For the past few days I've been part of a protest outside the ASB Tennis Centre in Auckland where Israeli tennis player Shahar Peer has been playing in a women's international tennis tournament.
We have been calling for her to leave the tournament just as protests in earlier decades sought to have Springbok tours to New Zealand abandoned. In South Africa's case it was the apartheid policies of the ruling regime which legally discriminated against black and coloured South Africans and brutally suppressed dissent. In Israel's case it's the Zionist policies of the Israeli Government which discriminates against the Arab population of Israel and uses military might to oppress the wider Palestinian population and deny them freedom and any semblance of civil, political or human rights.
After South Africa, Israel is just the second country in recent times where an international consensus has developed that a boycott is the best way to bring pressure for change. Other forms of pressure have failed. Israel has ignored numerous United Nations resolutions and rulings from the International Court of Justice. It continues to oppress with impunity the indigenous population of Palestine and viciously attacks those who dare to fight back.
This is not to say Israel has not been the subject of terror attacks. It plainly has, but the driver of terrorism is the regime itself and not the sticks and stones of Palestinian youth or the suicide bombers who in anger, despair, frustration and powerlessness throw their very bodies at their oppressor.
So what has all this to do with tennis in Auckland? Everything. The BDS campaign (Boycott, Disinvestment and Sanctions) against Israel includes sport so Shahar Peer is being asked to make a sacrifice and give up international competition. This pales beside the sacrifices Palestinians are forced to make every day of their lives as they live under Israel's iron fist. Where are the Palestinian tennis players who'd love the chance to learn and compete internationally?
The most surprising aspect of the protest for me has been the measured and thoughtful reaction from most tennis patrons. When I grew up most New Zealanders saw Israel as a plucky little country surrounded by fanatical Arab hordes determined to overrun it and throw all the Jews into the Mediterranean. We believed we were on the side of the underdog.
It was a myth of course. Israel has always had enormous military might courtesy of the annual billions in "aid" from the US. The latest technology has been provided on a plate and Israel now has a formidable nuclear arsenal - also courtesy of the US.
New Zealanders have moved a lot in attitudes towards the Middle East over recent years. The 2006 Israeli invasion of Lebanon and last year's invasion of the Gaza strip in which 1400 Palestinians were killed (13 Israelis lost their lives) have helped New Zealanders see the Middle East with fresh eyes.
The most common question I've been asked by patrons has been why we aren't protesting the presence of Chinese and Zimbabwean players. I've responded that the organisation Global Peace and Justice Auckland, to which I belong, has protested against both governments. We led an unsuccessful protest to try to stop the Black Cap cricketers from touring Zimbabwe a few years back. However, the main opposition group the MDC (Movement for Democratic Change) doesn't support boycotts as a tactic. We've also protested human rights abuses in China and marched against the Clark government's free-trade agreement with the Chinese regime.
Shahar Peer will not be stopped by the protests this year but increasingly the boycott will tighten on Israel in trade, investment, cultural and sporting ties. Among these the sports boycott will be the most important because it has a higher profile and is most closely linked to a country's sense of itself and in Israel's case this is what needs drastic change.
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Maybe John should go and live in a country that is under constant threat of being bombed by a bunch of people who quite frankly don't even want peace. I am so ashamed of you. Leave this poor girl to play tennis. You obviously have too much time on your hands. Don't think yourself too much of a hero either look what a mess South Africa is these days.
You do nothing but target the wrong people, leave the poor person alone. Since you feel so strongly about this how about you pack up and leave and camp out in Israel and target them directly and leave this poor girl alone.
I mostly agree with Jake, P.O. and let the poor girl play tennis ... although very harsh (and very wrong!) calling all Palestinian terrorists!
I wish you'd stop giving Minto "media time", I think its embarrassing that this tennis player who comes to our country has to undergo this type of protest for things she can't control. Even if she withdrew it would make no difference to the Israeli political decision. Has Minto even lived there, I have he has no idea what he going on about. If he did he would be protesting outside the US embassy, as they have more chance of influencing the political decision of the Israeli government that she does!! Leave the poor girl alone, welcome her to our country and show her what peace looks like. Get over yourself Minto, NZ is sick of you.
Why are we even giving any airtime to this guy? John Minto is a serial protestor and no-one else cares. John, go and do something productive with your time.
Maybe you could choose your battles a little more sympathetically John. I didn't see you protest the North Korean team at the soccer not too long ago. It's not like the girl is politically vocal or active. The world's messed up- be angry at every injustice relative to the wrong or possibility of success. Do you think the wall will be taken down because John Minto guilt-tripped a girl?
She's a 22 year old tennis player, ffs. Get over yourself and leave her alone. You're clearly only doing this for your personal five minutes in the spotlight.
I'm pro-Palestine but I'd rather you just got off demonising a young woman and focussed on REAL aspects of the Israeli/Palestinian issue - perhaps ones that are more difficult to wrestle with but (oh no!) wouldn't get you the publicity you seem to court so much.
Perhaps Minto should deal with and protest about the injustices within NZ. Or perhaps no one takes him seriously here. Fix your own backyard and leave sport alone.
Jake, and the Israeli's kill Palestinians well, in fact they kill women and children, they have it down to a fine art now, they know how to kill them and then get sympathy for it as well. I don't stand on either side of the fence, neither do I sit on it, I agree the Israeli tennis player ought to be left in peace. We are a tolerant country, she has a choice, play in our country or not. It is not like her country, the moment that anyone shows dissent, shoot them. Her countrymans babarism is just as babaric as a terrorist bomb, more so, because people like you defend the right of Israel to kill Palestinian women and children, and even bomb UN outpost and refuge areas, of which, Israel is still under investigation.
All this poor girl wants to do is play tennis. Leave her alone. Obviously there are no Palestinian Tennis players because they just arent good enough. Maybe if they focused on playing tennis instead of terrorism then they might make it big in the tennis world. Israel has every right to defend itself as it sees fit, and if that means killing a few Palestinians then so be it.