NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Fighting racial intolerance in New Zealand and beyond
An Israeli air strike has killed a senior commander of the militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad in Gaza.
Baha Abu al-Ata died along with his wife when a missile hit their home, the group said. Four of their children and a neighbour were reportedly injured.
Israel’s prime minister said Abu al-Ata was a “ticking bomb” who was planning to carry out attacks on the country.
At least 150 rockets have been fired at Israel from Gaza since the killing, which PIJ has vowed to avenge.
The latest line of anti-Israel attack claims the Jewish state withholds water from the Palestinians. As usual, the haters have their facts wrong.
The issue of water rights in the West Bank is constantly raised in regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, appearing again and again in public discourse around the world. According to critics of Israel, the Jewish state selfishly exploits the area’s water supplies and denies access to the local population. In doing so, the critics say, Israel is not only abandoning its responsibilities to the West Bank Palestinians, but ruthlessly and illegally abusing the natural resources of the occupied territory. This idea has become extremely widespread in the international media, and was recently voiced from the Knesset plenum by the President of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, causing a minor scandal in Israel and abroad.
As with all attacks on Israel, the truth is much more complicated and, to a great extent, precisely the opposite of what the critics claim. When one examines the relevant data, it becomes clear that, under Israeli rule, the Palestinian water supply has become larger, more technologically sophisticated, of higher quality, and much easier to access; almost entirely due to Israeli efforts.
Yesterday, NZFOI was asked by a Rabbi based in Chicago, to take part in urgently finding a medical professional who could accompany a gravely-ill patient from Auckland to Israel.
The Rabbi advises that a suitable medical escort has been found.
Thanks to all those
He asks for everyone’s prayers as there are further hurdles to overcome before the trip is successful.
Several New Zealanders were active users of a now-defunct neo-Nazi message board which had its data leaked last week – including one who says they were aged 15.
Another user, from Auckland, described themselves as “a firm believer in Italian Fascism”, and displayed extreme anti-Semitism in their posts, writing that “Israel’s control of Jerusalem is one of humanity’s greatest tragedies”.
“We can’t just nuke Israel because then we lose God’s City, instead we need to take it back with gunpowder and steel.”
Juliet Moses, spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council, said the comments were abhorrent and revolting.
The plight of Jews in World War Two isn’t your typical comedy fodder.
But if there’s a man who could make it work, it’s Taika Waititi.
His new dark comedy Jojo Rabbit is about a Hitler Youth member’s discovery of a hidden Jewish girl, played by Kiwi actress Thomasin McKenzie, who joined Jack on the show.
Listen to the Audio here
A Pittsburgh police commander was driving past the red-brick home his grandfather had lived in for decades when the first radio call came through: Shots fired at Tree of Life synagogue.
Jason Lando stopped his city-issued Ford Explorer, the damp October leaves clinging to the tires as he radioed a dispatcher. “How many 911 calls did you get on this?” he asked.
Active shooters were rare in Squirrel Hill, but Lando had learned during his decades on the force that an isolated report often meant a false alarm, reports The Washington Post.
Lando floored it, speeding toward Tree of Life.
“My grandfather is inside,” he thought.
As he pulled up, loud cracks of gunfire pierced through the stained-glass entryway.
“We’re under fire,” he shouted into the receiver while shoving the extra magazines he stored in his glove compartment into a pocket.
Shattered shards battered the ground.
Then more shots.
Arjan van der Boon is passionate about shining a light on people he calls the invisible immigrants.
It’s a cultural group he says is missing from the pages of New Zealand history.
Forgotten. Ignored. Denied.
“We’re an untold story. We thought we’d tell that story,” he says.
“We put ourselves back on the pages of history. We were missing.”
There are lots of stories that involve the Dutch, but one key one involving a teen girl – Anne Frank – is hard to go past given it defines a tragic period within a country’s history.
Her story, as part of an exhibition, has now found a new temporary home in the place van der Boon helped create, the home of Dutch culture and heritage in New Zealand.
Van der Boon arrived in New Zealand more than 30 years ago and for more than 10 years he has been involved with the creation of New Zealand’s national Dutch museum, Oranjehof Dutch Connection Centre in Foxton.
