Ngarewa-Packer DebbieDEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER (Co-Leader—Te Pāti Māori): Tēnā tātou e te Whare. Tēnā koe e te Pīka. I stand to speak to the motion before us. I guess the thing that we have with extremism and violence is that sometimes we become so defensive for one of two varying sides that we struggle to see peace. I think it's really important for us to use our influence our sphere of influence to always look for and find peace. Violence breeds violence and violence emboldens violence.This afternoon maybe about 12-ish I made my way back to Parliament to be able to be here in the House. I experienced the violence of those who are supporting pro-Israel in Man Up" costumes who swamped my car and who put their Israel flag all over my windscreens so I couldn't get out and get here. I normally have my whānau—SPEAKER: With all due respect to the member that's not very pleasant—DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: I normally—SPEAKER: Excuse me. That's not very pleasant for the member but I think—please stick to the motion.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: I will.SPEAKER: The member wouldn't be the first person who's had an offensive flag draped over their windscreen.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Thank you e te Pīka. I normally have my mokopuna in the car and got to experience what it must be like when you're ambushed and you're living peacefully and you just want to get by from one place to the other.We cannot let peace become so hard so out of reach that we lose track of what it is that we're truly debating and we cannot let those who profit from war and who don't seek peace until we sit here and take stock and choose not to ignore what we see going on. We are seeing all of us collectively some of the worst most horrific violence—amputations of limbs of children—and people desperately sharing what it is that they're experiencing so the rest of the world take heed and do what we can to ceasefire and fight for peace.From our perspective that is about ending genocide. We have seen 16248 Palestinians being killed—7112 of them are children. Every child killed today would still be alive if we had done what was right by peace: a ceasefire an end to genocide and helping them to find the right solution. By sitting back and doing nothing it doesn't really matter who's taking and who's attacking right now because neither Governments in Aotearoa has shown leadership towards what it is that we need to do. We need to be vocal in ending all violence and we need to be vocal in making sure that people are not triggered into extremes in the way that they're so comfortable about being able to dispute who's right or who's wrong.We're seeing the bombing of hospitals the bombing of homes refugee camps schools churches for goodness' sake. That's not self-defence. The use of white phosphorous in densely populated areas is not self-defence. Collective punishment of civilians by cutting off food water and medical supplies is not self-defence. The murder of tamariki no matter whose tamariki they are is not self-defence. We are witnessing the ethnic cleansing and the attempted genocide of a people the Palestinian people and as a descendant of Parihaka I must and always will use my sphere of influence to stand for peace. And I know there can be no peace without justice.There is debate about who's occupying who. From our perspective Israel's colonial occupation of Palestinian lands in Jenin by the British Empire has led to decades of pain suffering and bloodshed. We have empathy with that journey we have empathy with that history we have connection with that history. The genocidal rhetoric of Israeli Ministers and officials is well documented. I haven't made this up. The attempts to dehumanise an indigenous people of Palestine of all faiths and religions must be resisted. Western countries are simply in denial about the long-term aggression because it's too close to home. We are still not talking about our own history our own ancestors and some of the good and the bad and the ugly decisions that they have put us in today. The conflict simply did not start on 7 October and I will never ever accept this House normalising violent experiences and saying it's OK and that we've had this happen here before. It's never OK. It's never OK.So Te Pāti Māori is happy to stand in support of this motion for a ceasefire and ask the Government what next. Every world leader has refused the call for a ceasefire—what is this Government willing to do to exert pressure on our allies who will ignore this call? The United States has poured billions of dollars into Israel's military. There's a brutal occupation going on. There's savage violence happening. We can no longer provide political cover for US-funded imperialism. We can't sit here and act as if we're not connected to it.You know and we all know that Te Pāti Māori has asked to expel the Israeli and US ambassadors and to recall the Israeli consulate until a permanent ceasefire is agreed to—not a pause but permanent.Hon Shane Jones: Tell us about the Morioris.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: God how low you get! It means recognising the State of Palestine as we recognised the State of Israel in 1949. Never ever is it OK to ever have violence against anyone. And not a single one of our histories is pure but what we should do is learn from our history and what we do with our influence today. What is stopping the Government right now from introducing an Israeli sanctions bill to Parliament just as we did in response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine or creating a special visa category for Palestinians displaced by this war as our allies in Australia have done as we also did for Ukraine?SPEAKER: This is getting very wide of the motion.DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Imposing economic sanctions is something the Government must consider if you are intent on this actual motion being pono and being tika. As tangata whenua we'll always support indigenous peoples. I don't know why you keep getting really uncomfortable with that; that's who we are.SPEAKER: Think about the use of the term "you". DEBBIE NGAREWA-PACKER: Thank you; we—I don't know why we are not comfortable with that. Thank you.Te Pāti Māori will continue to fight against the atrocities of violence colonisation and the inter-generational trauma and extremism it produces. We will always stand for peace. We will always remind ourselves that we must look for peace in amongst all our differing opinions here. Te Pāti Māori will also stand in solidarity with the people of Palestine. Our aroha is for all those who have lost whānau and friends in this horrific long-drawn-out war. Our kotahitanga is with the indigenous communities fighting for their survival in occupied Palestinian territories. From the river to the sea Palestine must be free. Kia ora rā."