NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Fighting racial intolerance in New Zealand and beyond
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.
Growing up in Auckland, I knew I was a bit different.
Christmas wasn’t a big deal for me. My family didn’t have a Christmas tree and a wreath on our door, and 25 December was the most boring day of the year. Often, we would travel to a holiday destination on that day. Once, we excitedly discovered the movies were on, and had pretty much the entire theatre to ourselves.
Around Easter, my customary school lunchbox sandwiches got replaced with thin, dry tasteless crackers that my friends would ask to try, but only once.
On Sunday mornings, I begrudgingly went to a special school – listening to Bad Jelly the Witch on the radio as we carpooled there – where I learned a script we read from right to left. Sometimes I would use words I thought were part of every family’s lexicon, but when I was greeted with blank stares I realised they were Yiddish. When the subject of World War II came up, or what was happening in the world, I often sensed a raw and bitter pain in my grandmother.
Yes, I knew I was a bit different, but I was proud to be Jewish. My family, although not religious, was observant. I had a bat mitzvah (a coming-of-age ceremony) when I turned 13. Some of the highlights of the year for me
Palestinian Authority Mahmoud Abbas was elected in January 2005 and is in the fifteenth year of his “four-year” term, so you’d think the last thing his Fatah party would want to do is call more attention to the fact that Palestinians have not had any elections since 2006. But you’d be wrong.
Ahead of the September 17 Israeli election, Fatah’s Facebook page posted 11 different posters calling on Arabs to vote — in Israel.
Among the slogans promoted on the page by Fatah were “Your representation in the Knesset will work to restore yoru status — VOTE!” and “Your vote — your future” and “Please note: If you do not vote your vote will go to the [Israeli] right.”
This message was also pervasive in Palestinian Authority (PA) media, including PA-aligned newspapers. One day before the election, an article in the newspaper Al-Hayat al-Jadida by Muhammad Ali Taha read “Avoiding [Arab] voting is [Israeli PM Binyamin] Netanyahu’s goal because he is scared of the Arab vote, so go down to the polls and contribute to his downfall.”
In the same paper, columnist Omar Halmi al-Ghul wrote “Non-voting works for the benefit of the Zionist colonial forces… So we should all demand that our public vote and participate massively.”
The irony of calling for Arabs in Israel to vote while their own people in the West Bank have not had an election in almost a decade and a half has not been lost on Palestinians. They have reportedly been flooding social media with responses along the lines of — “They should vote? What about us?” and ending their posts with the trending hashtag (in Arabic): #wewantelections.
Source: Australia-Israel Review, October 2019, page 11.
While the make up of Israel’s next government remains unclear, what was striking in the aftermath of the September 17 election is that Israel’s democracy remains alive and feisty.
firstly, despite an unprecedented second election within five months and widespread predictions of higher voter apathy, voter turnout increased 2% from April’s poll to around 69%.
Secondly, Arab-Israelis showed their desire to participate in Israel’s democratic process. Bouncing back from a low turnout in April, approximately 10% more Arab Israelis voted this time around.
Moreover, highlighting the absurdity of critics alleging “apartheid” in Israel, the Arab-dominated Joint List now holds the third-largest number of seats in the Knesset (13, up from 10), is an active participant in the horse trading to form a new government, and its head, Ayman Odeh, may possibly become the country’s official opposition leader.
Thirdly, ultra-orthodox party Otzma Yehudit, followers of the late extremist Rabbi Meir Kahane, again failed to win any seats – a welcome outcome for a party whose extremism and racism deserve no place in the Israeli mainstream.
Meanwhile, the results — Blue and White winning 33 seats, Likud with 31 — have seen most commentators agree that a national unity government is the most likely outcome of the coalition negotiations which follow any Israeli election. This may also be a good outcome.
Unity governments have frequently governed Israel in the past and the results have been mixed. Some broad-based coalition governments have become virtually paralysed with infighting. However, unity governments have also served Israel well at times of grave national challenge, such as the Six Day War in 1967, or the hyper-inflation crisis of the mid-80s.
Today, there are grave and persistent security threats to Israel from the north and Gaza — all of which derive from Iran and its local proxies. While these threats are not new, there is good reason to believe that they are reaching a critical turning point — suggesting that a united government reaching across the political spectrum might be the best way for Israel to confront these challenges.
Source: Rubinstein, C (October 2019). Australia Israel Review. Page 4. Abridge.
On October 3, David Cumin (Israel Institute of NZ) and John Minto (Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa), met in a highly anticipated debate over Differing Perspectives of Israel.
Held at the University of Auckland, it attracted a full house of some 170; so full that people filled the area around the podium.
Well moderated by Rosslyn Noonan, NZ’s former Human Rights Commissioner, the deep feeling of each debater’s supporters threatened to break out into chaos at times.
Minto idealistically promoted a one-state solution where both Arab and Jew enjoyed the rights of democratic citizenship in peace.
Cumin supported a two-state solution where both peoples could seek self-determination. Having said that it looked like he didn’t believe this had much chance of ever succeeding as Arab leaders continue to seek a “river to the sea” solution.
The first public debate on Israel in many years, it served as a release valve for many of the pent up emotions evoked by the issue.
A video recording of the event and each debater’s opening remarks may be found here.
Last September, Christchurch members were treated to an Ask Me Anything session with Rabbi Ariel Tal of the Wellington Jewish Community Centre.
An enthusiastic and engaging speaker, the crowd
We’re pleased to announce the video recording of the event is now available. A separate audio file is also available in the same folder. Many thanks to David Allen for making the recordings.
A new Hebrew year begins at sundown on Sunday evening, goodbye 5779, roll on 5780.
Shana tova to all! May the New Year bring you much joy and happiness
From everyone at NZ Friends of Israel
Dr Deborah Lipstadt has spent her life studying hate – specifically, the hatred of Jews. The Atlanta-based historian and author wrote about antisemitism in her 1993 book ‘Denying the Holocaust’ and found herself sued by British author and Holocaust denier David Irving for libel.
She won the case in part by providing evidence at the lengthy judge-only trial that the Holocaust happened, with a focus on the existence and use of gas chambers and a coordinated Nazi plan directed by Hitler. Her trial was made into a movie in 2016 called ‘Denial’. Dr Lipstadt has published a new book this year called ‘Antisemitism Here and Now’ arguing that acts and expressions of antisemitism are on the rise again.
NZFOI: For those interested in the relationship between Judaism and Christianity.
