New Zealand’s immigration website deleted a fact sheet about Palestine from its website after it caused outrage for identifying Israel as Palestine on a map.
The government website published the map as part of a fact sheet about Palestinian refugees in New Zealand, showing Israel highlighted in blue and marked as ‘Palestine’. The West Bank is not included in the highlighted area.
The Israel Institute of New Zealand, a group supported by the EAJC, called on the immigration minister to immediately apologize for the offending image, confirm that it does not reflect government policy, and open an investigation.
The institute’s co-director, Ashley Church, described the map as “incredibly offensive and the equivalent of New Zealand Immigration displaying a map of the UK which removed Scotland and Wales and referred to the entirety of the British Isles as England”.
“Delegitimization of Israel is an assault not only to Israelis, but to all the Jews wherever they are. EAJC supports the call of the Israel Institute of New Zealand to treat the State of Israel as a legitimate national home for the Jewish people”, – said EAJC President Mikhail Mirilashvili.
“The time has come to delegitimize the delegitimization of Israel. The Euro-Asian Jewish Congress will make every effort to monitor delegitimization campaigns, which threaten the future of Israel and the Jewish people”, – said EAJC Director General Haim Ben-Yaakov.
