After facing public scrutiny, some of the members of different Māori delegations to Israel have spoken out about the trip.
The trips were reported to have been organised and funded by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, with conflicting claims over whether they were fully or partially funded. The Israeli Embassy has declined to confirm the details.
The trip was advertised under the banner of business and innovation.
But questions remained on why Māori leaders were going to Israel, while its government is committing a genocide in Gaza.
‘The other side of the story’
One of the people who have just recently come back from the trip was Iwi leader Renata Hakiwai, who believed the trip was to promote Israel and to “provide the other side of the story”.
He claims the trip was partly due to personal reasons as well.
“I have interest in business technology and innovation, and the cohort was about business technology and innovation.
“As a child, you learn around the Bible, and as a Christian, I thought, ‘Wow, this is a good opportunity for me to visit some of these sites’.”
Before going, Hakiwai stated he had “anti-Semitic thoughts”, but his mind was changed after the visit.
He called himself a “truth seeker” and pointed to social media’s algorithm for people believing certain stories over others, which was one of the reasons he went.
“One thing I found is that you get an algorithm on TikTok or social media, and it can totally consume someone’s brain with a certain subject, and I had to check myself.
“I started learning the other side, and some of the history, and some of the reasons as to why things have been happening, and that’s sort of the reason why I thought, ‘Actually, I need to go and hear what’s on the ground and some of the truths’. And so it changed my mind totally.
“I haven’t swung right to the other side, but I think my view is probably a little bit more balanced.”
Hakiwai admits he did not speak to any Palestinians in Gaza or the West Bank, but did visit the Gaza Envelope, an area of southern Israel bordering the Gaza Strip.
When asked by Te Ao with Moana whether he could present a balanced view without speaking to people in Gaza and the West Bank, he instead pointed to the Hamas-led attacks in Israel on 7 October 2023.
“I think to myself, if my daughter or my young fellow or kids were at that concert, I would want ultimate revenge.
“Obviously, Israel came down hard. Have they come down too hard? Potentially,” said Hakiwai.
The iwi leader made it clear he did not believe Israel’s actions in Gaza amounted to genocide, instead describing the conflict as a “brutal war”. His view differs from findings by a United Nations Independent International Commission of Inquiry, which concluded in 2025 that Israel had committed genocide in Gaza.
“I didn’t read too much into the UN stuff, because I even know at the UN there’s opposing views depending on what side of the board you sit on,” said Hakiwai.
He also said he did not believe a two-state solution would work because of Hamas.
‘They didn’t really like being asked the hard questions’
Indigenous Lawyer, Maui Solomon was invited on the trip but was later excluded for asking “hard questions”.
“I was maybe half an hour talking with [the organiser], and I just did not have a good vibe because I was asking the hard questions. And to be fair to Riki [Manarangi], actually, he said, ‘Ask the hard questions’. But yeah, they didn’t really like being asked the hard questions,” he told Te Ao with Moana.
Solomon said he had already intended not to go before being kicked out of the group.
He claims to have tried showing those in the delegation what happened to Māori who supported Palestine in Israel.
“I also posted to the group a video of Hāhona Ormsby, a Māori who had been there as part of the flotilla delivering aid into Gaza. He says in that video that he was captured, he was bound, he was beaten, he was tortured, he was kneed in the genitals. And he was singled out because he was Māori. He’s got a full mataora.
“As a result of that, I was excluded because I was ‘fear-mongering’.
“So I was merely highlighting what some of the concerns were, but then I was accused of just buying into all of the fear-mongering, and someone accused me of being an algorithm.”
He believes the trip was to promote the people of Israel as indigenous, not a business and innovation trip.
“I’d also heard that Israel had been bringing indigenous peoples from Australia and Canada and the United States over there.
“But that’s what seems to be the agenda is for the State of Israel to say they have the support of indigenous peoples around the world, and therefore they are also indigenous.
“Some of the comments I’ve heard from former delegates who have been there is exactly that. It’s all been pro-Israel, State of Israel, and that they are indigenous to the region, so whether there’s been a brainwashing going on or whatever.”
Solomon said it’s concerning that the Israeli government is reaching out to Aotearoa.
In saying that, adding that he may have gone if there was more transparency and the delegation was allowed to enter Gaza to see what was happening first-hand.
‘I want to make decisions myself’
Former Broadcaster Neil Waka went in the 2025 delegation after being shoulder-tapped to join.
He told Te Ao with Moana he “hesitantly” said yes.
Waka said he does not regret going to Israel, despite the deaths happening in Gaza.
“People are very ferocious about their thinking around Israel and Gaza. I know they are, but I don’t have to agree with them because they think a certain way, and I certainly don’t follow trends.
“I want to make decisions myself over whether or not I believe certain things, and it all came back to the ideologies to me.
“It just came back to this organisation wants a complete eradication of Israel. This organisation wants to just exist,” said Waka.
When questioned on whether he spoke to any Palestinian people in their own space, Waka immediately said: “No, I never wanted to”.
“For me, personally, I didn’t trust that that was a place [Gaza] that I’d be safe.”
Similar to Hakiwai, the former Broadcaster doesn’t believe Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
“Yeah, look, some people can say it is, but a genocide is the absolute ethnic cleansing or eradication of a people. That’s not happening.
“That’s just not happening because Israel has the power to do that if they wanted to. Now, if they did that, if they threw in nukes and just cleaned up the whole of Gaza, evil. They’re not doing that.”
He instead blames the current state of Gaza on Hamas, not Israel.
Te Ao with Moana pointed out similarities between Waka’s talking points and those of the Israeli government.
“I’m just going on what my feeling is. Did I feel comfortable being there all the time? No. Did I feel comfortable that I could talk to whomever I wanted to? Yes. Do I agree with everything that happens on both sides? No.
“I don’t think anyone’s perfect in this. What I find the most fascinating is that one side is being globally attacked.”
Watch Te Ao with Moana on Māori+, every Monday at 8 pm.
