The Palestine Free from the River to the Sea Party, running on a platform dedicated to dismantling Israel, is seeking to finalize its registration for the 2026 New Zealand elections.
Due to an error on digital forms, the party is rushing to reapply almost 600 members to conform with Electoral Commission requirements, party president Paul Hopkinson said Sunday on Facebook. The longtime far-left activist announced the creation of the party, also called the Free Palestine Party, on May 11.
The party has six principles as part of its platform, and five of them relate to Israel and the Palestinians. It calls for a right of return for Palestinians, and the “dismantling of the Zionist structure of the state of Israel” in favor of a “single state in Palestine” that is “bi-national, secular and democratic, with full and equal citizenship for all with ethnic and religious rights protected in a democratic constitution.”
Other principles call for the end of military occupation in the Levant, prosecution for supposed war crimes and “genocide,” and to hold Israel accountable for “gross abuses of Palestinian human rights.”
The party offers "unconditional and complete solidarity" for all forms of Palestinian "resistance," a euphemism commonly used for Hamas and other terrorist organizations.
The final principle demands that New Zealand withdraw from all security alliances with the US and distance itself from the US and England.
The party said it hopes to advance its objectives in Parliament by winning seats and to develop ties with other global movements.
“The Palestine Free from the River to the Sea Party is committed to contesting parliamentary elections as an independent party and building a mass democratic movement for justice in Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally,” it said on its website. “We aim to change public opinion and put sustained parliamentary pressure on the New Zealand government to uphold its obligations under international law with respect to Palestine.”
Taxpayer money spent on anti-Zionist hate
New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses said that the issue for the Jewish community is that if the party were to successfully register, it would receive taxpayer funding to advance an agenda that essentially demands an end to Israel.
Israel Institute of New Zealand co-director David Cumin said it was wonderful to live in a democracy like Israel and New Zealand, where anyone could run for office, but it was disappointing that “500 people support a party with the singular policy of destroying the Jewish state.”
“They will now use taxpayer money to spread their anti-Zionist hate around New Zealand,” he said. “We hope good people will see what they are and not remain silent.”
Hopkinson was an activist who advocated on behalf of the terrorist organization Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Cumin said.
In an April speech, Hopkinson described himself as a “national spokesperson for the PFLP campaign of Aotearoa,” according to footage published on Facebook by the Otautahi Palestine Solidarity Network.
The Electoral Commission said parties are advised to submit their paperwork by June 11 to allow enough processing time before the August 6 deadline. The election is scheduled for November.