> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # "Tea, Scones, And Ethnic Cleansing: How New Zealand First Became Israel's Silent Accomplice" - 9 September 2026 - URL: https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/tea-scones-and-ethnic-cleansing-how-new-zealand-first-became-israels-silent-accomplice-9-september-2026/ - Published: 2026-09-09T10:42:49.000Z - Updated: 2026-09-09T10:42:49.000Z - Description: Winston Peters Calls A Beaten Flotilla Survivor A Fascist And Calls An Actual Ethnic Cleansing A "Concern" — Guess Which One Should Actually Frighten You, Whānau. - Author: Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern ## I Am Not Here To Be Fair To Cowards ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_1.png) Let me tell you plainly what three years of watching this government has taught me. I am Ivor Jones. I am Te Arawa, Ngāti Pikiao, and Welsh on my father's side, and I have spent this year tracing the wires between the people who run Aotearoa and the people who profit from looking the other way. This time the wire runs from Wellington to Jerusalem, and it is dressed up as diplomacy. Here is my accusation, stated in plain English so no minister's press secretary can pretend they misunderstood me: Winston Peters and New Zealand First run a two-tier system of moral outrage. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_2.png) [UK, France, Canada to ban imports from Israeli settlements - NZ critical but stops short of joiningBritain, France and Canada will ban imports from Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, with a UK minister accusing Israel of turning a blind eye to the “ethnic cleansing” of Palestinians there.![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/icon/favicon-32x32.bc7fe925-4e45fb83-1861-472c-9a60-4f089870d4a3.png)RNZRNZ | Te Reo Irirangi o Aotearoa![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/thumbnail/4JJ8L3F_Bridge_260827_10_jpg-6298b1ac-ed6d-4baa-b868-8fda53fe2afa)](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/politics/1308637/uk-france-canada-to-ban-imports-from-israeli-settlements-nz-critical-but-stops-short-of-joining?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) Tier one is for the powerless — a Māori flotilla survivor, a Pākehā peace campaigner, a Green MP in a keffiyeh. Against them, Peters and his ministers unleash "fascist," "racist," "vigilante," "totalitarian," "terrorist tea towel." Tier two is for the powerful — an actual government the UK, this same week, formally accused of overseeing ethnic cleansing. Against them, New Zealand First manages "grave concerns" and a stern chat over tea and scones, then goes back to trading as normal. That is not neutrality. That is a choice about whose comfort this white-supremacist, neoliberal coalition protects, and whose safety it treats as negotiable. --- ## Background: The Government That Talks Like A Peacemaker And Acts Like A Landlord Collecting Rent ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/Aotearoa_s_Diplomacy_Gap_Analysis.png) New Zealand First was built by Peters in 1993 on the promise of putting "New Zealanders first" ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New%5FZealand%5FFirst?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). Peters has been Foreign Minister since November 2023, running foreign policy for the entire span of the Gaza war, which began on 7 October 2023 and, has run for almost three years — precisely 2 years and 11 months ([calculation above](#numerical-audit); [Al Jazeera timeline reference](https://en.abna24.com/news/1863445/Gaza-Death-Toll-Surges-to-73-662-as-Israeli-War-Continues?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). Gaza's Health Ministry recorded 73,662 people killed as of 9 September 2026 ([ABNA24](https://en.abna24.com/news/1863445/Gaza-Death-Toll-Surges-to-73-662-as-Israeli-War-Continues?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)) — a toll that has climbed steadily throughout Peters' entire tenure as this country's chief diplomat. > To his credit — and I will not lie to you to make this essay hit harder — New Zealand voted for UN General Assembly Resolution ES-10/24 in September 2024, backing the International Court of Justice's finding that Israel's occupation is unlawful, by a margin of 124 votes to 14, with 43 abstentions ([UN Watch](https://unwatch.org/database/resoltions/a-res-es-10-24/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). New Zealand was the only Five Eyes country to vote yes; Canada, the UK and Australia abstained. That is a real fact and I am not going to bury it just because it complicates my anger. But votes in New York are free. Consequences at home are not. And that is where this government's mask slips. --- ## Deconstructing The Kupu: What "Grave Concern" Is Built To Hide ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_3.png) In te ao Māori, kupu carry mauri. Words are not decoration; they do work in the world. Colonial diplomacy has built its own dialect specifically to do no work at all: "deeply concerned," "grave concerns," "we call on all parties." I want you to sit with how differently this government speaks depending on who it is speaking to. When Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa's John Minto launched a hotline asking the public to report on holidaying Israeli soldiers, Peters did not offer him "grave concern." He called it, on X, "an outrageous show of fascism, racism, and encouragement of violence and vigilantism" and "extreme totalitarian behaviour" — confirmed word for word by RNZ, the Epoch Times, and J-Wire ([RNZ](https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/540188/genocide-hotline-sets-a-dangerous-precedent-chief-human-rights-commissioner?