Pro-Israel rally in Wellington
A rally in support of Israel will take place in New Zealand’s capital city Wellington on Friday.
A statement from the Embassy of Israel, Wellington.
Since 12 June Hamas and other terrorist organizations in the Gaza Strip have fired hundreds of rockets at Israeli civilians. Although Israel showed great restraint and called for the cessation of the attacks, Hamas kept firing rockets indiscriminately into Israeli towns and cities around the country.
Israel cannot accept a reality in which millions of its citizens are subject to the whims of radical Islamic terrorist organizations similar to al-Qaeda, ISIS and Boko Haram.
No country in the world would accept such a reality.
Israel is not eager for war. However, after three weeks of restraint on our behalf and the continuation of incessant rocket attacks by Hamas, Israel has been left with no other alternative. Israel had to respond in order to restore the safety of its civilian population. The innocent civilians of Gaza are not the enemy of Israel and they are not the target of the bombings – Hamas is. Civilians casualties are the direct result of Hamas’ terrorist tactics, such as the use of Palestinian civilians as human shields. This terror organization is committing a double war crime. They are deliberately targeting innocent Israeli civilians and at the same time embedding their weapons, leaders, operatives and infrastructures in the midst of uninvolved Palestinian civilians. Israel is doing its utmost to reduce harm to civilians by warning residents about impending strikes through phone calls, text messages and leaflets. They also employ stringent target selection procedures and fire warning shots to alert civilians.
The “Iron Dome” missile defense system has provided outstanding protection to Israeli civilians throughout this confrontation. Israel’s vast infrastructure of shelters and the early warning systems have saved the lives of hundreds of Israeli civilians. Israel is still committed to finding a peaceful solution. Yesterday Israel accepted the Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire – in order to resolve the conflict diplomatically. However, Hamas bluntly rejected the ceasefire, both in word and deed. Once again, Hamas fired upon the Israeli civilian population. Once again, Israel was left with no other choice but to defend itself.
The world media and public opinion (which was silent whilst thousands of Syrians were massacred by their brothers) has suddenly rushed to condemn Israel’s defensive acts. Luckily, there are many Christian and Jewish communities support of Israel’s right to defend itself. They express their support through rallies such as the one that will be organized in Wellington this coming Friday (see information in the link below).
https://www.facebook.com/events/1483996181843645/
I am convinced that the people of New Zealand who share our value system will continue to express their support and solidarity with the people of Israel.
