Editing Destiny Church (New Zealand) (section)

===Political activities===
Richard Lewis, a member of Destiny Church Auckland, formed the [[Destiny New Zealand]] political party in 2003. The party first ran candidates in [[2005 New Zealand general election|2005]].  Candidates from four different churches joined with candidates who came from Destiny Church.  Despite Tamaki's prediction that the church would rule New Zealand by 2008, the party's 42 candidates gained only 0.6 percent of the vote. This fell well short of the five percent threshold required to enter [[New Zealand Parliament|Parliament]] without an electorate MP but proved the best performance of any party that failed to enter Parliament.<ref>{{cite web |title=2005 election results by Party |url=http://2005.electionresults.govt.nz/partystatus.html |website=Election Results 2005 |publisher=[[Ministry of Justice (New Zealand)|Ministry of Justice]] |access-date=7 September 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070429020140/http://2005.electionresults.govt.nz/partystatus.html |archive-date=29 April 2007 |date=2005 |url-status=dead}}</ref> In 2007, [[City Impact Church New Zealand|City Impact Church]] and Destiny Church collaborated in the establishment of the [[The Family Party|"Family Party"]], but the latter won just 0.35% of the party vote in [[2008 New Zealand general election|New Zealand's 2008 general election]] and dissolved in 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.elections.org.nz/ |title=Home |website=elections.org.nz |access-date=8 August 2022 |archive-date=14 October 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081014003258/http://www1.elections.org.nz/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Since the outbreak of the [[Gaza war]] on 7 October 2023, Destiny Church has expressed support for [[Israel]] and opposition to [[Hamas]] and Palestinian solidarity protesters. In November 2023, Tamaki organised pro-Israel counter-protests in [[Brisbane]] including an "Anzacs" rally where 200 Destiny supporters performed a [[haka]] and controversial Jewish activist [[Avi Yemini]] gave a speech.<ref name="The Guardian 18 Nov 2023" /> In December 2023 and March 2024, Destiny Church staged pro-Israel counter-protests in Wellington.<ref name="RNZ 7 Dec 2024" /><ref name="NZH 26 Mar 2024" />