Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick sparks controversy after use of pro-Palestine slogan at Auckland rally

Protesters in Auckland gather for a rally in support of Palestine.

RNZ

Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick says the condemnation she has received for repeating a controversial pro-Palestine slogan at a recent rally in Auckland is a distraction tactic, RNZ reports.

Swarbrick ended her speech at the demonstration with the words “from the river to the sea”, and members of the crowd replied with “Palestine will be free”.

The slogan, which refers to the area between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea, has been used by politicians and advocates for the freedom of Palestine since the 1960s.

It is interpreted by some as anti-semitic.

“I recognise that there are different views on what this statement means, but I also think it is really important for us to point out that this is a purposeful distraction that is being used the world over to shut down peace activists from Jewish and Palestinian backgrounds,” she told RNZ.

Swarbrick said she abhorred and decried “barbarous death and destruction” and antisemitic notions.

“I believe that it is deeply antisemitic to conflate the actions of the Israeli government with Jewish people, not the least when Jewish peace activists worldwide are protesting these actions.”

Reactions online to Swarbrick’s statement are calling for the MP to resign or to be stood down.

Green Party MP has caused controversy over her use of the pro-Palestine slogan.

“When Chlöe Swarbrick is up on stage at a rally screaming like a banshee “from the river to the sea” what she is actually supporting is the annihilation of the Jewish State,” one person wrote.

Act Party leader David Seymour has criticised Swarbrick’s use of the slogan.

“Some people believe it means no Israel and even no Jewish people,” he wrote on X.

“Our Jewish community lives in fear of anti-semitism.”

Seymour told RNZ that Swarbrick was repeating statements from Hamas’ charter, saying her words had “a dark meaning” and wanted her and the Greens to apologise.

“They understand very well what the meaning of this phrase is, they understand what it means to many people in the New Zealand Jewish community. And they don’t just repeat it, they work crowds into hysteria, chanting it, it’s totally unacceptable.”

In response to Seymour, Swarbrick said “the most that we have heard from the so-called leaders of the incoming government on this issue of absolute destruction is condemnation of words used worldwide by peace activists... the question here should be for the incoming government to decry this genocidal behaviour”.

Alternative Jewish Voices cofounder Marilyn Garson said the phrase was not a threat, but a call from the disempowered, dispossessed and oppressed for the regime of power to change.

“I do think it’s good to look back over the history of politics and understand that it has always involved uncomfortably nudging language. So I do understand that it is uncomfortable for some. I hear that phrase, and I think it’s an accurate description of the land. And it’s an accurate description of the extent of the change that is needed.”

She believed the condemnation of Swarbrick’s words was a distraction.

“I think the longer we can keep the focus on the speaker, in this case, Chlöe Swarbrick, the longer we spend not talking about the fact that people are dropping bombs on the community of Gaza.”

In the UK, Labour MP Andy McDonald was suspended from the party after using the same six words in his speech at a protest in London, The Guardian reported.