NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Fighting racial intolerance in New Zealand and beyond
Now streaming on Netflix is a dramatization of the remarkable story of Operation Brothers, the evacuation of Ethiopian Jews from Sudan.
The film draws its name from the hotel that Mossad purchased as a front for a portion of the operation.
Led by a stellar cast including Chris Evans (Captain America), Ben Kingsley, Greg Kinnear, and Haley Bennett, it is an engrossing story of courage and chutzpah.
Check it out.
NZFOI: There is only one group of people for which the UN devotes an entire refugee agency, it is commonly called UNRWA. The other UN Refugee Agency, UNHCR has been successful in resettling refugees from conflicts and displacement elsewhere. The UNRWA has been accused of becoming part of the problem in the Middle East Conflict as its incentives to resettle its refugees appear to be outweighed by its incentive to perpetuate itself.
(UNITED NATIONS) — A confidential report by the ethics office of the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees claims its top management including Commissioner General Pierre Krahenbuhl “have engaged in sexual misconduct, nepotism, retaliation, discrimination and other abuses of authority.”
The report, obtained Monday by The Associated Press, alleges these acts were carried out “for personal gain, to suppress legitimate dissent, and to otherwise achieve their personal objectives, jeopardizing the credibility and interests of the agency.”
The House [Congress] on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning efforts to boycott and economically isolate Israel over its policies toward Palestinians, an explosive global issue that exposed fissures inside the Democratic ranks.
The 398-to-17 vote comes after months of turmoil centering on Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), two Muslim freshmen who have stood accused of anti-Semitism over public remarks they have made referencing Israel and the Holocaust.
The congresswomen, repeatedly singled out by President Trump in the past week, opposed the resolution, arguing that it infringes on free speech and the right to participate in boycotts for human and civil rights.
Trump renewed his attacks on Omar on Tuesday, calling her an “America hating anti-Semite” in a tweet. Omar apologized in February after suggesting that Israel’s American supporters were motivated by money.
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, calls on the international community to withdraw investments and shun the Israeli government, businesses and other institutions to win greater rights for Palestinians living in disputed territories. Its critics argue that its goals would fundamentally undermine Israel’s status as a Jewish homeland.
“You want to criticize the government? That’s your right. You want to stop buying products from a certain country? That’s also your right,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.). “But participating in an international commercial effort that undermines Israel’s legitimacy and scuttles the chances of a two-state solution isn’t the same as an individual exercising First Amendment rights.”
Engel said of the BDS movement: “It’s a fraud. It’s Israel-hating. It’s Jew-hating. We’ve had enough of that in the world.”
NZFOI: A particularly relevant and timely piece, after Golriz Ghahraman’s recent allegations that Jesus was a “Palestinian refugee.”
Was Jesus a Jew? The idea shouldn’t be controversial. Yet there have been plenty of attempts to challenge his connection to Judaism. Dissociating Jesus from his Jewishness has a dark history that continues to poison discourse today.
In the early 20th century, the anti-Semitic and racist German-British philosopher Houston Stewart Chamberlain argued that while Judaism provided the religious background for Jesus, he “had not a drop of genuinely Jewish blood in his veins.” The Nazis picked up on this thread. As Hitler consolidated power, German theologians insisted that Jesus was not a Jew but an Aryan, descended from Galilean gentiles.
In the context of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has sought to sever Jesus’ religion from his nationality or ethnicity. In a 2014 Christmas message, Mr. Abbas called Jesus “a Palestinian messenger of love, justice and peace.” This remains a common refrain from anti-Israel activists.
Sometimes this rhetoric is aimed at erasing Judaism from the religious and moral history of Western civilization. Other times it’s an attempt to undercut Jewish appeals to a uniquely ancient relationship with the land of Israel. Either way, these objections place Jews in a complicated position.
Prominent Wellingtonian Ruth Gotlieb has died.
Gotlieb, who was 96, is remembered as a veteran of Wellington local government, and for her long-standing dedication to public service.
She passed away at Wellington Hospital on Tuesday morning, surrounded by family.
She had a long and successful career serving the people of Wellington on councils and boards for 27 years.
Born in England and raised in Cork, Ireland, Gotlieb moved to Brisbane, Australia, as a teenager with her family, when her father became the city’s chief rabbi.
During World War II, Gotlieb joined the Signal Corp and became a Morse operator.
Gotlieb later moved to Wellington with her second husband Gerry in the 1940s, the two went on to start a successful pretzel business and have four children, David, Kim, Jake, and Marilyn.
By Juliet Moses and Anwar Ghani
Many New Zealanders have apparently been surprised by the warm and respectful relationship between the Muslim and Jewish communities of Aotearoa New Zealand that has become evident in the wake of the horrific events of March 15.
It is understandable that New Zealanders who are neither Muslim nor Jewish have been unaware of and are surprised by this relationship, given certain geopolitical matters and other events in the news. But our communities have a shared, if unarticulated, understanding that those matters are to be left on the other side of the world; that we are New Zealanders first and foremost. We embrace a harmonious society and the Kiwi way of life.
