NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Fighting racial intolerance in New Zealand and beyond
Hi Friends and supporters
The Gaza-Israel conflict has touched a nerve in NZ society in a way that other conflicts in the world haven’t.
Here is a toolkit resource that gives you a handy easy to read resource that briefs you on the regional history, and the talking points in this Gaza-Israel conflict.
Don’t let your well-meaning people in your circle get taken in by Hamas’ propaganda machine!
This afternoon we received this outrageous letter from the NZ Psychological Society.
Here is our response sent this afternoon.
To the Executive of the New Zealand Psychological Society
One of your members has sent us your open letter to the international community of Psychological Societies regarding Gaza.
We applaud your efforts to protect the civilians of Gaza from harm.
On the other hand, we deplore the absence in your letter of any condemnation of the atrocities carried out on October 7.
The absence of such condemnation leaves you wide open to the accusation that you find rape, summary executions of whole families in their homes, the beheading of babies, immolation of captives, gouging out of eyes, executing people at bus stops, and sitting in their cars, the abduction of civilians, children, babies, and the elderly, justifiable.
These are crimes against Israel, they are crimes against all Jews, and they are crimes against all humanity. They are therefore crimes against us, New Zealanders. This is evil.
The people of Gaza elected Hamas as their government.
With such power, Hamas has great responsibility.
On October 7, Hamas committed a series of atrocities on such scale that no right-thinking nation could ignore.
In so doing, Hamas has taken their people into war.
No government who carries out such an act of war can expect that there will not be any consequences for its citizens.
But Hamas’ ideology values martyrdom more than the lives of their people.
And therefore they have no regret in using their people as human shields.
Consequently they fight their war from residential apartment buildings, schools, hospitals and even designated safe zones.
This war is not a war of vengeance, it is not a war of evening up the score, it is not just about defending Israel, it is about making Israel’s people safe.
October 7, has shown the world that Hamas is prepared to throw aside its humanity in the furtherance of its cause. Their evil is revealed.
Any idea of coexistence, of living with Jews in peace and harmony, is far from Hamas’ mind.
History shows that unless evil is confronted then many more will die.
Although we sympathise with your goal of trying to protect the non-combatants in Gaza, we are deeply disappointed that your letter leaves you wide open to the accusation that you condone the October 7 atrocities as justifiable actions to further a political cause.
In doing so, you contribute rather than mitigate a tragedy.
There is also a war for the world’s heart and mind. For our hearts and minds.
Do not be taken in by the emotional messages currently before the media.
The number of casualties that was supposed to have died outside a hospital began with 500 and since then the number has steadily dropped.
There is much value in independent investigations after the conflict is over.
From past conflicts, Western news agencies have attested to Hamas’ misinformation campaigns.
You and your members are scientists, and if you as a society feel strongly enough to weigh into this conflict, then we urge you to examine this conflict and its history and the respective claims of both sides with the same forensic care you take in your professional life.
If you do, you may find that talk of apartheid practices, invasions, indigenous peoples, and colonization is not as simple as some would have you think.
We urge you to re-write your letter with these thoughts in mind.
Regards, etc.
FOLKS
I’M TONY KAN,
PRESIDENT OF THE NEW ZEALAND FRIENDS OF ISRAEL
TO THE ORGANIZERS OF THE MARCH
TO THE OTHER MEMBERS OF NEW ZEALAND FRIENDS OF ISRAEL
TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SACRIFICED THEIR TIME TO BE HERE
WELCOME
I HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE AND WILL SAY IT AGAIN:
FOR DECADES NEW ZEALANDERS HAVE HOSTED ISRAEL TRAVELLERS
TRAVELLED THROUGH THE MIDDLE EAST OURSELVES
