K-NZ 🇳🇿

Growth Programme Specialist Aerospace & Advanced Manufacturing at Auckland Council EDA.
UoA alumnus. I've called New Zealand home since 2010.

[John Spencer @SpencerGuard]

“They are killing enormous numbers of civilians…they are targeting one, two, three enemy combatants and in the process killing huge numbers of civilians. @piersmorgan Piers a few minutes later – “If you can’t say exactly how many civilians have been killed in Gaza, what you say about numbers is bull.”

Dear @piersmorgan I tried to explain to you where numbers in the Gaza war (or any war) are going to come from "simply.” But let me type it out so you have a record of it instead of the interruptions and the tactic of just asking the same question over and over while I explain how the numbers work. The same numbers by the way that you used minutes before to criticize Israel and constantly repeat or have guests on that repeat, or more often state not even Hamas numbers but false numbers about xx civilians, xx women, xx children, xx percentages that go beyond Hamas's actual list of casualties.

First, let me correct you again (like I did to start the segment) by providing you my actual quotes:

1 - "Israel and the IDF have implemented more measures (sometimes quoted as precautions) to prevent civilian harm in urban warfare than any military in history,"

That is testable against urban warfare history of any similar situation (mostly attack of defended urban terrain). Israel civilian harm mitigation measure have included advance notification (flyers, phone calls, text messages, voicemails, drones with speakers, tv, radio, social media), safe corridors to include improving roads used for safe corridors in the middle of the war, roof knocking (notifying all residents of a building in advance for evacuations and then using non-penetrating low-yield munitions on top of the building before then waiting to strike), over daily multi-hour pauses in fighting (over 400 days of the 800 days of fighting) to allow civilian evacuations and aid movement, establishing a one-star commanded civilian harm mitigation cell that created a real time civilian presence (using cell phone presence, drones, satellite images, etc.) software reflected on all combat operating systems, handing out their own military maps to the entire population (to include the enemy) and then communicating the location of IDF operations, areas to avoid or further evacuate, using major call outs of buildings and neighborhoods, restrictive rules of engagement based on likely civilian presence, rigorous fires processes and legal reviews that often ended in calling mission off out of civilian harm estimates. Many of these measures have never been attempted, by any military.

2 - "Israel has a lower civilian to combatant ratio than any similar context (war or battle) in the history of urban warfare.” After acknowledging the lack of comparative cases (size of enemy forces (which I asked you about, you don't know), tunnels, density, strategy, tactics, prevention of civilian evacuations) but still doing the simple analysis, in order to provide the evidence for this statement I use the same numbers you and your frequent guests push to condemn Israel. But here:

Q: How do you estimate the number of civilians deaths?

A: Take the number the Hamas Gaza Health Ministry reports (despite that it includes any death in Gaza for any reason or cause (Israel/Hamas/Other terrorists) and has been well documented with inaccuracies (even having to be updated by Hamas of natural deaths, incomplete entries, false entries) and subtract the Israel stated combatant deaths.

The Hamas Gaza Health Ministry claims roughly 72,000 deaths in Gaza. The IDF says it has killed about 25,000-26,000 combatants, a number also reported by President Trump in October 2025. If you subtract 25,000 from 72,000, even using Hamas’s number at face value, you get roughly 47,000 non-combatant deaths, or a bit less than a 2:1 ratio. If you were modest to adjust for natural deaths and Hamas-caused deaths, is likely closer to 35,000–40,000 non-combatant deaths versus 25,000 combatants killed, which puts the ratio closer to 1.5:1.

If you compare 2:1 or 1.5:1 to any numbers we have (in many cases we don’t have) for wars, urban centric wars, contested urban battles they will be some of the lowest ratios (in some cases lowest by far) ever seen despite none of those wars or battles had the context of Gaza. For example:

World War II – 70 million civilians, 20 million combatants, 3.5:1
Korean War – 2.5 million civilians, 90,000 combatants, 27:1
Iraq War – 280-300,000 civilians, 150-200,000 combatants, 1.4:1 to 2:1

But wait, the Gaza numbers are usually aggregated numbers for the entire war, any death ever reported in Gaza.

