I have to admit I was shocked when I first saw reports that Māori leaders were travelling to Israel. Not because Māori should be prevented from travelling, listening or forming their own views — quite the opposite. But because of who was reportedly organising and paying for these delegations, what delegates were being shown, and whose voices appear to have been missing from the itinerary.
Te Ao Māori News reported that former delegate Riki Manarangi said Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs organised and funded the 2025 visit, covering basics including accommodation, transport and kai. The Israeli Embassy initially declined to confirm the full funding arrangements for the 2026 delegation, while New Zealand’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said it had no involvement and was informed by the Israeli Government only after the visit was underway.
That immediately raises questions.
A trip promoted to prospective delegates around business and innovation was occurring in the middle of one of the most contested international conflicts of our generation. In 2025, a United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry concluded Israel had committed genocide in Gaza. Israel rejects that conclusion, while a separate genocide case remains before the International Court of Justice and has not reached a final judgment.
What concerns me even more is what happened when delegates returned.
Iwi leader Renata Hakiwai told Te Ao with Moana that the trip changed his thinking and that he believed part of its purpose was to promote Israel and provide what he regarded as the other side of the story. But Hakiwai also acknowledged he did not speak to Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank. Former broadcaster Neil Waka, who travelled with the 2025 delegation, likewise confirmed he had not spoken with Palestinians in their own communities.
So where exactly was the other side?
That question becomes even more important given the experience described by Indigenous lawyer Maui Solomon. Solomon told Te Ao with Moana he had been invited but was later excluded after raising difficult questions. He believes the delegations were about more than business and innovation and were part of an effort to build relationships with Indigenous peoples internationally. That is Solomon’s interpretation and has not been independently established as the Israeli Government’s purpose.
For me, that is where this becomes a kaupapa Māori issue.
Mana motuhake requires us to think for ourselves. But thinking for ourselves also means recognising when someone else has selected the itinerary, arranged the meetings and helped pay the bill.
A state-sponsored visit is not automatically propaganda. Nor does accepting an invitation mean a delegate becomes a spokesperson for the government hosting them. But when a government involved in an international conflict brings influential Indigenous leaders into the country, the funding and itinerary deserve intense scrutiny — particularly if those visitors are not also hearing directly from Palestinians living under the consequences of that conflict.
The evidence surrounding Gaza cannot simply be dismissed as social-media algorithms. The International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defence minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Those warrants are not findings of guilt, and Israel rejects the ICC’s jurisdiction and allegations.
New Zealand itself has condemned Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank as contrary to international law and warned against actions threatening the forcible displacement of Palestinians.
We do not all have to agree on Israel and Palestine. Māori do not speak with one political voice, nor should we.
But when our people travel overseas under the banner of Māori leadership, particularly on visits connected to a foreign government, transparency matters.
Who paid? Who chose the delegates? Who designed the itinerary? Who did they meet? Who did they not meet? And were Palestinian voices given anything approaching the same opportunity to tell their story?
Those are not anti-Israel questions.
They are the questions independent thinkers should be asking before they get on the plane.
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