SERVED AS PEACEKEEPERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST
WE HAVE EATEN WITH ISRAELIS
LAUGHED WITH ISRAELIS
ARGUED WITH ISRAELIS
CELEBRATED WITH ISRAELIS
EVEN MARRIED ISRAELIS
WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL
IS A CRIME AGAINST ISRAEL
IS A CRIME AGAINST JEWS
IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY
AND IT HAS BROKEN OUR HEARTS
NO MATTER WHAT DIFFERENCES ONE MAY HAVE ON A POLITICAL ISSUE
IT IS EVIL TO INVADE SOMEONE’S HOME
TO COLDLY SHOOT PEOPLE IN THEIR BEDS
TO COLDLY MAKE THEM KNEEL ON THE GROUND AND EXECUTE THEM
TO COLDLY KILL PREGNANT WOMEN BEFORE THEIR PARTNERS AND CHILDREN
TO COLDLY BEHEAD BABIES
NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CAUSE MIGHT BE
NO MATTER HOW RIGHT YOU THINK YOU ARE
THIS IS EVIL
THIS IS EVIL AND IT MUST BE CONFRONTED
ISRAEL’S MILITARY OPERATIONS TODAY
ARE NOT ABOUT VENGEANCE
ARE NOT ABOUT EVENING THE SCORE
IT IS NOT JUST ABOUT DEFENDING ONE’S COUNTRY
IT IS ABOUT ENSURING THE SAFETY OF THE ISRAELI PEOPLE
THE TRAGEDY IS THAT THE PEOPLE OF GAZA
ELECTED HAMAS TO BE THEIR LEADERS
AND WITH SUCH POWER COMES MUCH RESPONSIBILITY
AND HAMAS HAS CHOSEN TO ORGANIZE AN ATTACK
ON A SCALE THAT CANNOT BE IGNORED
THAT CONSTITUTES AN ACT OF WAR
AND IN SO DOING
THEY HAVE BROUGHT WAR UPON THEIR PEOPLE
BECAUSE ISRAEL MUST ACT BOLDLY AND COURAGEOUSLY
TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF HER PEOPLE
PEOPLE
THAT WE KNOW AS FRIENDS
AND THEIR RELATIVES
GRANDPARENTS
UNCLES
AUNTIES
COUSINS
FATHERS
MOTHERS
BROTHERS
AND SISTERS;
BOYFRIENDS
GIRLFRENDS
THE TRAGEDY IS THAT IN SO DOING
MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE HAVE DIED
AND EVEN MORE WILL DIE
BUT THIS WAR WILL BE NO DIFFERENT THAN OTHER PREVIOUS CONFLICTS
THERE WILL BE A FIGHT FOR THE WORLD’S HEARTS AND MINDS
FOR OUR HEARTS AND MINDS
HAMAS OWES ITS EXISTENCE TO FOREIGN AID
THEY HAVE WATCHED THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR JEOPARDIZE EUROPEAN AID
THEY HAVE WATCHED THEIR ARAB ALLIES RECOGNIZE
THAT ISRAEL BRINGS TECHNOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS
TO THE REGION
AND SEVERAL ARAB COUNTRIES HAVE CHOSEN TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL
AND A BRISK TRADE HAS BEGUN
NOW THEY HAVE CALLOUSLY STARTED THIS CONFLICT TO
RE-IGNITE THE FLAME OF SUPPORT
TO REINVIGORATE THEIR GRIEVANCE INDUSTRY
BY ENSURING THAT INNOCENTS
WOMAN,
CHILDREN AND
THE ELDERLY
ARE PUT IN HARMS WAY
UNLIKE OTHER WARRING NATIONS
ISRAEL WILL NOT INDISCRIMINANTLY BOMB CIVILIANS
THEY WILL USE ALL THEIR INTELLIGENCE RESOURCES
TO IDENTIFY HAMAS’ OPERATIONAL CENTERS
AND MUNITIONS STORAGE SITES
CARPET BOMBING IS NOT ON THE TABLE
BUT THEY HAVE AN ENEMY
WHO VALUES DEATH BECAUSE
THEY HAVELUE MARTYRDOM MORE THAN LIFE
AND SO THEY ARE WILLING TO PUT THEIR CIVILIANS AT RISK
BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM HOSPITALS
BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM SCHOOLS
BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS
BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM BEHIND THEIR WOMEN, CHILDREN AND CIVILIANS
BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM UN FACILITIES
AND EVEN BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM SAFETY ZONES
IN 1938 THE BRITISH OFFERED THE ARABS STATEHOOD
ALONGSIDE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE
THE ARABS REJECTED IT THEN
IN 1948, THE UN RECOGNIZED THAT THERE WERE TWO ETHNIC GROUPS
THAT HAD A DEEP HERITAGE IN THE REGION
WHICH WAS ONCE PART OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE
THEY VOTED TO CREATE TWO NATIONS
THEY MIGHT LIVE SIDE BY SIDE AT PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER
THE ARABS REJECTED THE OFFER OF NATIONHOOD THEN TOO
IN 2000
STATEHOOD WAS AGAIN OFFERED TO THE ARABS
AND THIS TOO WAS REJECTED
EVEN THOUGH 90% OF THE ARABS’ DEMANDS WERE MET IN THE OFFER
IN FACT THE ARABS WOULD REJECT OFFERS OF STATEHOOD TWICE MORE
EACH TIME THE DEAL WAS SWEETENED WITH EVEN MORE CONCESSIONS
IN THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
THE ARABS HAVE REJECTED STATEHOOD A TOTAL OF FIVE TIMES
THE ONLY GOAL THEY SEEK
IS THE COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL
YOU WILL HEAR
ACCUSATIONS OF JEWISH COLONIZATION
ACCUSATIONS OF DISPLACED INDIGENOUS PEOPLES
AS IF THERE IS ONLY ONE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE
