Barry Soper: Senior political correspondent on Netanyahu’s comments about New Zealand supporting Palestine

Benjamin Netanyahu has called a number of western nations – including New Zealand – ‘shameful’ for their support of Palestine. 

These comments come as the NZ Government moves closer towards recognising a Palestinian state. 

Senior political correspondent Barry Soper says a statement about recognising Palestine will likely happen soon. 

“We probably will do; I would imagine at the General Assembly in New York next month.” 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Barry so for senior political correspondence with us.

Speaker 2 (00:02):
Hey Barry, good afternoon, Heather.

Speaker 3 (00:04):
So is BB angry with us as well?

Speaker 2 (00:06):
Who's BB? Who? Barry? Do you call him? Bbe?

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Everybody calls him Bee.

Speaker 2 (00:11):
I've never heard him called BB before. No, it's not
us thing, Lordle, isn't it? Because Nita, who seems to
have been around forever and in fact he came first
came into office as the youngest Israeli Prime minister in
nineteen ninety six, so next year, thirty years ago. Quite incredible.

(00:32):
But look he's name check New Zealand as a Western country.
Whose leaders are he said, buckling under the pressure to
recognize the Palestinian state. Well, New Zealand hasn't done it yet,
for his information, he singled out. He said, for shame,
they were shameful Western leaders in Britain, France and Canada.

(00:53):
And then he added New Zealand, Well those other three
have and we were looking at it and we probably
will do. I would have at the General Assembly in
New York next month clearing Gaza cety. Interestingly, the decision
that they've made, it's a war crime in itself. If
they flatten Garza cety. They cut off water supply, they

(01:14):
cut off food supply. That is literally under the UN
Convention of war crime. So you know he should be
reflecting on that. Not that he reflects on very much,
I might say. But Ntnyaho, of course, is unrepentant about
what's happening in Gaza City and in a podcast said
if they wanted to carry out genocide, they could have
done it in an afternoon. Even to mention the word genocide,

(01:38):
I find absolutely incredible. The Israeli leader used Australia as
an example of what the Aussies would do in the
same circumstances, but he denies people are being deliberately starved.

Speaker 1 (01:49):
Two million people are now getting access to monetarian aids.
But I'll tell you who is it. The only ones
that are being deliberately starved in Gaza are our hostages.
Right next to Melbourne or right next to Sydney. You
had this horrific attacks, and I think you would do
it at least what we're doing, probably maybe not as
efficiently and as as precisely as we're doing it.

Speaker 2 (02:10):
It's incredible, isn't it. There's sort of no remorse there
at all. I find the whole situation as you do.
I know, I find it just so disturbing that the
world can come to this.

Speaker 3 (02:21):
Yeah, totally. On a brighter note, good day to be
a dairy farmer in New Zealand, right, it's a.

Speaker 2 (02:27):
Totally good day to be a dairy farmer. And you know,
Fonterra three point eight four five billion dollars, massive amount
of money. I did my sons, and I know you
know that I'm good at sum's here. There are eight
thousand shareholder dairy farmers and Fonterra, and if you divvy
that up, which of course you wouldn't do because some

(02:47):
own more than others, you get four hundred thousand dollars
apiece for each dairy farmer, and the shares are allocated
on the basis of the amount of milk solo that
they supply each season. So there'll be some that will
be getting a massive windfall from this. And the Prime

(03:07):
Minister's right behind the Fonterra sale, obviously, he says that
the money will at least be spent in this.

Speaker 3 (03:16):
Country from Terror's strategy is about business to business. Many
of us have been off overseas and we've seen the
work that they do selling their products as products are
into say Korean bakers, there's a much larger market than
trying to sell consumer branded goods. That's going to a
very good purchaser of the business, and importantly, that money
now gets returned back to the farming community. It's a

(03:36):
three point eight billion dollar sale, three point two billion
dollars of it goes back to the farmer's shareholders themselves.
That is money that goes back into the local economies
that then gets to be spent in those economies, and
that has a big flow and effect within the economy
as well, in good stimulus in the economy.

Speaker 2 (03:51):
Yeah, I think that's great. And when you look, they've
got a long term part of this as a long
term agreement with Lactalis, which is the French company to
sell milk and ingredients to them, so you know we'll
be selling our produce to them, so branding doesn't matter
that much. I think the fact that we're going to
be able for many years to come sell product in

(04:13):
is a good thing. Hey very quickly, because I don't
have a lot of time. But Todd mcclayzy got anywhere
with his meetings, Well no he hasn't. He pointed out
to them that look, we impose zero point three percent
at tariffs on American goods coming into this country. Well,
that will neither go here nor there as far as
their concerned. But he met with Ambassador, the Secretary of Agriculture,

(04:36):
Brook Rolands, and the trade representative Jamison Greer. They are
having more meetings later. So yeah, well but those scheduled
to have meetings anyway at APEC and these stages of
summit places like that. But I think we're going to
have to live with that fifteen percent regardless of whether
we're spending money in the stone.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
Now, Barry, thanks very much, Barry so for senior political
correspond and we'll read the political week That was just
after six o'clock.

Speaker 2 (05:02):
For more from Hither Duplessy Allen Drive.

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