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→ 25 September 2018
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Jews uneasy as changes in attitude creep in | NZ Herald

Yitzhak Rabin Memorial, Harris St, Wellington, New Zealand

On Wednesday a letter was published in Wellington’s Dominion Post. The writer wanted to know why there was a memorial to former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin – a man he described as leading “a bloodstained life” – on public land in the central city’s Harris St.

It may have been an honest inquiry, and there have been a few such similar letters in the five or so years since the memorial – a piece of Jerusalem stone acknowledging Rabin as a Nobel Peace Prize winner beside an olive tree – was dedicated.

A close up of the memorial

A reply yesterday pointed out the memorial was for Rabin’s efforts to break a deadlock between Israelis and Palestinians and that “soldiers sometimes make the greatest peacemakers, and to urge us to reflect on whether his violent death really means that we must descend again and forever into the abyss”.

The original letter came as no surprise to some.

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→ 24 September 2018
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Historic Māori-led apology to Israel | The Times of Israel

History was made on 29 July 2018 when the indigenous people of New Zealand organised a special ceremony to honour and welcome the Israeli ambassador, His Excellency Dr. Itzhak Gerberg. Led by Ngapuhi kaumatua (elder) Pat Ruka, and joined by many Māori from around the nation, a Powhiri (welcome ceremony) was held at Hoani Waititi Marae (meeting house) in West Auckland. The ceremony of apology, called a whakapāha, was held to express regret for New Zealand’s actions in standing against Israel at the UN and to seek forgiveness. 

In December 2016 New Zealand co-sponsored the anti-Israel UNSC Resolution 2334, along with Senegal, Malaysia and Venezuela. Many New Zealanders felt betrayed by their government’s actions and responded with letters, petitions and marches. The Israeli Ambassador was recalled for six months, and while the relationship has since been restored, the New Zealand government has never expressed regret for its stance. 

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→ 22 September 2018
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Israel showed Russia proof Syria to blame for downed plane: Israeli military | Reuters

The IL-20 “Coot” is an electronic reconnaissance aircraft similar to the RNZAF’s P-3 Orions. The Syrian theatre of war has been described as one of the most intense electronic warfare environments currently on the plant.

JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israel has provided Moscow with proof it bore no responsibility for bringing down a Russian plane in Syria, an Israeli military official said on Friday.

Fifteen Russian crew were killed when an IL-20 surveillance plane crashed near Latakia in northern Syria on Monday. Russia has said Syria shot the plane down shortly after Israeli jets hit a target in the area.

Initially the incident appeared likely to cause friction between Israel and Russia, with the Defence Ministry in Moscow accusing Israel of indirectly causing it. But President Vladimir Putin later called it “a chain of tragic, chance events.”

An Israeli delegation led by its air force chief this week presented Moscow with its findings on the incident, “including recordings of the conversations between the Israeli air force and the Russian air force component in Syria,” said the Israeli official, who briefed reporters on condition of anonymity.

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→ 19 September 2018
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Putin seeks to defuse downing of Russian plane off Syria | NZ Herald

The IL-20 “Coot” is an electronic reconnaissance aircraft similar to the RNZAF’s P-3 Orions. The Syrian theatre of war has been described as one of the intense electronic warfare environments currently on the plant.

MOSCOW (AP) — A Russian reconnaissance aircraft was shot down by Syria forces responding to an Israeli airstrike, killing all 15 people aboard, in what President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday was “a chain of tragic accidental circumstances.”

The downing of the Il-20 highlighted the dangers posed by the conflicting interests of various powers in the crowded skies over Syria and threatened the close security ties between Russia and Israel.

In an effort to maintain that relationship, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quickly called Putin to express sorrow over the death of the plane’s crew, blamed the plane’s loss squarely on Syria and offered to send Israel’s air force chief to Moscow to share information about the incident.

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→ 19 September 2018
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Chinese Deal to Take Over Key Israeli Port May Threaten U.S. Naval Operations, Critics Say | Newsweek

USS Iwo Jima moored at Haifa

A Chinese company is planning to take over management of Israel’s Haifa port as Beijing continues to advance its global influence in the form of economic projects and big commercial deals.

The Haifa port sits close to the hub of the Israeli navy base that is reportedly home to the country’s nuclear-capable submarine force, according to The Times of Israel. Israeli critics are calling for an investigation into potential security issues posed by the Chinese presence along the country’s Mediterranean coast.