BUT HISTORY TELLS US THAT FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS
BOTH JEWS AND ARABS
HAVE LIVED IN THE REGION
SO WE IN THE WEST MUST TAKE ONE OF THE KEY STRENGTHS THAT WE BRING TO CIVILIZATION
AND THAT IS THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD
AND CAREFULLY SIFT THROUGH THE INFORMATION WE RECEIVE THROUGH THE MEDIA
AND WEIGH THE EVIDENCE
BEFORE WE JUMP TO ANY CONCLUSION
THE TRUTH WILL NOT EASILY COME TO YOU
WHEN EVIL WILL SEEK TO MISINFORM
WAIT FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS AFTER THE CONFLICT BEFORE JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS
YOU WILL HEAR HOW GAZA IS ONE OF THE MOST DENSELY POPULATED AREAS OF THE WORLD
IMPLYING THIS IS THE SOURCE OF THEIR POVERTY
BUT IF YOU RESEARCH IT
FOR EVERY GAZA THERE IS A SINGAPORE
FOR EVERY DELHI THERE IS A TOKYO
FOR EVERY JAKARTA THERE IS AN AMSTERDAM
DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR
THE SOURCE OF THEIR POVERTY IS THEIR GOAL OF WAGING WAR OVER BUILDING A NATION
FINALLY OVER 200 HOSTAGES WAIT TO BE RETURNED
AND WE ARE EXTREMELY FEARFUL FOR THEIR SAFETY
BECAUSE WE KNOW IN TRYING TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE MAJORITY
ISRAEL IS PUT IN THE IMPOSSIBLE DILEMMA OF JEOPARDIZING THE SAFETY OF THE HOSTAGES
THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT TO SUPPORT ISRAEL TODAY
IN DOING SO, YOU SUPPORT
THE RIGHT OF AN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TO BE SAFE IN THEIR HOMELAND
YOU SUPPORT THE IDEAL THAT HUMANITY SHOULD NOT SETTLE THEIR DIFFERENCES THROUGH VIOLENCE
THAT IF WAR IS INEVITABLE THAT HARM TO WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY SHOULD BE MINIMIZED.
YOU SUPPORT TRUTH OVER MISINFORMATION
THAT YOU SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT GOOD PEOPLE SHOULD NOT STAND ASIDE LEAVING EVIL TO TRIUMPH
THANK YOU
MEDIA RELEASE
19 JANUARY 2023 (Published in NZ Herald, 31 JANUARY 2023)
OPINION — Recently, there have been calls for resetting our foreign policy in respect of Israel.
For decades now, New Zealand has founded its policy on Israel on the idea of a two-state solution: the idea that a Palestinian Arab state could exist in peace alongside the modern state of Israel.
This idea is dependent on a number of assumptions:
We have sufficient history to see that each of these assumptions has been proven wrong.
Time and again, each Palestinian regime has shown that it has no appetite for peaceful co-existence with Israel. The Arab language rhetoric is clear: the annihilation of the State of Israel is the end goal, and that relentless and deadly violence will be pursued until this goal is achieved.
It is an all-or-nothing philosophy that is prepared to grind its own people into perpetual poverty and suffering. During the 2000 Camp David Summit the Palestinians were offered nearly all of their demands. Amongst anyone who is familiar with such negotiations between peoples, a truly remarkable offer.
Yet the Palestinians declined it, setting off the second intifada. The Gaza peace for land deal only resulted in even more violence. The Palestinians have now received more foreign aid than Europe did to rebuild after the Second World War. And what have they done with it? They have used it to fund hatred, murder and misery.
The Abrahamic Accords have shown that there is an appetite for peace in the Middle East. The normalisation of Israel’s relations with Sudan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Jordan show this.
Even Saudi Arabia has allowed Israeli civilian aircraft to fly through its airspace. These are monumental signs that the other Arab Middle Eastern nations are tiring of Palestinian narrow-mindedness.
The current Palestinian regime will try to turn us against Israel by accusing it of not holding to Western liberal values while pushing a totalitarian society within their own jurisdictions.
Today, Israel is a shining light in the totalitarian darkness of the Middle East. It demonstrates that Middle Eastern peoples can live together in a true democracy, where their vote counts, where there is no threat of governmental coercion as to how they can vote, where one’s civil liberties are protected by law, where its citizens have access to health care, education and state welfare assistance, where Palestinian Arabs can study law and fight for justice, where people can truly live and whatever they lawfully wish.
