The Coalition of Ministers Supporting Israel in New Zealand, a group of 72 Church ministers from a variety of Church denominations, issue the following statement in response to what we regard as antisemitic incitation on social media by John Minto:

We condemn the callous, racist, and antisemitic call posted by one John Minto of Christchurch on his Facebook page this week. This is a call to discriminate against certain visitors coming to our shores and goes against the core values of New Zealanders who are very welcoming of foreign visitors.

Mr Minto’s call is incitation to hunt and harm Israelis who are touring New Zealand. The post put up by Mr Minto has already fuelled racist threats by antisemites. One respondent said, “Those damn animals should be in cages…pursue the criminals with everything you have”. Another has remarked “A bounty perhaps” to which another responds “dead or alive”.

There is no justification for this human rights violation as it is reminiscent of the Nazi hunts of Jews during the darkest days in history. We call on the New Zealand authorities to confront Mr Minto for his incitation to bring harm to innocent Israelis in our country. Complaints have been raised with the Police, and we expect a response from them.

We as Church ministers in Aotearoa New Zealand categorically condemn this type of racist and antisemitic behaviour in our country and we stand with our Jewish/Israeli Community and with every Israeli tourist who wishes to come to our shores.

Note: 

COMS-Israel is a group of 72 Church Ministers in New Zealand who come from Pentecostal, Baptist, Brethren, Polynesian, Presbyterian, and Anglican churches who support the right of the Jewish State of Israel to protect its homeland.

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