About 20 protesters stood outside a Turkish cafe in
Invercargill today, protesting against owner Mustafa
Tekinkaya banning Israeli customers while the bombing of Gaza
continues.
Sisters Natalie Bennie and Tamara Shefa Mevlana were asked to
leave by Mr Tekinkaya as they waited to place an order on
Wednesday.
Mr Tekinkaya said he would not serve Israelis until the death
and destruction on the Gaza Strip ended.
"This has nothing to do what's right or wrong in foreign
conflicts, this is totally to do with what is right or wrong
in New Zealand," protest organiser Matthew Collins told One
News.
Mr Tekinkaya, a Muslim, kept a low profile as demonstrators
vented their feelings.
A Muslim-owned kebab shop a few doors down from the Turkish
cafe is also refusing to serve Israelis.
Israel's ambassador to New Zealand, Yuval Rotem, said he
wanted the Government to ensure actions such as the cafe
owners were not repeated.
"I don't know if it's a racist attack or not but I have a
feeling that it's not, it's just that he's showing his
feeling of anger," Mr Rotem, who is based in Australia, told
The Southland Times.
"This anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish sentiment needs to be
stopped."
The Federation of Muslim Associations of New Zealand (FIANZ)
condemned the "atrocities" being carried out in Gaza by
Israel, and its president Javad Khan said he could understand
where Mr Tekinkaya was coming from.
"But if their action constitutes a breach of the Human Rights
Act ... then we shouldn't breach the law of the country," he
told the Otago Daily Times.
Mrs Bennie, a New Zealand citizen who has lived here for
seven years, said she was shocked when she and her sister,
visiting from Israel, were told to leave the cafe.
"I felt the kind of racism people were exposed to in the
1940s and '50s," she told the paper.
She has laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission,
which planned to mediate between the parties.
Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres said yesterday
refusal to serve someone based on their nationality was a
clear human rights breach.
National MP Eric Roy turned up at today's protest and said he
was saddened that Middle East politics had reached
Invercargill.
"I'm a bit surprised that this is happening in Invercargill,
it's sort of a bit tragic in a way because there's no winners
in this whole situation either in Gaza or here," he told TV3.
Auckland-based group Global Peace and Justice Auckland (GPJA)
is planning a protest against Rakon Industries tomorrow in Mt
Wellington, Auckland.
It said that Rakon provided crystal oscillators for bombs
used by the Israeli airforce.
Protests in Christchurch and Dunedin have also been planned
for tomorrow.
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