But if you disaggregate the numbers to specific battles like Rafah, Khan Yunis, Gaza City 2025 for comparison you get different numbers. Based on modest numbers from the Battle of Rafah, the civilian to combatant ratio would be more like 1:100 due to multiple operational variables like the success of civilian evacuations.

Major urban battles (modest comparison of battles with any like variables).

Mosul – 10,000 civilians. Combatant unknown but total estimate in battle 5,000 – 2:1
Manila – 100,000 civilians. Combatants 17,000 – 6:1
Seoul – Unknown/no record of civilian but very likely high ratio based on histories
Mariupol – Unknown/mass graves, estimate 20-22,000 civilians, 3-8,000 combatants - 2.5:1 to 7.3:1

I actually use this discussion about numbers or quote about ratio sparingly despite how many times it has been attribute to me because I know the complexity of casualty counting especially in urban centric wars with combatants that violate the law of war and do not distinguish themselves (uniforms/marking) making determining a body found (if there is a body) or a name reported (such as methods in Gaza) and then classifying that person as was participating in the hostilities (combatant) or not (noncombatant) is beyond just difficult and should always be viewed as questionable. In Mosul, a year after the battle there was not only no agreed upon casualty number, but the Mayor of the city also said there were 40,000 civilian deaths. These numbers are always messy, political, susceptible to manipulation by the different organizations involved.

My point has always been that numbers of casualty reporting in Gaza doesn’t paint the story people routinely push. Actually, the opposite.

Urban warfare is inherently and historically costly against civilians and the infrastructure. All wars involve noncombatant death. The moral, legal requirement is to do proportionality assessments and take feasible steps to prevent excessive civilian harm.

So, using your logic Piers, if you can’t state how many combatants were killed (by Israel, Hamas, terrorist rockets, other terrorists in power struggles) … you can’t say (or allow your guests to say) Israel has killed a “large number of civilians” or “killed a disproportionate number of civilians” like you did in this very interveiw.

You can't spend years saying Israel is killing enormous numbers of civilians and then tell me nobody can estimate civilian deaths so ratios aren't valid. Those two positions can't both be true.

If casualty estimates are reliable enough to accuse Israel, then they're also reliable enough to examine civilian-to-combatant ratios. If they aren't, then they shouldn't be used selectively only when they support one conclusion.

[Hillel Neuer @HillelNeuer]

Watch closely new video showing the U.N. reaction: as courageous former hostage Ilana Gritzewsky confronts October 7th denier Reem al-Salem—by recounting the horrific abuse she suffered from Hamas—the U.N. rapporteur on violence against women sits there stone-faced. No empathy.

[Natalie Lisbona @NatalieLisbona]

While ordinarily newspapers censor the full horrors of such accounts from Oct 7, today the Daily Mail as hard as it is, publishes the details because unbelievably, some still question the largest slaughter of Jews since the Holocaust.  Even certain sections of the established media have suggested that the extent of sexual violence committed by the terrorists may have been exaggerated.
The UN, too, dragged its heels in recognising the atrocities committed. It seems 'believe all women' did not apply in this instance. @AndyJehring
Read the EXCLUSIVE report: online Link
https://t.co/YvO07dSDAO

[K-NZ 🇳🇿 @kgs64]

Exclusive: U.S. and Iran closing in on one-page memo to end war, officials say https://t.co/ouZZmxFbKL

[The Jewish Idea @TheJewishIdea]

This is a powerful 4 minutes. Want to understand how Jews are feeling? Watch this.

[K-NZ 🇳🇿 @kgs64]

Great article by @JakeWSimons
Owen Jones is the poster boy for Tehran’s useful idiots

https://t.co/RxmaKcgo66

[K-NZ 🇳🇿 @kgs64]

@LahavHarkov @uaeinhebrew Sometimes it's better to fight your urge to tweet about everything and anything.

