[UNCLASSIFIED]

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[UNCLASSIFIED]

Kia ora Andrew Riddell

Thank you for your OIA request received on 26 October 2024 for:

I request copies of all assessments, briefings, reports, talking points and similar advice by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the Minister of Foreign Affairs on the 19 July 2024 declaratory decision by the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.

This email confirms receipt of your request and advises that we will respond to it as soon as reasonably practicable, and in terms of the timeframes and requirements of the OIA.

Please note that our response letter to you (with your personal details redacted), and any enclosed documents, may be published on the Ministry’s website.

Ngā mihi

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere

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[UNCLASSIFIED]

Tçnâ koe Andrew Riddell

 

I am emailing you regarding your Official Information Act 1982 (OIA)
requests of 26 October 2024:

 

Our ref OIA 29784

“I request copies of all assessments, briefings, reports, talking points
and similar advice by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade to the
Minister of Foreign Affairs on the 19 July 2024 declaratory decision by
the International Court of Justice on the legal consequences arising from
the policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian
territory, including East Jerusalem.”

 

Our ref OIA 29785

“I request copies of all briefings and similar reports and assessments and
suggested talking points to the Minister of Foreign Affairs over the
Israeli attacks on UNIFIL posts in southern Lebanon since 1 October 2024.”

 

In relation to your request OIA 29784, I wish to confirm with you that we
will be interpreting the scope of this request to be as follows:

“Copies of all briefings and similar reports and assessments and suggested
talking points prepared by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade for
and sent to the Minister of Foreign Affairs primarily relating to the
Israeli attacks on UNIFIL posts in southern Lebanon since 1 October 2024.”

 

A slightly narrower scope than initially proposed by you has been taken
due to the significant volume of information held and actively being
created in relation to the Israel-Hamas conflict, and as staff resources
dedicated to working on the conflict are diverted in order to assist with
responding to the high number of OIA requests being responded to by the
Ministry. This refined scope would mean we would not have to do extensive
searches for instances when the UNFIL posts have only been mentioned in
some small way and concentrate on assessing the key information and
responding to you quicker.

 

We respect the high public interest in this subject matter, so it is our
hope that this scope should enable the information to be prepared more
quickly and reduce potential impact to our resources.

 

Please let us know if you have any concerns with this interpretation as
soon as possible, otherwise a decision on your response based on the above
will be made as soon as reasonably practical within the statutory
timeframes under the OIA.

 

Ngâ mihi

 

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatû Aorere

 

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[UNCLASSIFIED]

Tēnā koe Andrew Riddell

 

Confirming that the narrowing of scope relates only to your request OIA
297784 (I will confirm this to both of your email addresses, so this shows
on both of your FYI pages).

 

Thank you kindly for confirming your comfort with this interpretation,
this makes the request much more manageable.

 

I do however want to confirm with you that despite the narrowing of scope,
there is still a significant volume of information in scope of both of
your OIA requests. Despite this, we are continuing to work on this as soon
as reasonably practical and will make a decision on your requests within
the statutory timeframes.

 

You are most welcome to contact us at any time if you have any questions
or concerns regarding your requests, I will be happy to assist.

 

Ngā mihi

 

Executive Services Division
New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs & Trade | Manatū Aorere

 

 

 

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