The UK, Canada, Australia and Portugal have joined the 147 UN states that recognise the Palestine Statehood. NZ still has not made a move. “It’s not a race,” says PM Christopher Luxon, to which, Alice Hampson says, it absolutely is a race. A race that’s almost over and we haven’t even turned up to the starting block yet.
UPDATE: On Saturday 27 September Foreign Minister Winston Peters said NZ is “not ready” to recognise Palestinian Statehood. He said:
“Israel would claim the recognition rewards Hamas and removes pressure on them to release hostages and agree to a ceasefire. Because even now, after almost two years of this outrage, Hamas refused to give the hostages back and then like over 150 countries before it, NZ’s recognition of Palestinian Statehood now would serve as little more than an existential act of defiance against an unalterable state or affairs. We are not ready to make that gesture.”
He reiterated that NZ’s stance on recognising Palestinian Statehood is a matter of “when, not if” and the NZ government believes that it has one opportunity to make this recognition, and “with a war raging, Hamas still in place and no clarity on next steps we do not think that time is now.”
He said NZ’s focus remains to be getting the free flow of aid into Gaza and announced the government will make a further financial contribution.
OPINION
Overnight the news came that the UK, Canada and Australia have formally declared their recognition of Palestine Statehood, through separate, but coordinated statements. This morning Portugal joined them.
It’s of extreme importance, because Canada and the UK are the first of the G7 (Group of Seven advanced economies) to make this stand. Of course there is, however, a huge number of countries that have already done so – 147 UN states in fact so far. That means three-quarters of UN states have already formally recognised the Palestinian statehood. This refers to both the claim of a sovereign nation state for the Palestinian people and also the effort toward getting it international recognition.
The announcement from the UK, Canada and Australia was far from a surprise – these countries announced many weeks ago that this move was coming.
So… where does NZ stand in all of this? Why weren’t we with them?
New Zealand is one of the 25% of UN States yet to recognise Palestine statehood. Despite the government knowing that our allies were making this statement yesterday, we didn’t join them. Despite the UN calling this a genocide, we didn’t join them. Despite us nearing the two year point of this genocide, we didn’t join them.
This morning, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was asked if NZ is now “trailing behind”.
His answer was, “it’s not a race”.
Now, the current death toll in Gaza is currently unclear. The enclave’s Health Ministry yesterday said the number of deaths is 65,283. Israel has repeatedly challenged the death toll, claiming that high numbers are part of Hamas propaganda – although former Israeli army commander, Herzi Halevi, confirmed last week that more than 200,000 Palestinians have been killed or injured.
But UN Rapporteur Francesca Albanese says that, based on the UN’s findings, 680,000 may be the real number. Of which, 75% are women and children.
Horrifically, it’s estimated that 380,000 are infants under the age of five.
“This is the number that some scholars and scientists claim being the real death toll in Gaza, and it would be hard to be able to prove or disprove this number, especially if investigators and others remain banned from entering the occupied Palestinian territory, and the Gaza Strip,” she said.
That’s right. Potentially 380,000 infants dead, but yet, our leaders appear to feel no sense of urgency to do… anything.
“This is not a race,” says our Prime Minister.
Well, I challenge him to say that to the many parents in Palestine who have lost their children in this genocide.
To those who live in fear that today might be their – or, unimaginably, their children’s – last day on this earth. To all those children who are now orphans. Who haven’t been to school in two years. Who don’t have access to clean water. To food. To basic medicine. To any sense of dignity or care.
Not a race? I challenge Luxon to tell that to Dr Nada Abu Alrub and Dr Saya Aziz, two Australian women who are volunteering in northern Gaza’s Al-Shifa hospital, who released a harrowing video yesterday detailing what they are witnessing. In trying to sum this up, they couldn’t find the right words. That’s because the words simply don’t exist. There are none for the atrocities they are seeing.
The doctors’ working conditions, and the absolutely dire lack of medical supplies to help the injured and dying, are beyond appalling. The pair tell how there is now very little pain relief available, no suction, no gauze to cover wounds. There is no soap to scrub hands in, or gloves, or any kind of shot at providing a sterile environment. There are flies in the operating room.
There is no post-operative care, because they simply don’t have the capabilities to provide it. Patients go from the operating room to being handed over to their families – if they still have any left, because as they describe, many of these patients are the sole survivor of families from these mass casualty events.
And, let’s remember, many of these patients are in fact, children.
The video the doctors released was filmed outside the hospital – which itself is in ruins, having sustained several bombings. They tell how one such bomb hit just the day before they filmed this, right outside the hospital – the same route they take to walk from the hospital to their housing. There are no evacuation orders – no advance warnings before these attacks – even for foreign aid workers. Their lives are in constant danger.
“Healthcare isn’t collapsing, it has collapsed,” says Dr Aziz. “This is a stain on our humanity. I’m ashamed to call myself human…. we need absolute, unimpeded medical aid and an arms embargo now.”
🚨 Australian Doctors in Gaza: “Healthcare Is Not Collapsing — It Has Collapsed”
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) September 20, 2025
Dr. Nada Abu Alrub and Dr. Saya Aziz, two Australian doctors volunteering in northern Gaza’s Al-Shifa Hospital, have released a harrowing video describing mass death under relentless bombardment.… https://t.co/nmdytih0OW pic.twitter.com/CaV5hr2Y7Q
Shame on our government for the way they are handling this crisis. Thankfully, there are plenty of Kiwis who do know what to do in a crisis and have been springing into action, for years now. There are all those NZers who are showing up to marches and rallies. The Kiwis who are providing mutual aid to families in Gaza. The many hardworking NZers who are handing over cash each week to help. The people holding bake sales or book sales to contribute. The darling Kiwi child I saw donate $5 of their pocket money to a mutual aid fund.
No, NZ recognising a Palestinian state isn’t likely to bring an end to this genocide or immediately end this horror. And there are certainly more steps we could be taking (like sanctioning Israel) to help move the needle. But making this move – joining a collective of countries that further isolates Israel and puts further pressure on PM Benjamin Netanyahu – could help to end this genocide. At the very, very least, it shows where we stand as New Zealanders.
Luxon says the Government expects to make an announcement by the end of this week. He said Foreign Minister Winston Peters would announce the decision later this week at the UN General Assembly in New York, after a final sign-off from Cabinet.
While he’s remained tight-lipped on which way things are leaning, he also said this morning:
“We think a two-state solution is the only way forward, we felt that since 1947, that’s why we keep saying it’s a question of when, not if.”
What’s complicating this message though is, once again, comments made by Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour.
Last week David Seymour was asked if he saw a need for the hostages taken in the October 7 attack to be released in order for NZ to recognise Palestine.
His answer was: “I’m not going to recognise a state that’s currently weaponising hostages, holding people for years on end in absolutely inhumane conditions. I mean, who would recognise that?”
At the time, Winston Peters immediately scolded the deputy PM for “talking out of his field”.
“That’s not the Government’s position. The Government’s position is articulated by the Minister of Foreign Affairs. That’s the agreed situation and, for the second time, someone is talking out of his field. A statement was made by someone who’s got no authority to make it and that’s why we’re putting the record straight now,” he said.
Of course, David Seymour immediately rejected what Winston Peters said, retorting:
“I was asked… what ACT’s position is and I think that’s pretty clear… That’s not exclusive from the fact that the government is going to come to a position.”
Experts are already saying that the move by the UK, Australia and Canada is “too little, too late” – it seems, in this race, we really are falling behind.
In the race to show our humanity, and to do our bit to save the lives of the Palestinian civilians left behind, we’ve failed. So far, our Government hasn’t even showed up to the starting block.
