An official New Zealand government website on immigration, published a fact sheet with a map of the Middle East that showed Palestine, but not Israel.
The government website published the map as part of a fact sheet about Palestinian immigrants in New Zealand, showing Israel highlighted in blue and marked as ‘Palestine’. The West Bank is not included in the highlighted area.
The fact sheet was deleted after it caused outrage on social media for identifying Israel as Palestine on the map.
The Israel Institute of New Zealand called on the immigration minister to “immediately apologize for the offending image and confirm that it does not reflect government policy.”
The map notes East Jerusalem as the “designated capital” of the Palestinian state, which the Institute took issue with.
The document also refers to the “massive repression of Palestinians” caused by Israel during the Second Intifada, and points to Israel’s economic sanctions and blockade on the largest open air prison camp in Gaza.
Ironically, New Zealand is a country that’s often left off maps. Nazi owned Ikea was forced to apologize in February after it sold a map that was missing New Zealand.
The tourism board even launched a #GetNZontheMap campaign last year, featuring Prime Minister Jacinda Arden.
New Punch / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