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); [Epoch Times](https://www.theepochtimes.com/world/campaign-to-identify-holidaying-israelis-sparks-outrage-5799844?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); [J-Wire](https://www.jwire.com.au/nz-pro-palestine-group-on-the-hunt-for-members-of-the-idf/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). That same period, his own minister Shane Jones told Stuff that a Green MP wearing a keffiyeh "supports terrorism, turning up with a terrorist tea towel each day" ([Centrist.nz](https://centrist.nz/terrorist-tea-towel-remarks-are-a-clumsy-culture-war-tactic/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). Now compare that fury to what Peters said this week about an actual, internationally documented ethnic-cleansing campaign: a "marked escalation" that is "jeopardizing the prospect of a durable peace" ([AA.com.tr](https://www.aa.com.tr/en/asia-pacific/new-zealand-expresses-concern-over-deteriorating-situation-in-west-bank/4051561?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). No name for the crime. No consequence attached. Compare that to what UK Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband said the same week, in the same Commons chamber his own government sits in: "the British government agrees that there is ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in areas of the West Bank perpetrated by settler terrorists," and that Israel's government "has turned a blind eye to this... and worse, members of it have made statements and taken actions to support the forced displacement of Palestinians" ([BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g7zen0vveo?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). One government found the courage to use the word. The other government reserves its courage for shouting at its own citizens. Hāhona Ormsby said it best to Peters' own face in a select committee: "Is it New Zealand First, Winston? Or is it Israel First?" ([Asia Pacific Report](https://asiapacificreport.nz/2026/06/18/is-it-nz-first-or-israel-first-hahona-challenges-nz-foreign-minister-peters/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); [1News](https://www.1news.co.nz/2026/06/18/pro-palestinian-protesters-disrupt-peters-at-select-committee/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). --- ## The Deep Dive Podcast Britain bans settlement trade over ethnic cleansing 0:00 /1071.763447 1× > Listen to a lively conversation between two hosts, unpacking and connecting topics in the sources of this essay. I apologise in advance for the AI's very harsh pronounciation of reo. Please dont shoot me, :). ## Youtube Video > Like video? Here is a short video suppporting the essay. Again, don't shoot the messenger please because of AI's pronounciation. :)The Deep Dive Podcast --- ## Koha Consideration ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_10.png) You might ask who's paying me to trace wires between Wellington and Jerusalem that most newsrooms won't touch. Nobody. There is no corporate backer behind this essay, no lobby group, no ministry — just koha, and the hours it took to audit every number above so I could hand you the truth instead of a talking point. Every koha tells this government that whānau are watching the gap between "grave concerns" and actual consequence, and that we will keep counting. Kia kaha, whānau. Stay vigilant. Stay connected. If you're able, consider a koha to keep this mahi going. If you can't koha, no worries — subscribe, follow, kōrero, and share this with your whānau. That is koha in itself. - **Koha — Support:** [app.koha.kiwi](https://app.koha.kiwi/events/the-maori-green-lantern-fighting-misinformation-and-disinformation-ivor-jones?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz) - **Subscribe:** [themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/#/portal/support](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/#/portal/support) - **Direct bank transfer:** Ivor Jones, HTDM, account 03-1395-0099387-000 - **Facebook:** [facebook.com/Themaorigreenlantern](https://www.facebook.com/Themaorigreenlantern/subscribe/) --- ## Three Examples For The Western Mind ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_4.png) I know some of you reading this were not raised inside a tikanga framework, and that is fine — this mahi is for everyone. So here are three concrete examples, each with the harm quantified, a real solution attached, and an explanation of what this does to tikanga, in language built for a Western reader who has never heard the word mauri before today. ### Example One: The Flotilla — Zero Out Of Three ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_5.png) *The point:* Three New Zealand citizens — Mousa Taher, Hāhona Ormsby, and Julien Blondel — were detained and allege they were beaten by Israeli forces after their Gaza-bound boats were intercepted in international waters ([Te Ao News](https://www.teaonews.co.nz/2026/06/21/take-this-seriously-flotilla-activist-claims-beating-allegations-ignored-by-government/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). Australia opened a Federal Police investigation for its citizens on the same flotilla. France opened a war-crimes probe. New Zealand summoned an ambassador for a chat ([The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2026/may/20/israeli-security-minister-itamar-ben-gvir-stirs-diplomatic-outrage-with-flotilla-activist-abuse-video?