Students tear strips off Gaza aid planners

A group aiming to deliver aid to Israeli-blockaded Gaza was caught in its own war of words at Waikato University this week.

Kia Ora Gaza aims to deliver humanitarian aid to Palestinians on September 18 with what they claim will be the "biggest international land-sea aid convoy since World War II".

The convoy, including six Kiwis, will deliver mainly medical aid and building supplies to Gaza.

Members of the group were invited to hold a fundraising meeting on campus by the Waikato University Muslim Club, which sent an email to inform people of the discussion to be held on Wednesday.

Attached to the email was a release from Kia Ora Gaza stating: "Israel is the most powerful military state in the Middle East, and has been doing as it pleases. So we haven't been able to do much while hundreds of children, women, men and the elderly get killed, raped and violated on a daily basis."

Waikato University Students for Religious and Ethnic Harmony took exception to the words and member Simon Gray described it as "hate preaching".

Tempers flared as audience members questioned the points made by presenters. A question and answer session was dominated by people questioning Kia Ora Gaza methods and motives.

One audience member described the mission as "a glorified OE", while others said the aid would immediately be seized by Hamas and traded for weapons.

There were accusations of Kia Ora Gaza collaborating with terrorist groups, but Kia Ora Gaza co-organiser Grant Morgan responded by saying "we will cooperate with others with similar objectives".

He said the meeting was the only hostile one they had experienced since establishing the organisation two months ago and although they received some donations he claimed it was only a success for the people who came to deliberately thwart the presentation.

Waikato University vice-chancellor Professor Roy Crawford said the university supported freedom of speech and provided equal access to facilities for all student clubs, therefore it would be wrong for the university to intervene in relation to the matters raised.

"It would be inappropriate for us to be stepping in and closing down the whole forum," Waikato Students' Union president Deni Tokunai said.

"The difficult thing is every student has their own opinions."

Mr Gray described the meeting as "highly inflammatory".

He said he had spoken to the Office of Ethnic Affairs about the meeting, which he believed went beyond a simple case of freedom of speech.

Muslim club president Moataz Bahr was visibly stunned by the passion and anger aroused by the meeting.

"I did not see that coming," he said.

It was all about helping the group raise funds for the 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza, Mr Bahr said.

He was disappointed it became a "political debate".

- © Fairfax NZ News