Chris Bishop spoken to by Christopher Luxon for ‘strongly worded’ email comparing Hamas attack to Holocaust

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31 Oct, 2023 08:02 PM2 mins to read

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National Party leader Christopher Luxon has spoken to a senior MP over a “strongly worded” email about the Israel-Hamas conflict.

The email, widely shared on social media, appears to show MP Chris Bishop replying to a member of the public and likening Hamas’ actions in Israel to the Holocaust.

“Hamas terrorists butchered women and children were in a rampage of violence and hate.

“Such barbarity has not been seen since the Holocaust.”

Luxon told Radio New Zealand the language used was “strong” and it showed there were high emotions on both sides.

The National Party leader told Newshub the advice he gave Bishop was that he should have been more careful with his choice of language.

National and the outgoing Labour Government had been calling for a humanitarian truce to allow aid into Gaza.

Luxon told Newshub he “absolutely condemns” the attacks on Israel by Hamas, but urged both parties to comply with international law and obligations.

He told The AM Show that he was thinking about affected communities in New Zealand.

”I am thinking about our Jewish community here in New Zealand, our Muslim community here in New Zealand. It’s an incredibly difficult time,” he said.

Asked if he thought Israel was meeting its humanitarian obligations, Luxon said “I haven’t seen any advice to say they are not but what I have seen is obviously concern of what we see on the TV and the images we all see.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected calls for a ceasefire and again vowed to crush Hamas’ ability to govern Gaza or threaten Israel following its bloody October 7 rampage, which ignited the war.

A deluge of Israeli airstrikes on a refugee camp near Gaza City demolished apartment buildings, leaving gaping holes where they once stood, while ground troops battled Hamas militants across northern Gaza.

Though more than half of Gaza’s 2.3 million Palestinians have fled their homes, several hundred thousand remain in the north, where Israeli troops and tanks reportedly have advanced on several sides of Gaza City, the sprawling urban centre.

- with AP