Walkout at counter-terrorism hui in protest over 'insensitive' speech
Tuesday, 15 June 2021
Participants at national counter-terrorism hui walked out on a panel on addressing the causes of terrorism after 'insensitive” comments on the Israel-Palestine conflict by a Jewish community representative.
More than a dozen guests left He Whenua Taurikura at the Christchurch Town Hall on Tuesday after New Zealand Jewish Council's Juliet Moses mentioned a “pro-Hezbollah” rally in Auckland in 2018 during her speech.
She had just labelled the organisations of Hezbollah and Hamas as terror groups, as shouts of “free Palestine” emerged from the crowd.
Critics argued the rally was simply pro-Palestine and the comments insensitive given there were Palestinians affected by the mosque attacks in the crowd.
Haris Murtaza, representing the National Islamic Youth Association, said Moses implied the New Zealand Muslim community was linked to overseas terrorism.
The Muslim community had already raised concerns about having Moses on the panel, he said.
“That was the breaking point and I feel like that was insensitive in its own right.”
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Moses told the crowd the “current zeitgeist” was building walls, instead of bridges. 'It focuses on what divides, more than what unites, and it brings about segregation, not integration.”
Leaders needed to condemn all support for terrorism, “even when it is not politically expedient to so”, she said.
Tayyaba Khan, of the Khadija Leadership Network, said the comments were quite upsetting to Muslim community.
“When you come into a space like this, where a community has lost 51 lives, and you talk about something that’s happening en masse somewhere else in a very inappropriate way, that’s very hurtful.”
About 10 to 15 people were outside the main room of the hui when a Stuff reporter arrived. Murtaza said there were others outside earlier.
Azad Khan, of Foundation against Islamophobia and Racism, said his group was “not going to sit there with dignity and listen to her say that”.
He refused to go back in until she stopped speaking.
Khan said he would be talking with the organisers after about Moses’ involvement.
Participant Abdur Razzaq said the hui was supposed to be about social cohesion.
“One of the speakers started raising issues which divide people … on the basis of that we walked out,” he said.
“This is a place for peace to discuss about unity, this is not a place to discuss about what disunites us. We want to focus on peace.”
University of Canterbury academic Bronwyn Hayward said in a tweet she joined the walk out.
She said the panel was badly organised and did not include members from the Islamic Women’s Council.
Speaking to Stuff after the walkout, Moses denied linking New Zealand’s Muslim community to terrorism.
“The message was very clear that I was promoting peace and dialogue and co-existence between our two communities, so if those protesters had stayed to listen to the whole thing then they would’ve got that message, I think,” she said.
Moses reiterated her view the 2018 rally in Queen St was in support of Hezbollah, whose military wing was designated as a terrorist organisation in New Zealand.
“That feels threatening to the Jewish community,” she said.
The community was concerned there was support for Hezbollah within New Zealand.
“We need to take a consistent approach in condemning terrorism,” she said.
The point Moses said she was getting to when people began yelling was “we need to leave all that stuff that’s happening overseas and work to create a harmonious society in our country”.
“I didn’t think it was controversial statement.”