People of many faiths and cultural backgrounds will rally today, Thursday 16th May, at 2pm on the street outside The
Wellington Club, 88 The Terrace, in Te Whanganui-a-Tara Wellington. They will be condemning the Israeli ambassador and
others who are going to The Wellington Club to celebrate the establishment of the State of Israel and protesting the
ongoing genocide being carried out by the State of Israel.
The protest group will include groups who have been actively calling for an end to the ongoing genocide, including:
Alternative Jewish Voices, Student Justice for Palestine Pōneke, Peace Action Wellington, and Pōneke Anti-Fascist
Coalition. These groups condemn Zionism which is a philosophy of colonialism, and condemn the State of Israel which is a
colonial state formed by displacement and murder.
“Israel has now murdered over 35,000 Palestinians just since October 7th 2023,” says Kim Kuiti, a member of Peace Action
Wellington. “But the displacement and genocide didn’t only start seven months ago. It is 76 years since the State of
Israel was formed, and so Palestinians have been subject displacement and genocide for those 76 years.”
The rally is expected to be noisy but peaceful, with goals of making the attendees of the ‘celebration’ event hear us
and exposing their hypocrisy to the media and general public.