by Simon O'Connor

The Stuff headline (below) can be best described as a lie. To date, Stuff has shown little interest in presenting a range of views on this complicated conflict, and this call made at the start of the week will be no different. I would anticipate a careful selection of ‘voices’ that reinforce the single narrative Stuff has been pushing for months now. More worryingly, it will probably enable the usual tropes, slurs, and half-truths to be repeated. What we are witnessing is not reporting but propaganda.

You may recall I wrote Stuff an opinion piece on the conflict in response to one they had published by Phil Goff, and soon after my return from Israel and the Gaza envelope. They did not publish it.

Then, around two weeks ago, Phil Goff had another op-ed published by Stuff and once again, I drafted a reply. You guessed it, that was not published either. Stuff is under no obligation to publish but it reinforces my point – they are not interested in balance.

So, I include this second response below and you can make up your own mind on what I wrote. I’m very conscious there will be those agree and those who disagree but regardless of one’s views on this conflict, the key point is to remind readers of the censorious and carefully curated news you receive from the likes of Stuff. It is not broad, it is not neutral, it is not ‘both sides’. It’s a platform that pushes it’s view, it’s agendas, it’s moral perspective and not just on Israel-Gaza, but on almost every topic of contention – climate change, the Treaty, trans rights, cannabis, and much more.

A second unpublished op-ed to a media outlet that claims it wants to hear from kiwis

Please note, I wrote this around two weeks ago, so some aspects and context has moved on since then including the ceasefire negotiations once again failing (in no small part to Hamas being emboldened by the actions of France, the United Kingdom, and Canada).

For the second time in just over a month, Phil Goff has written a piece on the Israel-Gaza conflict and for the second time, he completely ignores the events of October 7 which ignited the recent fighting. He also fails, once again, to mention Hamas as a key protagonist of the violence.

What he should have noted was that this Islamic terrorist group started a conflict it knew it could never win militarily, but instead was prepared to fight behind its own civilians knowing full well that it would quickly tap Western progressive sympathies. Hamas relies on these sympathies to continue its campaign and deflect blame, while maintaining a commitment to a cult of death which most in the West cannot even begin to conceive.

Mazal, a survivor of the Nova music festival massacre, showing me two of her friends who did not make it.

While Mr Goff is welcome to his view, it is one full of sweeping accusations, a dangerous distortion of international law, and a misrepresentation of Israel’s intentions in a complex and tragic war.

To suggest that Israel is committing genocide is legally unfounded and morally reckless. The flagrant use of the term has become a clear tactic of Western liberals, happy to conflate current realities with past understandings. The Holocaust was a genocide and there is something particularly mocking when people like Mr Goff use the term, while rarely deploying the word in other contexts such as the targeted killing of Druze in Syria or Christians in Nigeria and Congo.

Under the 1948 Genocide Convention, there must be a clear intention to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group. Having been in Israel recently, it is clear there is no such intent towards the Palestinian people. Israel is fighting a conflict it did not start.

Since the horrors of October 7 (which again Mr Goff never mentions, but to whose sites I have visited and survivors I have met), Hamas has embedded itself inside civilian areas including hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and aid centres. This is fact, not a fiction and something confirmed by Hamas’ own boasts even before one looks at Israeli or US intelligence. As I write, a new aid system being run by the GHF is under fire both literally and figuratively. Literally, instances of Hamas firing on its own people are denied or downplayed. Figuratively, Western voices expressing concern about famine are now the same ones complaining that millions of meals have been delivered to Palestinians.

Mr Goff is also quick to condemn moves to transfer Palestinians civilians en masse away from active combat zones. Such condemnations are a gross misrepresentation of what is being discussed during ceasefire negotiations including with the Americans. Just like the new aid centres, it is an attempt to move civilians out of the firing line – something you would think Mr Goff, worried about ongoing civilian casualties, would be happy to support.

While I was visiting Israel and the Gaza envelope and talking to various people, it was clear Israel has no interest in being involved in Gaza. Israel left Gaza in 2005 and would have stayed out had Hamas not crossed the border fences in 2023 and killed over 1,200 Israelis and kidnapping 251 others. But Hamas and others choose to attack on that day, knowing full well what would happen. From what I could see, read, and hear – Israel wants its hostages back, the end of the rule of an Islamic terrorist group (which by the way would be good for the people of Gaza), and security.

What a car looks like after hit by a RPG – one of many in which civilians were killed by Hamas militants on October 7

A final comment, for Mr Goff makes much of a moral conscience when discussing this conflict. It is easy to make broad emotive comments, but a conscience that is moral is one informed by facts and reality. The wider history of this conflict is not straightforward, but the reality and horror of October 7 was clear for all to see and yet Mr Goff continues to never mention it, nor condemn Hamas who anticipated and wanted the response we tragically see unfolding today.

Originally published at On Point.