[K-NZ 🇳🇿 @kgs64]

https://t.co/Gl6T3Yq29U

[raz sauber - רז זאובר @raz_sauber_]

Feels a lot better than how our grandparents felt standing in line for the gas chambers.

[Ryan Saavedra @RyanSaavedra]

Secretary of State Marco Rubio gives an excellent explanation on why the U.S. needed to strike Iran

It's less than 2 minutes and is worth the watch

[Juliet Moses @JulietMosesNZ]

It gets worse. It appears from its financial statements filed on the Charities Register that this charity also received $70,000 for its Gaza awareness campaign from the government’s (disbanded) Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism Fund.

[New Zealand Taxpayers' Union @TaxpayersUnion]

𝐑𝐄𝐕𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐄𝐃: $𝟑𝟎,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐆𝐚𝐳𝐚 𝐋𝐨𝐛𝐛𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠: 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐭𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐮𝐧𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐃𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐅𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐀𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫?

The New Zealand Taxpayers’ Union can reveal through an Official Information Act request that the Ministry for Ethnic Communities funded $30,000 for Asturlab Cultural Centre to run a nationwide advocacy campaign, using taxpayer funds to promote pro-Palestinian narratives on the conflict in Gaza.

This funding comes from the Ethnic Communities Development Fund which distributes $4.2 million of taxpayer money each year and follows a select committee report finding the Ministry has no clear evidence of achieving any meaningful outcomes.

Taxpayers Union Investigations Coordinator, Rhys Hurley said:

“OIA documents show $30,000 was handed to the Asturlab Cultural Centre in Christchurch to run the ‘4 for 40 Stop the Silence Campaign’ - a Gaza advocacy campaign aimed at shifting public opinion toward a ceasefire and accusing Israel of genocide.. How does a government body funding an explicitly political campaign support our ethnic communities?”

"We've all seen posters around town accusing Israel of such things. Not in a million years would anyone expect them to be taxpayer-funded."

“The fund’s own rules say it does not support political objectives, yet this application was approved within days, with a Ministry advisor even helping tweak it to get over the line.”

“Looking through the full list of funded projects, you see everything from swimming lessons for Pakistani women to events like Wellington’s CubaDupa festival. When the Ministry has already been found to have no clear achievements, taxpayers deserve to know what exactly they’re getting for their money.”

“New Zealand already has multiple agencies funding and advising on community development, social cohesion, and diversity. Would it not be far cheaper to wind up these demographic ministries and have the work picked up by existing bodies like the Human Rights Commission?”

https://t.co/XzkZQB5Fvd
https://t.co/l7twhIC4Rh

[Mario Nawfal @MarioNawfal]

🇮🇱 FORMER IDF SPOKESMAN CONRICUS SAYS THE MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD IS COMING FOR THE WEST: "THEY'RE ALREADY INSIDE YOUR COUNTRY"

Former IDF spokesman Jonathan Conricus, just dropped a warning most of the West isn’t ready to hear.

He says Israel is fighting a global ideological network with roots in the Muslim Brotherhood, and the West is next.

According to him, while groups like Hamas or ISIS use violence, the Muslim Brotherhood takes a slower, stealthier route building political power in Western societies to flip them from within.

He says they’re already inside Europe, inside the U.S., inside Canada.

And if you're just now hearing this, you're already behind.

His core message: if you think this is just about Gaza, you’re not seeing the big picture.

"Israel is at the forefront of a battle, a clash between civilizations, and the other civilization that Israel is clashing with isn't Islam and it isn't Arabs in general, but it's specifically the embodiment of the Muslim Brotherhood.

They are a political movement without a banner, but what they're doing is infiltrating Western societies with the aim of eventually subjugating them.

The Muslim Brotherhood wants to achieve the same thing [as ISIS and Hamas], but what they're doing is a softer, smarter and more patient approach.

They will get elected, whether it is in New York or in London... and bring Sharia to any land that was once conquered by Muslims."

Source: @visegrad24, @jconricus

[K-NZ 🇳🇿 @kgs64]

'Damn it, wake up!': Netanyahu says Albanese ignored warnings on terror ahead of Bondi attack https://t.co/dgyedOZX2f via @SkyNewsAust

[ארץ נהדרת @Eretz_Nehederet]

Ceasefire? Shame on you!

