KEY POINTS:
Hasn't Mustafa Tekinkaya created a storm with his refusal to serve two Israeli women in his coffee shop?
The two sisters, one of whom is married to a Kiwi and living in Invercargill, visited Tekinkaya's cafe in Esk St but when he overheard them speaking in Hebrew, he asked them to leave.
He says that as long as Israeli troops are killing innocent women and children, he won't serve Israelis.
While I'm all for people making a stand based on what they believe, in this country refusing service on the basis of nationality is against the law and the Human Rights Commission and the race relations conciliator are investigating.
Many people, of all ethnicities and nationalities, are against the Israeli bombing of Gaza. Just as there are many who believe that the violence is justified as long as Hamas continue their shelling of Israeli territories.
But most people have the sophistication to understand that individual people do not necessarily represent the policies of their countries' governments.
Many Americans are against the war in Iraq just as there are many Israelis who do not support "Operation Go Nuts", as the Israeli bombing was described in the Spectator magazine. Tekinkaya didn't bother to find out what the women thought of the bombing, he just lumped all Israelis in one basket and has banned the lot of them.
I bet he'd be brassed off if people treated Muslims as one generic group of people who all thought the same way.
The beauty of living in New Zealand is that we are, as Gordon Campbell so famously wrote, a passionless people. He meant it as a criticism but sometimes being passionless is a good thing. Seeing both sides of the argument, not getting exercised about historical issues, not taking foreign policy personally - these are good things. The reason many people want to live in this country is that there aren't the centuries-old conflicts that blight modern living. And the last thing we want to do is to import intolerance, bigotry and hatred.
The mayor of Invercargill, Tim Shadbolt - who would at one time have been burning Israeli flags in the main streets - needs to take a wander down to Tekinkaya's cafe and explain the facts of life to this new Kiwi.
* www.kerrewoodham.com
