To support or not support: the Pacific's position on Israel

The decision to support or not support Israel is splitting the opinions of Pasifika leaders in Aotearoa.

Support for Israeli government has been a controversial topic in recent times, due to the ongoing wars in the Middle East, as well as the recent decision by the Pacific Islands Forum to allow Israel to become a sectoral partner.

Over the past 200 years, Christianity has become the predominant faith in the Pacific - and this is a faith that has roots in Judaism, sharing scripture and revering central figures like Noah, Abraham, Moses and David.

Samoa's march for Israel

On Saturday, Samoa's Head of State Afioga Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II and Prime Minister La'aulialemalietoa Leuatea Schmidt attended the March for Israel event outside the Government Building.

Photos of the event shared by the Samoan government also showed many people wrapped in Israeli flags.

New Zealand-based Pacific Covenant Friends of Israel (PCFI) leader Teleiai Edwin Puni said the march wasn't about picking a side.

"What is clear here is that people in Samoa understand the historical significance of Israel as a country and its right to defend its people, and also the Biblical history behind Israel as part of our Christian faith," said Teleiai.

However, one of the founding members of the Polynesian Panthers, Tigilai Ness said the Christian community in Samoa are misinterpreting certain aspects of the Bible.

"Honestly, all they have to do is look up the history... their Bible should tell them that [and] it's the leaders in those churches that are misleading. They should really read their Bible properly... those so-called leaders, they're leading the people astray," said Ness.

New Zealand's Pacific diaspora support for Israel

On Monday, the PCFI and other Pasifika church organisations in Aotearoa endorsed a statement calling for better treatment of Jewish people in New Zealand.

The statement expressed concerns about the harassment, intimidation and violence towards Israel supporters and Israeli travellers in New Zealand.

Teleiai said there is substantial support from the Pacific diaspora in support of Israel.

"Our Pacific people here are not vocal about it. They don't need to go out with flags, but the support in our community is significant," Teleiai said.

Ness agreed that there are Pasifika who support Israel, however he believes the Israeli government should be condemned for what is currently happening in Gaza.

"It's political. It's the same as what apartheid South Africa did, and why we [New Zealand and the Polynesian Panthers] rose up against it. I'm on the same thing," Ness said.

Ness said he is not anti-Semitic, and argued that Pasifika could also be defined as Semitic people, depending how you intrepret the story of Noah in the Bible.

The story he refers to is found in the Bible's book of Genesis, where Noah builds an ark to house his wife, three sons, Ham, Shem and Japheth and their wives, along with a pairing of every animal, while the world was flooded.

The story then outlines how the descendants of Shem, Ham and Japheth repopulated the world. And as Ness highlights, there is a belief in some Jewish and Christian traditions that the descendants of Ham are African people; the descendents of Shem (which is a root word for semitic) are brown people and this could potentially includes Pacific people, while Japheth is the ancestor of European people.

Church youth travelling to Israel

Teleiai has also announced a Pacific church youth group from New Zealand will be heading to Israel next week alongside Dutch organization Christians for Israel.

He said they are encouraging Pacific youth to go and make their own judgements about the war in the Middle East once they get there.

"There is a concern in our community that people in New Zealand have got their views from secondary and false information that's been circulating," Teleiai said.

But instead of just going to see what is happening in Israel, Ness believed Pasifika values could help resolve the conflict.

"I know for sure they don't know about aroha [love], right? Otherwise, they wouldn't be doing this thing. So, we, as Semitic people, the brown people in this world, we must tell them," he said.