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); [NZ Herald](https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/politics/winston-peters-asks-mfat-to-call-in-israeli-ambassador-over-treatment-of-gaza-flotilla/YCO3LE4KPJFSPDBQLFBGJ4CSCE/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). *Quantified harm:* Zero out of three New Zealand citizens have received an NZ government investigation into their alleged assault. That is a 0% response rate, calculated directly, not estimated — versus a 100% formal-investigation response from Australia's government for its own citizens on the identical flotilla. *The solution:* New Zealand Police and MFAT jointly open a formal investigative file into the treatment of these three citizens, the same standard already applied by Australia, within 30 days of this essay's publication, with findings made public. *Tikanga impact, explained plainly:* In tikanga Māori, when a member of your own whānau is harmed away from home, manaakitanga demands you go and get them — you do not leave that debt of care unpaid. A government that will not even audit what happened to its own citizens is failing the most basic test of manaakitanga toward its own people, Māori and non-Māori alike. For a Western reader: imagine your own country's government learning you were beaten by a foreign military and responding with a memo, not a phone call to your family. *Previously on The Māori Green Lantern:* I've traced this exact pattern of selective outrage before — see [Winston Peters — A Walking Contradiction, A Forked Tongue In A Taonga He Was Never Worthy To Carry](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/winston-peters-a-walking-contradiction-a-forked-tongue-in-a-taonga-he-was-never-worthy-to-carry-18-february-2026/), where I document five decades of Peters saying one thing and doing another. ### Example Two: The Burnham Test — Seven Weeks Versus Almost Three Years ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_6.png) *The point:* UK Prime Minister Andy Burnham took office on 20 July 2026\. By 8 September 2026 — 50 days later, which is 7.14 weeks, not the "six weeks" some reporting rounded down to — his Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband had named ethnic cleansing in the Commons, adopted the legal position that the entire occupation is unlawful, and announced an import ban with sanctions on individuals and companies ([gov.uk](https://www.gov.uk/government/people/andy-burnham?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); [BBC](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c4g7zen0vveo?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). Israel's retaliation was immediate and real: the UK's East Jerusalem consulate closed, 12 named British MPs barred from entry, UK officials expelled from the Gaza coordination centre ([TRT World](https://www.trtworld.com/article/292977f51090?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); [Haaretz](https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/israel-politics/2026-09-08/ty-article/.premium/israeli-ministers-recognize-argentinas-falklands-claim-expel-british-envoy/000001a0-7fa2-da8b-afbe-7fe73e4c0000?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). *Quantified harm:* New Zealand's Foreign Minister, Temu Trump (AKA Winston Peters) has held this portfolio for almost three years (2 years, 11 months since 7 October 2023) without imposing a single trade consequence on Israel. The UK's government did it in 7 weeks. That is a ratio of roughly 22 to 1 — New Zealand has had twenty-two times longer to act and has produced zero comparable consequence. *The solution:* New Zealand commits, publicly and with a date attached, to a settlement-goods import ban matching the UK/France/Canada model within one parliamentary term (three years) — not another open-ended "when, not if." *Tikanga impact, explained plainly:* Rangatiratanga — the right and responsibility to govern your own affairs with integrity — is not just about resisting outside control. It is about the courage to act on your own stated values even when it costs you something. A government that only ever finds its spine on the UN floor, where a vote costs nothing, but never at the border, where a sanction costs something, is performing rangatiratanga rather than practising it. For a Western reader: this is the difference between a company that writes a diversity statement and a company that actually promotes someone. *Previously on The Māori Green Lantern:* This is the same performance-versus-substance gap I documented when Peters told an Oxford Union audience that "Parliament is the highest court in the land" while his government legislated backward over a court win Māori had already secured — see [They Rewrote The Verdict After You Already Won — And Called It Restoring Order](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/they-rewrote-the-verdict-after-you-already-won-and-called-it-restoring-order-6-september-2026/). ### Example Three: The Non-Recognition Ledger — 36 Countries, One Choice ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_7.png) *The point:* As of September 2025, 157 of the 193 UN member states — 81% — formally recognise the State of Palestine ([Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International%5Frecognition%5Fof%5FPalestine?