A recent thread of correspondence regarding the use of the term “Palestinian” began on February 15, 2012 in the Christchurch Press.  Here is the full thread followed by our response.

On February 11, Lois Griffith wrote:

Of course, Jesus’ religion when growing up was Judaism (8 Feb).  This was after all before the founding of Islam or Christianity.  The point Rabbi Boteach should (and will not) make is that Jesus was a native of historic Palestine, i.e. a Palestinian.  Palestinians make the point that Jesus was an early Palestinian martyr, martyred by the occupying power of the time, ie, the Romans.

On February 13, David Zwartz wrote:

Lois Griffith’s assertion in her letter of February 11 that Jesus was an early Palestinian martyr shows that she lives in a make believe world that aims to rewrite history.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea (Matthew 2). 

Judaea was part of the historic land of Israel (Eretz Israel in Hebrew), the land of theJews from the 8th Century BC.

It was renamed Syria Palaestina by the Romans in 135 AD — about a hundred years after Jesus’ death — following the unsuccessful Jewish Bar-Kochba revolt. 

In no way could Jesus be a native of historic Palestine when it didn’t even exist in his day.

On February 15, Lois Griffith wrote:

 I didn’t quite get what Mister Zwartz is getting at in his attack on me, although I am aware that Zionists nearly choke on the word Palestinian (February 13).

The Palestinians are indigenous of the holy land, whose ancestors worked the land for generations while conquerors and rulers came and went.

Before the Zionist takeover, religion was not a source of division and exclusion.

If Jesus or his followers have descendants alive today in that part of the world, they would be Palestinians whether they practised any religion or none.

Palestinian Christians, speaking on behalf of all Palestinians, do not understand why many American evangelical Christian Zionists not only ignore their suffering but encourage and even help finance their oppressors.

Our response (submitted Feb 15 but not published):

Lois Griffith (Feb 15) is mystified because Jews object to the idea of a “Palestinian”. The reason is that it has been used to alienate them from their historic connection to the region.

It is symptomatic of a larger problem:  The rewriting of history to undermine Israel’s legitimacy. 

Thus Arabs become “the Palestinians”, implying that they are the only indigenous people in that region.  It wasn’t until 1967 that Arafat and the PLO re-invented the “Palestinians” as a distinct Arabic people.  Gazan and West Bank children are taught about Palestine as if such a state had existed forever.  Israel “occupies” a country that never previously existed. 

There has been much media speculation about the possibility that Israel is carrying out espionage activities in New Zealand (see http://tinyurl.com/3tpvs5x)

Here is some useful background:

There were around 3,500 Israelis in NZ at the time, and no one knew how many of them were in Christchurch.

Immediately after the EQ, the Embassy issued a public directive to all Israeli citizens that if they were uninjured and had the means, they should leave Christchurch without delay.

Contrary to the report in the Press, the Israeli Ambassador to New Zealand is based in Wellington.

One of our members hosted the Israeli USAR team and we understood it to be sponsored by the two families who lost their sons together in the EQ.
The Israeli USAR team showed us videos of themselves working in Haiti and other disaster zones.

The third Israeli casualty, who died in the van and who allegedly had 5 passports in his possession was not the subject of the USAR team’s interest at all.

I spoke with a desperate parent for over an hour on an international toll call as we explored ways the Israeli USAR team could enter the Red Zone. If he was a Mossad agent trying it on, then he deserves an Academy Award. In the end, for a number of reasons, admission into the Red Zone was never granted.
Much is being read into Israelis leaving NZ hurriedly following the EQ. We were directly involved in the search for Israeli survivors in the aftermath of the EQ.

As part of that search we had to track down Israeli tourists who had been in Christchurch to see if they had sighted the ones we were looking for. Many were evacuated to the YWAM base in Oxford. Within days after the EQ nearly half of those Israelis had already left the country.

Furthermore, Christchurch has an international airport. Lots of tourists plan to end their holiday here and expect to depart NZ from here. The two Israelis Engel and Levy were only in Christchurch because they were expecting to leave NZ in the next few days. It was their last and unfortunately, final stop. So the fact that many had left the country so quickly is not unusual.

Rabbi Goldstein tells me that many of the EQ Israeli USAR team were also members of a USAR team that was out here and found Liat Okin’s body on the Routeburn Track back in 2008.

Many countries won’t allow entry to Israeli citizens but because of their cosmopolitan backgrounds they can be eligible for citizenship of more than one country so having multiple passports is not unusual.

—
Tony Kan,
President,
NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc

March 2011