A New Zealand government website published a map that omitted Israel and instead showed “Palestine.”
The Fact Sheet page on the Immigration New Zealand website labeled East Jerusalem as “the designated capital of the State of Palestine,” accused Israel of “massive repression of Palestinians” during the Second Intifada,” which was between September 2000 and February 2005; and, without context, stated Israel’s “economic sanctions and a blockade on Hamas-controlled Gaza.”
“The most immediately obvious of the errors was a map labeling the whole of modern-day Israel as ‘Palestine,’ ” said Israel Institute of New Zealand director Ashley Church. “This is 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.”
“Our Immigration Minister needs to immediately apologize for the offending image and confirm that it does not reflect government policy,” she added. “Immigration New Zealand needs to issue a statement confirming that the website does not represent the views of the ministry; and an investigation needs to be undertaken to find out who was responsible and to put in place measures to ensure that this does not happen again.”