sent to The Press a week ago, Lois Griffiths, in time for the opening of the UN General Assembly on September 8, she urged the New Zealand government to call for the suspension of Israel.
Not published, yet another example of New Zealand mainstream newspapers’ blind responses and hypocrisy over community views on the Gaza genocide?
Dear Editor,
Tuesday of this week, 08 September, is the date for the opening of UNGA, the UN General Assembly.
In 1974, South Africa was suspended from the UN General Assembly after being successfully charged by the ICJ, International Court of Justice, of apartheid. This move isolated South Africa and was very effective in leading to the collapse of the apartheid regime.
Now, the democratic regime of South Africa has taken a case to the ICJ [International Criminal Court] charging Israel with genocide. In an interim judgment, the ICJ has broadly supported South Africa’s case.
The situation in Gaza is so vile now: the bombing, the targeting of residences, schools and hospitals, the lack of protection from disease, the huge numbers of bodies lying under rubble. And now, violence against the Palestinians in the West Bank is on the increase.
Where is humanity? What does it mean to be human?
A step that would certainly help to slow down the genocide, would be for Israel to be suspended from the UN General Assembly.
Please New Zealand. Call for the suspension of Israel from the UNGA.
NOW!!
Yours,
Lois Griffiths
