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christopher luxon
Canada, Australia, and New Zealand PMs Do What Biden Won't: Demand Gaza Cease-Fire
Leaders from Australia, Canada, and New Zealand emphasized that the ICJ's provisional decision is "binding," the need for humanitarian aid "has never been greater," and an Israeli assault on Rafah "would be catastrophic."
Feb 15, 2024
With mounting fears of an Israeli assault on Rafah and the Gaza Strip's death toll already topping 28,500, the prime ministers of Australia, Canada, and New Zealand on Thursday issued a joint statement with demands including a cease-fire, while U.S. President Joe Biden continued to resist mounting pressure to do the same.
Prime Ministers Anthony Albanese of Australia, Justin Trudeau of Canada, and Christopher Luxon of New Zealand began by urging the Israeli government not to attack Rafah, warning it "would be catastrophic," given the "already dire" humanitarian crisis across Gaza and approximately 1.5 million Palestinians crammed into the city.
"A sustainable cease-fire is necessary to finding a path towards securing lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians."
The trio—who had previously put out a joint statement in December—highlighted the "growing international consensus" that there must be a cease-fire after over four months of a war that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared in retaliation for the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel, which killed over 1,100 people.
As the BBCreported Thursday, French President Emmanuel and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock have also expressed opposition to attacking Rafah, while Ireland and Spain have asked the European Commission "to examine 'urgently' whether Israel is complying with its human rights obligations in Gaza under an accord linking rights to trade."
According to Albanese, Trudeau, and Luxon:
Israel must listen to its friends and it must listen to the international community. The protection of civilians is paramount and a requirement under international humanitarian law. Palestinian civilians cannot be made to pay the price of defeating Hamas.
An immediate humanitarian cease-fire is urgently needed. Hostages must be released. The need for humanitarian assistance in Gaza has never been greater. Rapid, safe, and unimpeded humanitarian relief must be provided to civilians. The International Court of Justice has been clear: Israel must ensure the delivery of basic services and essential humanitarian assistance and must protect civilians. The court's decisions on provisional measures are binding.
Since the court last month ordered Israel to "take all measures within its power" to uphold its obligations under the Genocide Convention as the South Africa-led case moves forward, Israeli forces have killed thousands of more people in Gaza.
"A sustainable cease-fire is necessary to finding a path towards securing lasting peace for Israelis and Palestinians," the three leaders argued. "Any cease-fire cannot be one-sided. Hamas must lay down its arms and release all hostages immediately. We again unequivocally condemn Hamas for its terror attacks on Israel on October 7."
"Ultimately, a negotiated political solution is needed to achieve lasting peace and security," they concluded. "Australia, Canada, and New Zealand remain steadfast in their commitment to a two-state solution, including the creation of a Palestinian state alongside Israel, where Palestinians and Israelis live side by side in peace, security, and dignity."
Officials from the United States, Qatar, and Egypt have been negotiating a possible exchange of hostages taken on October 7 and Palestinians imprisoned in Israel as well as a pause in fighting. On Wednesday, The New York Timesreported that "those talks are still underway in Cairo, but, according to Israeli news outlets, Mr. Netanyahu told Israel's representatives not to return to Cairo."
Netanyahu has not publicly confirmed the move but said in a statement Wednesday that "strong military pressure and very tough negotiations" are "the key to freeing more of our hostages." He added: "Indeed, I insist that Hamas drop its delusional demands. When they do so, we will be able to move forward."
While Biden has publicly called out Israel's "indiscriminate bombing" of Gaza and privately expressed frustrations with Netanyahu—reporting the White House contests—his administration has also bypassed Congress to arm Israeli forces and asked federal lawmakers for a $14.3 billion package on top of the $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid to Israel.
Like the trio of prime ministers, Win Without War executive director Sara Haghdoosti stressed in Thursday statement that Israel's looming "full-scale attack on Rafah would be catastrophic," though she added that "the U.S. is likely the only government in the world that could sway the Israeli government to not move forward with this plan."
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Right-Wing New Zealand Government Scraps Smoking Ban to Fund Tax Cuts
"This is major loss for public health and a huge win for the tobacco industry—whose profits will be boosted at the expense of Kiwi lives," said one public health expert.
Nov 27, 2023
The new right-wing government of New Zealand, sworn in on Sunday, surveyed the policies left in place by the Labour Party and announced the reversal of one historic measure that was passed with the goal of preventing thousands of smoking-related deaths every year.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, head of the National Party and a former airline executive, announced that the government would scrap the generational smoking ban passed under progressive former Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern in 2021—a law that was praised by public health experts and inspired similar legislation in the United Kingdom.
The law has barred anyone born after 2009 from ever buying cigarettes, with the goal of stopping young people from becoming smokers. It also drastically reduced the legal amount of nicotine in tobacco products and cut the number of stores that are allowed to sell cigarettes from 6,000 nationwide to just 600.
Data modeling showed that the Smokefree Act would save $1.3 billion in health costs over two decades and would reduce mortality rates by 22% for women in New Zealand and by 9% for men.
Currently, about 5,000 people in New Zealand die each year from smoking-related causes.
The possibility of reducing those deaths didn't sway Luxon and his new administration to keep the law in place, with the new prime minister explaining that "coming back to those extra sources of revenue and other savings areas that will help us to fund the tax reduction" that the National Party aims to pass.
Boyd Swinburn, professor of population nutrition and global health at the University of Auckland, said the government is "effectively wanting smokers to continue smoking and more children to start so they can collect more excise tax."
Ben Uffindell, editor of the publication The Civilian, noted that Luxon's goal of increasing revenues and funding tax cuts "doesn't take into account increased cost to the health system."
Public health experts pointed out that the rollback of the law could particularly cost thousands of lives in the Indigenous Maori community.
Health CoalitionAotearoa (HCA), which uses the Maori-language name for New Zealand, said the government's move was "astounding," especially considering that new Minister of Health Dr. Shane Reti had previously stated support for anti-smoking measures.
"This is major loss for public health," said Swinburn, co-chair of the HCA, "and a huge win for the tobacco industry—whose profits will be boosted at the expense of Kiwi lives."
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