Published: 20 October 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
Pro-Palestinian activists said they were outraged when the museum joined buildings around the world to express solidarity with terror victims.
The chief executive of the Auckland Memorial Museum, David Reeves, apologised to pro-Palestinian activists on Monday for the museum’s expression of solidarity with the victims of Hamas’s massacre of 1300 Israelis on October 7.
On Sunday night, the museum was lit up in blue and white, the colours of the Israeli flag. Shortly afterwards, anti-Israel activists blacked it out, covering the lights with fabric.
Video from the scene shows a large crowd waving Palestinian flags and honking horns.
New Zealand’s Maori population expresses solidarity with Palestinians, defining them as a fellow indigenous people subject to “colonisation”.
As in many parts of the world, the hostility to Israel has caused fear among New Zealand’s small Jewish population.
Auckland’s Jewish school closed for a day and synagogue services were held at another venue because of fears of an attack on the site that includes both school and synagogue.
Reeves issued a statement on Monday, which read, “I acknowledge the depth of feeling around our decision to light the museum on Sunday night. We wanted this to be an expression of hope for peace. Our approach was wrong, and I personally apologise for the distress and hurt caused to members of our community. I am carefully reviewing and reflecting on all of the feedback we have received. As a War Memorial Museum, we continue to hope for deeper understanding and a peaceful resolution to the conflict.”
NZ Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses said the apology felt like betrayal.
"My community is feeling very much in pain, very much in shock; for them to make this lovely statement of solidarity and then to apologise really does just compound that pain."
Moses said Jewish people in New Zealand, a population of less than 5,000, feel threatened by the widespread failure to condemn atrocities committed against Israel.
“Thousands marched in Auckland on Saturday, shouting the Hamas rallying cry, ‘From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free’, demanding the annihilation of Israel, where almost half the world’s Jewish population of some 15 million lives. We do not feel safe.”
READ MORE
New Zealand museum that lit up blue and white forced to apologise (Jerusalem Post)
'Betrayal': Jewish Council spokesperson criticises Auckland Museum's apology after lighting up for Israel (Newstalk ZB)
‘We will never forget, but will not be captive to the past’ (The Post)
Photo: Auckland Museum lit in Israel’s colours
