Pages

Saturday, July 4, 2015

Ron Smith: More People on Boats


As if to prove my point about the overlap between political activism and an ostensibly independent media (‘Boat People’, 30 June, 2015), we now have the story of a pair of Maori TV journalists, Ruwani Perera and Jacob Bryant, turning up on a protest boat in the Mediterranean.  Ostensibly, they are there to report but, in fact, they are part of an elaborate propaganda effort promoted by Kiaora Gaza, through Maori TV’s Native Affairs.  

As it happened, the story was already out, before the event was over. As recounted by Martyn Bradbury on his DailyBlog the ‘peace flotilla’ (actually reduced to one vessel by the end; three of the four having turned back) is ‘trying to break the violent and brutal blockade of Gaza’, and protest at a ‘great cultural genocide’.

Native Affairs, on the following day, offered a discussion of the issue, beginning with an interview with Roger Fowler of Kiaora Gaza.  Certainly he said, the protestors ‘could expect to be detained and their equipment would be stolen’.  Not only that, they might actually be harmed by Israeli security personnel (they had done it before) and this was, ‘because of their barbarity and bellicose nature’.  There was also reference to a comment made by Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, to the effect that if the issue was atrocity and massacre, there were more obvious targets for protest nearby.  Mr Netanyahu seems to have been referring to Syria, where, between them, the Government and the various Muslim extremist organisations (including ISIS) have killed tens of thousands of men, women and children.  Mr Fowler dismissed this as a ‘sick joke’.

There was also a panel of four to discuss the matter.  The first to speak was Mateiria Turei, who broadly concurred with what had gone before and particularly asserted that ‘the Israeli blockade was designed to keep medical resources from the people of Gaza’.  This, of course goes with the peace flotilla claim that they were bringing humanitarian supplies.  Twenty-four hours later we now have photographic evidence on the matter.  The cargo of the Marianne included two paper parcels.  One (the smaller) was a nebulizer for inhaling medication.  The other was a single solar panel.  And that was it.  Perhaps the reporters from Native Affairs will report about this, as well as about how they were treated by Israeli authorities.  They, or their employers, might even tell us how much this venture into international activism cost.

Also on the panel was Winston Peters, who said that he was, ‘insufficiently briefed’ (and not much else).  This was an astonishing comment from a former Foreign Minister.  He might, at least, have provided some background/context for the Gaza situation, which could have included the voluntary hand-over by Israel to Palestinians of the Gaza strip as a gesture of conciliation, and the subsequent take-over of the territory by Hamas: a movement which is dedicated to the destruction of the Israeli state and the killing of Jews (it is in their charter).  He might even have mentioned the recent conflict between Gaza and Israel, which began with volleys of missiles from Gaza towards Israel.  Whatever else might be said about the situation, it surely explains why Israel might be keen to control what goes into that territory.

For the sake of completeness, I ought to add that Te Ururoa Flavel, Minister of Maori Affairs, also lent his presence to the charade (perhaps because he was ultimately paying for it; or is it us?).  Nanaia Mahuta completed the panel.  She was concerned about the safety of the reporter and the cameraman and urged the New Zealand Government to become involved. 

What was glaringly obvious was that there was no intention to provide context or balance to the discussion.  The purpose was rather to reinforce prejudices and, perhaps sway the gullible.  Is this what we want from our public media?  I have written about this before, particularly in relation to Radio New Zealand (‘Public Service and Public Propaganda’, 31 August 2011).  This was just another egregious example.  Journalists, and the producers concerned, do not seem to recognise that they have an obligation to the public. Arguably, this is particularly so if they are actually financed by that public. Given this, perhaps it is time that that public (through its representatives) made an effort to insist!


4 comments:

Brian said...

More propaganda from Maori, this time with an international flavour. Still, it goes with their revision of the Treaty and we should be use to it by now, after all the decades of Colonial oppression and ill treatment of our Indigenous brethren.
Still they (Maori) have learned the lesson well; just keep on telling your version long enough and hard enough, and in the end it will be believed as the truth! (Ask Mr Goebbels and the Kremlin...they are the past masters). For positive results of this in New Zealand refer to “The Rewriting of the Treaty”
Maori TV’s Native Affairs Media Administration has now not only involved but sanctioned Maori in support of the Muslim extremists in the long undeclared Israel/Muslim war. Therefore we are by association, also committed. It is time for the National Government on behalf of all New Zealanders to disassociate our country immediately from this position.
Doubtless some Maori will gain plaudits from our potent left wing brigade, and also the Greens. Who have recently called for New Zealand as a member of the Security Council, to bring together both Israel and the Palestinians to the “Agreement Table “.As present Chair of the Security Council New Zealand will have to be seen as totally impartial otherwise we will lose all credibility.
If this happens the Age of Miracles cannot therefore be over, move over our present Age of Naivety!
Gaza is the flashpoint of the Middle East, ISIS and other Muslim extremists continue to demand the eventual destruction of Israel, and the West continues to pursue polices of appeasement towards these groups. The escalation in Syria and Iraq is only the beginning, and the Obama and European policy of expecting victory through Air Power is nothing but the mirage of our age.
One can also bring in the Boat people into this equation, especially so in the numbers fleeing the Mid Sahara nations northwards towards the haven of Europe; in an attempt to escape Muslim extremists. By the same token a case might even be made for those illegal boat people who charter boats in Indonesia, Pakistan, and Bangladesh to seek haven in Australia and New Zealand.
In our present age of Humanitarian liberalism and absolute correctness in all fields of social and political life, who can see any outright stand being made against any Muslim extremists or those who make life impossible causing mass migration? Certainly this will never emerge from the halls of the United Nations.
Brian

donaldk said...

A bit about a certain Roger Fowler.
I quote from a History publication ' Auckland Infantry '
During a parade of the Third Battalion of the Royal New Zealand Infantry Regiment February 1971;
" A few noisy people in the crowd booed and jeered. One of them was Roger Fowler, who had pamphleted National Servicemen a year before.He shouted 'murderers' and 'put your guns away' and gave the black power salute. These minor disruptions were "not well received by the large crowd", the Armed Forces magazine "Reveille" said. Patriotic people in the crowd remonstrated with Fowler, before he and two others were arrested.(which was applauded)
Fowler was convicted on two counts and fined.

Anonymous said...

here's one by the bus stop at Greymouth Railway staion :"Near this site, formerly the Mawhera Pa, a deed of purchase was signed on monday 12st of may 1860, between the Crown agent James Mackay and 14 chiefs of poutini Nghai Tahu, who surrendered 7.5 million hectares of the West coast in exchange for 300 gold sovereigns"

So there must have been a big population huh?

Ali Mac said...

It would seem that those "Maori" ( 3/4 anglo-saxon blood but purported as Maori so as to be excused for all manner of hate speech) journalists, are merely on a mission of hate. they are like a gang out for blood.

the assertion about genocide is lies. Genocide is a word that means to set about to murder a race of people with the intent to wipe them out. Accurate records of Nz history show that this is what those journalists ancestral tribes did to one another. Israel has to defend itself against the brutal , murderous Hamas, hizbollah, and other Muslims.
Palestinians that live in Israel like being there. They are well treated and cared for They do not want to return.

ISis seems to be what those alleged journalists and Mahuta, and Turei represent.

What does God think and what happens to those who hate Israel continually?



Maybe the true "genocide" took place when some of their ancestors murdered