In March, the government made it illegal to support Hamas, but hasn't given the same level of scrutiny to Israel. They neglect to acknowledge the historical context, and claim the day that escalated all of this was unprovoked.
Leaders of both Israel and Hamas are currently wanted by the ICC prosecutors for war crimes.
With the appropriate historical context, we can see that this “war,” or “conflict,” as the media refers to it, didn’t begin on October 7. It goes back much, much further.
In 2021, David Seymour went on a ‘Free Speech Tour’ against the previous Labour government’s proposed hate speech laws.
“Freedom to speak our mind under the protection of the rule of law is the foundation of a free society and should be our main priority.
"If the Government passes laws that allow punishment on the basis of opinion, ACT will petition for a referendum to reverse those laws.”
Why has he abandoned these views now?
Palestinian mosques have been subject to attacks during Ramadan year upon year which have escalated tensions decade after decade. Prior to October 7, Israel had 5200 prisoners — 170 of whom were children.
As of July, 2,070 Palestinians from the West Bank were held without charge or trial. Israel’s National Security Minister announced a state-sanctioned torture and execution of Palestinian prisoners, including those without charge or trial.
“Prisoners should be shot in the head instead of being given more food,
“Since I assumed the position of Minister of National Security, one of the highest goals I have set for myself is to worsen the conditions of the terrorists in prisons, and to reduce their rights to the minimum required by law,” said Itamar Ben-Gvir.
Doubling down, he maintained that, “Everything published about the abominable conditions was true.”
Hamas was a group originally funded by the Israeli government as an attempt to weaken the Palestinian authority and divide political groups within occupied Palestine.
“Anyone who wants to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state needs to support strengthening Hamas," said Benjamin Netanyahu at an lIKUD PARTY CONFERENCE in 2019.
Since 1967, between 750,000 and 1 million Palestinians have been arrested by Israel.
Now, there are images and videos publicly available of Israeli Defence Force soldiers bombing homes, dehumanising innocent Palestinians, and murdering unarmed Palestinians. Yet, at this point in time, there’s been no explicit condemnation from the government.
They say: ‘Do you condemn Hamas?’
‘Yes, but do you condemn Hamas?’
‘We unequivocally condemn Hamas’.
‘Israel has the right to defend itself.’
‘There is no genocide. It's a war.’
They ignore the context and try to equate the oppressed with the oppressor. When people are occupied, is resistance justified?The Prime Minister, before a week or so ago, owned seven properties, each worth over $2 million, a total of $21.145 million.
His property portfolios grew by $4.3 million in 2021, and he made $90,000 in capital gains every week in 2022, more money than he made as CEO of Air New Zealand.
He was the wealthiest MP as Leader of the Opposition, and once Prime Minister, he chose to give $3 billion in tax cuts to landlords.
This month, he sold one of his Auckland properties.
On that property, that he bought for $650,000 in 2015, it was listed at a set price of $945,000. That’s a capital gain of $295,000, which he paid no tax on.
Earlier this year, the government repealed the old bright line thresholds, opting instead for two-year period.
The bright line test has gone back to its initial two-year period, as was firt introduced in October 2018.
The new bright line test applies if you have sold a property on, or after, 1 July 2024.
That means any residential property sold within two years of it purchase date with be subject to tax on any profit made from the sale. Property owners buying after this date will only have to pay tax within in that two-year period.
That’s just under the amount of time that he’s owned the property, meaning he’ll pay no bright line and no capital gains tax.
New research from Victoria University has found that the richest people in Aotearoa are paying less tax than others in nine similar OECD nations.
We are one of only a few who have no tax on capital gains, no kind of wealth tax, and have the most pathetic income tax rate.
The Prime Minister and almost every other sitting member of Parliament own multiple properties and have investments in businesses, giving them all an interest in keeping the tax system stuffed and the housing market in favour of landlords.
They don't work for us. We work for them.
UPDATE (4 December, 2024):
The PM has sold his third house this year after changing the brightline test, meaning he made $300,000 tax-free on this sale - likely over $760,000 in profit on all properties sold this year.
Luxon just sold a two-bedroom unit in Onehunga for $930,000 - more than $309,500 than he paid for it in the first place ($620,500).
Had his latest property sale been the same as his asking price, he would have made total capital gains of $769,500 from the three sales. But he won’t actually tell us.
Original images sourced from NZME, RNZ, 1News, Three News, unless stated otherwise