Our community members have celebrated together the inauguration of a new Torah (sacred scrolls) in our Auckland synagogue, we have grieved together at the loss of Dr Hashem Slaimankhel, a friend of the Jewish community who was killed by a suicide bomb when visiting his homeland of Afghanistan, we have broken bread together and collaborated on interfaith initiatives.
Christchurch terror attack victims will be able to access counselling, education, medical treatment and financial planning advice thanks to a $1.1 million donation.
The majority of the money – about $966,000 – was raised by the Jewish community in Pittsburgh in the US, with the rest of the donation coming from New Zealand and Australia. It has been donated to the Christchurch Foundation, which is administering a special fund to help with the long term needs of March 15 shooting victims.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh raised the money because the Muslim community in its city was supportive after an attack on a synagogue in the US city last year. In October 2018, an attack at the Tree of Life synagogue in Squirrel Hill killed 11 worshippers.
One summer as a teenager I had a temporary job and became friendly with one of my coworkers, with whom I enjoyed talking to about the news.
One day this person took me aside and offered to lend me a book but wouldn’t tell me what it was about. I felt a little bit put out by the secrecy but agreed nonetheless.
I received delivery of the book next day and took it home to read. It was all about the people that the author thought really run the world and who are responsible for everything bad that happens. That is to say, it was a book about the Jewish people and their imagined crimes.
It was a bit of a shock to me and an early lesson in just how insidious conspiratorial thinking can be. We probably all know at least one person who is sunny, helpful and honest in their personal dealings who also harbours some absolutely crazy views about the world. And antisemitism is so persistently among those insane outlooks that i daresay we can assume it will never die.
Hamas political bureau member Fathi Hammad said in a Friday speech at a “March of Return” rally that aired on Al-Aqsa TV (Hamas-Gaza) that Israel has until this Friday (July 19) to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip and implement its understandings with Hamas, lest the Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank and all over the world use the “many methods and means” that are “up their sleeves” to “powerfully explode” in Israel’s face.
He said that contrary to what Israel thinks, Gazans are not rational, and that if they die they will do so honorably while cutting off the heads of Jews and killing them with explosive belts, which he said Hamas has been actively manufacturing.
Calling on the 7 million Palestinians abroad, whom he said have been “warming up” and “preparing,” Hammad said: “Enough warming up. … We must attack every Jew on planet Earth and slaughter and kill them.”
Hammad said: “Enough warming up… We must attack every Jew on planet Earth and slaughter and kill them.” Hammad also encouraged Palestinians in the West Bank to purchase knives in order to cut the necks of Jews, saying that knives only cost five shekels. He added: “We will die while exploding and cutting the necks and legs of the Jews. We will lacerate them and tear them to pieces, Allah willing!”
NZFOI: Here, Caitlin Hicks has produced a potted history of the Middle Eastern conflict for readers of the Victoria University of Wellington weekly student paper, the Salient. The self-described “objective” history omits some key data. These omissions will inevitably skew the naïve reader toward concluding that Israel is the “bad guy” and is inflicting an injustice on the “Palestinian” good guys. Can you spot the omissions?
Israel—Palestine
This week’s column returns to its roots in attempting to simplify the trickiest of global issues. This week, I’ve attempted to summarise what has been described as the most “intractable” conflict in history. Two pages barely scratch the surface of a heavy issue, but in any case, I’ve departed from my typical jovial tone to deliver an objective and (very!) brief outline.
Two Groups, One Land
Although ‘Palestinian’ encompasses anyone with roots in the land now referred to as Israel, it is commonly used to reference Arabs. Israelis are predominantly Jewish.
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict as we know it today began in the early 20th century. At its core are two groups who lay claim to the same land. Jews, fleeing persecution in Europe, hoped to establish a homeland in what was then a British-controlled territory. This territory wasn’t a country, but an area called ‘Palestine’, occupied by Arabs and Jews: both hoped to claim the land as their own state.
Jews occupying and immigrating into this territory considered it a return to their ancestral homeland, and hoped to establish an independent Jewish state. Palestinians resisted, claiming the land as rightfully theirs, asserting that it was a state by the name Palestine. In 1947, the UN attempted to avoid disputes by apportioning the land to both, but this failed and lead to conflict—the consequences of which still linger.
1948 Israeli War of Independence
In 1948, Israel was declared an independent state by the Jewish Authority. This began an Arab–Israeli struggle rendering 700,000 Palestinian civilians refugees. By the end of the war, Israelis possessed 77% of the disputed territory. Each side views the events of 1948 differently—Palestinians recount a premeditated Israeli ethnic cleansing campaign against Arabs, and Israelis claim that the mass exodus was owed to spontaneous Arab fleeing, exacerbated by collateral wartime tragedies. Today, over seven million Palestinians (those originally displaced and their descendants) remain uprooted. A Palestinian right to return remains a critical condition of any future settlement.