When 18th-century Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher Edmund Burke said that “the only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”, he could not have imagined what the future would hold, and how his words would resonate for the world we live in today.
History is inexorably defined by the actions of those who live in the world, and the impact they have on generations that follow.
The Holocaust is one of these historical events. The murder of six million Jews and more than five million others who were seen as enemies of the Nazi ideology did not start with the plan of mass murder, but with words.
At the start of October, the Israel Institute of New Zealand (IINZ) exposed antisemitic material within a Facebook group of New Zealand based anti-Israel group Kia Ora Gaza. This included posts that compared Israel to Nazi Germany, comments that dehumanised Jews, and open support for terror against Israeli citizens.
IINZ has now found that four New Zealand members of parliament, including the Prime Minister, were part of the Facebook group where antisemitism was posted and tolerated.
A book these days has to have an elevator pitch. For my latest junior fiction novel that part was easy.
“It’s Hitler Stole My Pony,” I told my agent. Her ears pricked up. “You had me at Hitler,” she said.
A dual narrative novel for 8- to 12-year-olds set partly in modern-day Berlin and also in Berlin and Poland during World War II, Prince of Ponies is based around the true story of Hitler’s plan to create an Aryanesque equine master race.
Yes, you heard right:
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Stacey Gregg is an author of junior fiction about horses. Stacy is of Ngāti Mahuta and Ngāti Pukeko descent and grew up in Ngaruawahia.
Previously a fashion journalist, Stacy swapped stilettos for gumboots when the manuscript for her first book in what was to become the Pony Club Secrets series, Mystic and the Midnight Ride, was picked up by HarperCollins London. Since then she has written 25 books with HarperCollins – including 13 in the Pony Club Secrets series and four in the Pony Club Rivals series. Her series Pony Club Secrets is currently optioned by Libertine Pictures who plan to produce a major TV series aimed at the international 8-12 market, filmed in New Zealand.
In 2013, HarperCollins UK published Stacy’s first stand-alone hardback novel, The Princess and the Foal, based on the true story of the childhood of HRH Princess Haya of Jordan. Stacy got Her Royal Highness’s blessing to write the novel and was given unprecedented access to the Royal Palaces and stables in Jordan and access to the Princess’s childhood friends and family as part of her research process. The Princess and the Foal sold rights into over a dozen territories including the UK, the USA, Italy and Germany and was translated into Arabic.
Following on from The Princess and the Foal, Stacy’s next six stand alone novels have all been based on true stories, often with dual narratives with an historical perspective. She always travels to the countries where her books are set to undertake her research. Her work to date has taken her to Spain, Italy, Russia, Iceland and now, for her latest book which is due out in October 2019, Berlin and Poland.
Her 2017 book, The Thunderbolt Pony, diverges slightly from the international format. It is set in Kaikoura during the earthquakes and its heroine, Evie, must make a cross-country journey to rescue her animals while battling her own issues with post-traumatic OCD. Stacy consulted closely with clinical psychologist and OCD specialist Hilary Mack to ensure that the depictions of OCD in the novel were both heartfelt and accurate.
To date, Stacy has sold over a million and half copies, has been nominated four times for New Zealand book awards for junior fiction, has won the Children’s Choice award for fiction three years running, and has also been awarded 7 Storylines Notable books awards including two in 2019, one for her novel The Fire Stallion and the other for Mini-Whinny: Happy Birthday to Me!, her first book in a new series of younger fiction for 5-7 year olds. Mini Whinny was also shortlisted for the NZ Children’s Book Awards in August 2019.
She is HarperCollins NZ’s third best-selling children’s author of all time – outranked only by David Walliams and Dr Seuss. She tours extensively around New Zealand primary schools pro bono on a regular basis, and has also toured in Beirut, Sydney, Abu Dhabi and London.
Prince of Ponies, her new novel set in wartime Berlin, released in September 2019. Her second picture book in the Mini Whinny series – Goody Four-Shoes was also released in September 2019.
Stacy lives in Herne Bay, Auckland with her 19 year old daughter Isadora. She still rides horses and currently competes at level 2 dressage on her Arab gelding Cam.
