The new foreign minister of New Zealand hopes to fully restore ties with Israel that were ruptured after the country sponsored a UN Security Council resolution that criticized all Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria.
New Zealand’s new foreign minister, Gerry Brownlee, expressed an immediate desire to restore relations between his country and Israel in a letter sent to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday, very shortly after receiving his ministerial warrant.
“I’ve sent a letter to Mr. Netanyahu yesterday, firstly congratulating them on their national [Independence] day but expressing a desire for the Israeli-New Zealand relationship to get back on track and to do that by recognizing that we’ve got synergies and innovation and agriculture and various other things like that,” Brownlee told the New Zealand Herald.
Israel downgraded its ties with New Zealand in December after the country sponsored a UN Security Council resolution that unanimously passed and criticized any Israeli presence in Judea and Samaria as well as in areas of Jerusalem that were won during the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel not only recalled its ambassador to New Zealand, but replaced the envoy with a lower-level diplomat.
Before the vote, Netanyahu warned then-Foreign Minister of New Zealand Murray McCully against backing and pushing the resolution, going so far as to refer to such a move as a “declaration of war” against Israel.
“If you continue to promote this resolution, from our point of view it will be a declaration of war,” Netanyahu said at the time. “It will rupture the relations and there will be consequences. We’ll recall our ambassador to Jerusalem.”
According to Haaretz, Western diplomats said that Netanyahu’s Australian counterpart, Malcolm Turnbull, had called for a restoration in bilateral ties between Israel and New Zealand during the Israeli leader’s visit to Australia earlier this year. Netanyahu responded that New Zealand must make the first step.
Brownlee also said, according to the Herald, that he would like bilateral relations to be restored by October, when there will be commemorations in Israel for the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba during World War I. As part of the British empire at the time, New Zealand took part in the battle.
新西兰外交部长格朗·布朗利（Gerry Brownlee）表示立即希望，在收到部长令后不久，本周二，本雅明内塔尼亚胡总理致信恢复该国与以色列的关系。
“我昨天已经致信内塔尼亚胡先生，首先祝贺他们在国内[独立]当天，但表示希望以色列 – 新西兰关系重新走上正轨，并认识到我们有协同增效，创新与农业等诸多其他事情，“布朗利告诉”新西兰先驱报“。
以色列在联合国安理会决议一致通过并批评以色列在犹太，撒玛利亚以及1967年六日战争期间赢得的以色列在犹太地区和撒马利亚地区的决议时，降级与新西兰的关系。以色列不仅回顾了其驻新西兰大使，而且还与下级外交官取代了特使。
内塔尼亚胡当时表示：“如果继续推动这一决议，我们认为这将是一场战争宣言。” “这会破坏关系，会有后果。我们会回想起我们在耶路撒冷的大使。
据哈方报道，西方外交官说，内塔尼亚胡的澳大利亚同行马尔科姆·特恩布尔（Malcolm Turnbull）曾呼吁在以色列领导人今年早些时候对澳大利亚的访问期间恢复以色列和新西兰之间的双边关系。内塔尼亚胡回应说，新西兰必须迈出第一步。
布朗利还说，根据“先驱报”，他希望在十月份恢复双边关系，届时将在以色列纪念第一次世界大战期间的白俄罗斯战役一百周年。作为英国帝国的一部分时间，新西兰参加了这场战斗。