PHRC Press Release in response to David Rankin's attack on Marama Davidson

10 October 2016

In defence of Marama Davidson

In a Press Release on 8 October David Rankin wrote:

“Our ancestors in the nineteenth century, especially our spiritual leaders, identified with the plight of the Jews and their struggle for an indigenous homeland. By Marama [Davidson] trying to stir up trouble against Israel, she is challenging the indigenous rights of Jews. This is an embarrassment to all Maori.”

Does Rankin speak for all Maori? He certainly expressed some venom against Marama Davidson. Does Rankin speak for all indigenous people? Maori, having been victims, first-hand of British colonialism, one would have expectedhim to empathise with all victims of British Imperialism. The Zionist plan for Palestine was, after all, contained in the British Balfour Declaration.

Lord Arthur Balfour's attitude to the native Palestinian people exemplified European racism. Writing to David Lloyd George in February 1919, Balfour admitted: “The weak point of our position is of course that in the case of Palestine we deliberately and rightly decline to accept the principle of self-determination”. (see online note [14]) If the existing population were consulted, he added, they would ‘unquestionably’ return an anti-Zionist verdict. And in a reply to the Foreign Secretary, Lord Curzon, Balfour stated quite categorically that “in Palestine we do not propose even to go through the form of consulting the wishes of the present inhabitants of the country …. The Four Great Powers are committed to Zionism. And Zionism, be it right or wrong, good or bad, is rooted in age-long traditions, in present needs, in future hopes, of far profounder import than the desires and prejudices of the 700,000 Arabs who now inhabit that ancient land”.

If Rankin has real respect for the Jewish people as a wholehe would do well to listen to the voices of non-Zionist Jews who, free from mind-crippling ideological prejudice, work to speak truth to power. There are many Israeli Jews and Jews around the world who say “not in my name”. Anyone in doubt should listen to the US-based Jewish Voice for Peaceas well as the Israeli historian Ilan Pappe. Read the book,The General's Son by Miko Peled who also served as an officer in the Israeli Army and gradually came to realise how racist and cruel is the Zionist purpose. Read of Anna Baltzer's shared experience with the Palestinian people under brutal foreign Israeli military dictatorship: A Witness in Palestine.

Because our political leaders and mainstream news media keep silent, we have to discover for ourselves, which is why Marama Davidson should be admired and applauded. It takes courage to step out of line and put humanity before self-advancement.

© Scoop Media