Tom Gross

Is New Zealand really such a tolerant country?

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Alexander Larman

What happened to the Rishi Sunak I knew at school?

Mrs. Suhinthan spent three months appealing the rejection, but last week the New Zealand authorities announced that their decision was final: her other two daughters could join her but not Bumikka. Nilani said:

“It’s complete discrimination. They kept telling me she would cost them money to send her to a special school. Bumikka has a moderate disability, but she can talk, walk and dress herself. She only needs…extra help in the classroom.”

In a video interview, Mrs. Suhinthan said she told the tribunal she offered to pay the amount of any extra fees in full.

“I wasn’t expecting a penny for my daughter,” she has said.

Meanwhile there seems little interest in the family’s plight among those international NGOs and activists usually so obsessed with such cases – and in this instance the family are highly-skilled legal migrants, with sufficient means to support themselves. One can only imagine the outrage across the world if, for example, the Trump administration were to refuse a visa to a special needs child, especially one from a minority, while allowing entry to the rest of the family.

Meanwhile, New Zealand authorities have yet to take firm action against a prominent Muslim leader in New Zealand who blamed Jews (in the form of Mossad) for the Christchurch terror attack – an attack allegedly carried out by a 28-year-old white supremacist from Australia with no connection to Jews or Israel.

On Saturday, at a rally to commemorate the victims, Muslim leader Ahmed Bhamji said:

“I stand here and I say I have a very, very strong suspicion that there is some group behind him and I am not afraid to say I feel Mossad is behind this.” 

A person in the crowd shouts: “That’s the truth. Israel is behind this. That’s right!” as can be heard on this video:

https://twitter.com/FIANZ_NZ?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
The claims echo the anti-Semitic lies that bigots invented after the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington. The New Zealand Jewish Council says such conspiracy theories put New Zealand’s Jewish community at risk. Perhaps New Zealand is not quite such an inclusive place after all.

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