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). New Zealand is one of the remaining 36\. That decision was not an accident; MFAT's own advice to Cabinet recommended maintaining the "when, not if" non-recognition position while Hamas remains in de facto control of Gaza ([MFAT OIA release](https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/OIA/OIA-2025/Recognition-of-Palestine-Options-for-New-Zealand.pdf?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); [Reuters](https://www.reuters.com/world/asia-pacific/new-zealand-says-it-will-not-recognise-palestinian-state-this-time-2025-09-27/?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). *Quantified harm:* New Zealand sits in a shrinking minority bloc of 36 states (19% of the UN) still withholding recognition, alongside the US, Japan, and a handful of others — despite Canada, the UK, Australia and Portugal all recognising Palestine in the same September 2025 window New Zealand chose not to. *The solution:* Formal recognition of the State of Palestine, tabled to Cabinet with a public timeline, not left to another indefinite "when, not if." *Tikanga impact, explained plainly:* Tino rangatiratanga is the principle that a people's right to exist, govern, and be named as who they are cannot be conditional on someone else's approval. Refusing to recognise a state's existence until its internal politics satisfy an outside power is exactly the logic that was used against Māori self-governance for a century and a half — sovereignty granted only once you behave the way the coloniser prefers. For a Western reader: it is the diplomatic equivalent of saying "I'll acknowledge your marriage once I approve of how you're running your household." *Previously on The Māori Green Lantern:* I've mapped this exact "your rights are conditional on our comfort" logic before, applied domestically rather than internationally — see [How Winston Peters Turned "Go Back To Your Own Country" Into A Government Policy](https://www.themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz/how-winston-peters-turned-go-back-to-your-own-country-into-a-government-policy-2-august-2026/). --- ## Implications: What This Actually Costs ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_9.png) Three New Zealand citizens with zero investigations. Almost three years of a foreign minister's tenure with zero trade consequences on a government the UK now formally calls an ethnic-cleansing enabler. New Zealand sitting in the 19% minority of UN states still refusing to recognise Palestine. And an arms-export question — the Rakon crystal-oscillator supply chain into US-made bombs — that MFAT's "clean since 2003" defence does not actually answer, because it only covers direct exports, not the components that pass through American hands first ([MFAT letter](https://www.mfat.govt.nz/assets/OIA/OIA-2024/MFA-letter-to-John-Minto-National-Chair-Palestinian-Solidarity-Network.pdf?ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz); [Rakon](https://www.rakon.com/news/statement-on-recent-claims-about-rakon-products?hs%5Famp=true&ref=themaorigreenlantern.maori.nz)). Every one of those gaps is a policy choice, repeated and re-chosen, by a government that has plenty of energy left over to call a pensioner a fascist. --- ## I Will Not Call This A Contract — I Will Call It What It Is ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/The_Tikanga_Audit_-_Slide_8.png) I promised you honesty over volume, so here it is one more time: I found no donor trail, no lobbyist paper, nothing proving New Zealand First is bought by Israel. Say that to anyone who asks. But protection was never only about money. It is about who a government is willing to spend its courage on, and this government spends every last drop of its courage on the people who can't fire back — Māori flotilla survivors, Pasifika activists, a Green MP in a keffiyeh — and none of it on the people who actually deserve it. The UK just proved, in seven weeks, that a different choice was always available. New Zealand First looked at that proof and chose the wet bus ticket, again. Kia kaha to Hāhona Ormsby, to Julien Blondel, to Mousa Taher, and to every whānau in Gaza and the West Bank still waiting for this government to find, just once, the courage it saves entirely for the powerless. ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/b1/cd/b1cd2cb0-95e8-4ee7-ad91-84123e3121bd/content/images/2026/09/bBzWNX_DneqSCYII-1.png) Ivor Jones The Māori Green Lantern Fighting Misinformation And Disinformation From The Far Right --- ## Disclaimer This essay combines verified fact, clearly labelled opinion, and audited numerical claims current to 9 September 2026, as set out above. It comments on public officials in their official capacity only and makes no claim about any individual's private beliefs, ethnicity or religion. Corrections will be issued on verified complaint. --- ##