At the University of Haifa’s Workshop on Future of Maritime Security in the Eastern Mediterranean conference at the end of August, Shaul Chorev, reservist brigadier general of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), former navy chief of staff, and chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission, said a new mechanism was required to keep an eye on Chinese investments in Israel.

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→ 18 September 2018
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University of Michigan ‘Disappointed’ After Professor Refuses to Write Recommendation Letter for Student Studying Abroad in Israel | Algemeiner

John Cheney-Lippold

The University of Michigan (U-M) said it was disappointed after a professor refused to write a letter of recommendation for a student who sought to study abroad at Tel Aviv University, in an expression of support for the academic boycott of Israel.

In an email sent on September 5, Professor John Cheney-Lippold told the student, who had taken a course with him during the Spring 2018 semester, that he would have to rescind an earlier offer to write a letter of recommendation due to “politics.”

“I am very sorry, but I only scanned your first email a couple weeks ago and missed out on a key detail,” wrote Cheney-Lippold, who teaches in the Department of American Culture’s Digital Studies program.

“As you may know, many university departments have pledged an academic boycott against Israel in support of Palestinians living in Palestine,” he said in reference to the boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

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→ 18 September 2018
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UK PM vows to defend Jews and Israel, in dig at Labour’s Corbyn | Reuters

Theresa May

EDINBURGH – Prime Minister Theresa May pledged on Monday to protect British Jewish identity and Israel’s right to defend itself, in an attack on opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn in the run-up to his Labour Party conference next weekend.

May told a United Jewish Israel Appeal dinner she was “sickened” by the idea that some Jews questioned whether Britain was a safe place to raise their children.

Labour has been angrily divided this year over pockets of anti-Semitism which Corbyn himself has acknowledged. Critics suggest he should step down for failing to tackle the issue.

A poll in Britain’s Jewish Chronicle earlier this month said that 40 percent of Jews would consider emigrating if Corbyn won power in a national election.

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→ 17 September 2018
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Dutch resistance fighter Freddie Oversteegen dies at 92 | NZ Herald

Freddie Oversteegen

She was 14 when she joined the Dutch resistance, though with her long, dark hair in braids she looked at least two years younger.

When she rode her bicycle down the streets of Haarlem in North Holland, firearms hidden in a basket, Nazi officials rarely stopped to question her. When she walked through the woods, serving as a lookout or seductively leading her SS target to a secluded place, there was little indication that she carried a handgun and was preparing an execution.

The Dutch resistance was widely believed to be a man’s effort in a man’s war. If women were involved, the thinking went, they were likely doing little more than handing out anti-German pamphlets or newspapers.

Yet Freddie Oversteegen and her sister Truus, two years her senior, were rare exceptions – a pair of teenage women who took up arms against Nazi occupiers and Dutch “traitors” on the outskirts of Amsterdam. With Hannie Schaft, a onetime law student with fiery red hair, they sabotaged bridges and rail lines with dynamite, shot Nazis while riding their bikes, and donned disguises to smuggle Jewish children across the country and sometimes out of concentration camps.

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→ 17 September 2018
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The English are masters of irony – just look at Jeremy Corbyn | NZ Listener

UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn

It was recently revealed that Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn said that Zionists “don’t understand English irony”, which is kind of ironic.

What are the English most proud of? Not their history, their culture or their global achievements. In these days of postcolonial reappraisal, all that is tarnished, compromised or, at the very least, not something to boast about. No, the one national characteristic that is guaranteed to swell English hearts is that of irony.

The English like to think of themselves as masters of the slippery form. Yes, the Germans may make reliable cars, the Italians stylish clothes and the French fine wine, but they don’t have our ironic way of seeing the world.

Yet even seasoned connoisseurs of the outlook are beginning to struggle under the weight of ironies piling up, like some huge motorway accident, on the British political scene.

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→ 13 September 2018
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Trump administration orders closure of Palestinian office | NZ Herald

Donald Trump

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Trump administration ordered the closure of the Palestinian diplomatic mission in Washington on Monday and threatened sanctions against the International Criminal Court if it pursues investigations against the U.S., Israel, or other allies. The moves are likely to harden Palestinian resistance to the U.S. role as a peace broker.

The administration cited the refusal of Palestinian leaders to enter into peace talks with Israel as the reason for closing the Palestinian Liberation Organization office, although the U.S. has yet to present its plan to resolve the Israel-Palestinian conflict. The Palestinians accused the administration of dismantling decades of U.S. engagement with them.

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