Dunedin's Peace Pole not so peaceful

 Recently I visited Dunedin.  Its a great place, and I had not been for about 14 years.  Thankfully, not much has changed, and it is still as beautiful as ever, and the people are nice and down to earth.

I was told to visit the Peace pole, which is in front of the Dunedin Museum.  It was erected in 2002, with flags of every country in the world.

This is a picture I was sent.

It had been suggested that somehow a certain country had been omitted.  I personally didn't believe it to be the case, but I needed to check for myself.

On the one hand, I was glad to see that the rumour was not true - Israel was definitely included.  Unfortunately, it's never nice to see this:

Israel's flag is almost totally scratched out, as is USA and Great Britain.  New Zealand's flag also had a single scratch.

Now I probably don't need to explain the symbology that destroying the flag of a nation represents the destruction of that nation.  Hardly peaceful.  Alternatively, Israel is not worthy of making peace.  

Assuming that this act of vandalism was performed by so-called "Peace" protesters, it is a fairly not peaceful act to get their message across.  But I think it's well known that "Peace" protesters don't really want peace.

I'm not sure which administration looks after the Peace pole - the museum or the City Council.  It would be nice to see it repaired, although the risk is that it may be continually vandalised.  Perhaps they could look a way to protect the flags in a better way.