New Zealand yet to Reveal Position on Palestinian Recognition

While Australia, Canada, Britain, and Portugal will use the commencement of the U.N. General Assembly to announce that they formally recognise a Palestinian state, New Zealand has refused to divulge its position, with the government’s three coalition parties seemingly at odds on the subject.

Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told reporters on Sept. 22 that the decision has still not been signed off by the Cabinet, despite Foreign Minister Winston Peters having flown to New York over the weekend to attend the U.N. meeting.

Luxon said he did not feel the country was lagging behind its security partners. New Zealand, along with Australia, Canada, the UK, and the United States, is part of the Five Eyes Alliance, meaning that three of the five member nations now recognise a Palestinian state.

“It’s not a race,” Luxon said, confirming that a “preliminary decision” had been made but refusing to say what that was.

“The bigger issue … it’s not whether you are pro-Palestine or pro-Israel, it’s actually about being pro-people,” Luxon said on Newstalk ZB radio.

ACT’s Position Is Not the Government’s

The difference of views within the coalition became evident when ACT Party Leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour was talking to reporters before Parliament met on Sept. 16 and said the announcement would be made by “the right minister at the right time.”

Luxon had previously confirmed that the government’s position would be put to the U.N. by Peters, who leads the NZ First party.

Asked about ACT’s position and whether Israeli hostages should be released before recognition was granted, Seymour said that he was “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?” he said.

When those remarks were put to Peters the following day, he told reporters that Seymour had “no authority” to make them.

“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,” Peters said.

“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.”

Asked if he and Seymour had clashed at Cabinet on the issue of recognition, Peters laughed.

“I think you should speak to others about that, but I’m making sure that you’re not misled, and next time anybody does that, from wherever it might come, why don’t you ask the minister in charge? Namely, me,” he said.