[Gina @ginnydmm]

I always say Israel is losing the PR war, but have a read at this...…….

Mitch Schneider

October 10 at 12:09 PM

“I keep hearing that Israel "lost the PR war."
And you know what? Fine. Sure. Whatever.
The world thinks we're monsters. The UN passed over 30 resolutions condemning us. College campuses exploded with protests. "Genocide" trended on Twitter for 700 days straight.

We lost the PR war. Congratulations to everyone who won it.

Now let me tell you what we won instead.
Two years ago, my country was surrounded. Hezbollah had 150,000 rockets aimed at us from the north. Hamas controlled Gaza with an army in tunnels beneath it. Iran was months from a nuclear weapon. The Houthis were firing missiles at our ships. Assad's Syria was an Iranian highway. Iraqi militias were itching for war.

We called it the "ring of fire." Iran spent 40 years building it.

Billions of dollars. Endless weapons. Thousands of fighters. All of it designed for one purpose: to destroy Israel in a coordinated attack.
October 7th was supposed to be the beginning. Hamas attacks from the south, Hezbollah from the north, militias from the east, Houthis from the sea. The final war.

You know what happened instead?
Israel dismantled the entire thing. Piece by piece. Threat by threat.
Not in some distant future. Not "eventually." In two years.

Nasrallah spent 32 years building Hezbollah into the most powerful non-state military in the world. Israel killed him in his bunker and took out his entire command structure in weeks.
Hezbollah isn't weakened. It's finished.

Iran built a nuclear program for decades. Israel set it back years. Killed their top scientists. Destroyed their facilities. Made the regime so weak that its own people are revolting.

Assad survived a civil war, Russian intervention, and American strikes. He couldn't survive losing his Iranian backers. His regime collapsed. The land bridge is gone.

The Houthis thought they could close the Red Sea. Israel crippled their long-range capabilities and neutralized the threat.

Hamas? Sinwar died in rubble clutching a stick. Haniyeh was eliminated in Tehran. Deif is gone. The tunnels are destroyed. And this week, Hamas agreed to a ceasefire and the release of all hostages.

Read that again. The terrorist organization that started this war by massacring 1,200 people just agreed to release every hostage and accept a ceasefire on Israel's terms.

So yeah. We lost the PR war. I'll take that loss.
Because here's what we gained:

My kids don't have to run to bomb shelters anymore. The north is being rebuilt. Hezbollah's rockets are gone. Iran's nuclear threat has been pushed back years. The tunnels under Gaza are rubble. The "ring of fire" is extinguished.

And now? The hostages are coming home. There's a ceasefire. The fighting can finally end.
Two years ago, we were facing an existential threat. Today, we're the dominant power in the Middle East.

Here's the thing about the "PR war" - it's a luxury. It's what people with security worry about. It's optics. It's perception. It's whether someone with a blue checkmark likes you.

Israel doesn't have that luxury. We never did.
When people scream "genocide," we're preventing one. When they cry "disproportionate," we're stopping rockets. When they demand "ceasefire," we're rescuing hostages.

While the world was busy judging us, we were busy surviving.

And not just surviving. Winning. Fundamentally, decisively, historically winning.

Iran's 40-year plan to surround and destroy Israel? Over. The axis of resistance? Shattered. The greatest coordinated threat in our history? Defeated.

So let me ask you something:
Would you rather win the PR war and lose your country? Or lose the PR war and secure your existence for the next 50 years?
Because that's the actual choice.
And Israel made it. Again.
The world can have its hashtags. We'll take our sovereignty.
They can have their protests. We'll take our security.

[K-NZ 🇳🇿 @kgs64]

Iran directed two antisemitic attacks on Australian soil: PM https://t.co/uYXa90fMBp via @skynews

[K-NZ 🇳🇿 @kgs64]

NZ Universities...

[Yaroslav Trofimov @yarotrof]

Great news for European, Canadian and Australian universities.