A Maori academic has come under fire after comments likening events during the colonisation of New Zealand to a holocaust were taken out of context by a newspaper.
Language lecturer Keri Opai was part of a Radio New Zealand panel discussion to mark Waitangi Day when he suggested that what happened to his ancestors at Parihaka in the 1880s, when colonial troops destroyed much of the pacifist settlement, amounted to a holocaust.
However, the Taranaki Daily News reported on February 6 that Mr Opai had compared the pillaging of Parihaka to the extermination of six million Jews under Nazi rule in Germany.
This led to the New Zealand Jewish Council labelling Mr Opai's comments ignorant and improper, while a story appeared in Britain's Daily Mail with the headline "Academic sparks outcry for comparing Britain's colonisation of New Zealand to Holocaust".
Mr Opai told Radio New Zealand that he was not referring to the Jewish holocaust in his comments and they had been misinterpreted.
Taranaki Daily News editor Roy Pilot said the newspaper made a correction after a reporter pointed out the error, which occurred during the editing process.
Pilot said he regretted putting Mr Opai in this position.
Mr Opai said that despite the apology, the damage had already been done, with the Jewish Council's reaction to the initial report.
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