The Palestinian Regime needs to understand that its current goal of annihilating Israel, by fostering a grievance industry that enriches its leaders through the suffering of its people, has been discredited. New Zealand has to reset its foreign policy in regard to the Middle East.
Only by showing that this current regime has no credibility, will a new regime emerge that is free of corruption and is willing to enter into genuine peace negotiations with Israel. Only by strengthening our trade and diplomatic relations with Israel will we positively reinforce the regional behaviours we so desire.
We do need a foreign policy reset. We would be fools to continue to persist with the current policy that superficially shows even-handed support to the Palestinian Arabs, and yet has had so little success in bringing peace over so many generations.
Tony Kan
President
NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Box 37 363
Halswell
Christchurch
New Zealand
NZ Friends of Israel Association is a registered charity that fights prejudice and intolerance through raising awareness of Jewish history and culture.
We are deeply concerned at the response by audience members to statements made by Juliet Moses on behalf of the Jewish Council at the Hui on Countering Terrorism and Violent Extremism in New Zealand. We are also disappointed by the distortion of facts by mainstream media.
It is imperative that terrorism is discussed openly and truthfully at a hui explicitly called for the purpose of countering terrorism and violent extremism in all New Zealand communities. Terrorist entities must be able to be named, whether they be far-right, Islamic, or any other groups.
Ms Moses referred to a rally in support of Hezbollah on Auckland’s Queen Street in 2018. The rally should be of concern to all New Zealanders. New Zealand has labelled the military wings of Hezbollah and Hamas as terrorist groups. However, New Zealand’s position on Hezbollah is out of step with most of our allies who recognise that there is no distinction between the military and political wings of the organisation. In fact, in 2017, The Arab League, comprised of 22 Arabic-speaking countries, designated Hezbollah a terrorist organization for destabilizing the region and posing “a threat to Arab national security by raising sectarian … and ethnic tensions”.
We affirm the call made by Ms Moses:
“We need to hear leaders condemn all support for terrorism and all terrorism equally, whatever the source, target and circumstance – and even when it is not politically expedient to do so”.
On behalf of the thousands of constituents we represent, we support Juliet Moses’ effort to bring this matter to public attention and agree that this concern must be acknowledged in order to achieve social cohesion in New Zealand. We call on our leaders to speak out clearly and unequivocally to condemn all forms of terrorism. We also call on the government to take measures to ensure that those who openly support terrorists and terrorism are censured.
Ashley Church, Israel Institute of New Zealand
Rob Berg, Zionist Federation of New Zealand
Bryce Turner, Christians For Israel
Nigel Woodley, The Protection of Zion Trust, Flaxmere Christian Fellowship, Ebenezer Operation Exodus
Derek McDowell, International Christian Embassy Jerusalem
Tony Kan, New Zealand Friends of Israel
Patrick Tupoto Manawakaiaia Ruka, Ngapuhi Kaumatua
Dr Sheree Trotter, Holocaust and Antisemitism Foundation, Aotearoa New Zealand
Simon Lawry, Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry
Stephanie Harawira, Pacific Pearls, Kia Ora Israel, Hikoi Aotearoa, Ezekiel 33 Trust, Kotahi Tatou Trust
Youssef Haddad is an Israeli Arab from Nazareth, he is the son of a Christian-Arab minister, and he has dedicated his life to defending Israel’s reputation on the world stage.
At 34, he’s in much demand among journalists in Israel and on news networks around the world.
After all, an Arab who’s become a champion of Israel, even as a good number of Israelis themselves are not shy about condemning their own country’s policies as they ally with avowed enemies, is newsworthy.
A new poll shows that a nearly a third of New Zealanders know little or nothing about the Holocaust and less than half know that six million Jews were killed by the Nazis. Mark Jennings reports.
Next year will be the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz but what happened there and in other Nazi death camps is drifting from our consciousness.
Nearly a million Jews were killed in the gas chambers at Auschwitz-Birkenau. Poles, Gypsies and Russian prisoners of war made up another 100,000.
Auschwitz was the most efficient killing machine but Treblinka and Belzec, two more death camps in Poland, were close behind with a combined 1.4 million victims.
There are thousands of survivors still alive today, including a small number in New Zealand, but our knowledge of the Holocaust is fading or increasingly, non-existent.
In a poll of 1000 New Zealanders taken last month, 27 percent said they knew little about the Holocaust, 28 percent said they were unsure about how much they knew and 2 percent admitted to knowing nothing.
NZFOI: Just a reminder that Israel goes back to the Polls next month…
Exactly one month after the 21st Knesset were sworn in, a majority of the Knesset voted late Wednesday (May 29) to disperse themselves and initiate an unprecedented repeat election on September 17.
It was the first time in Israeli history that a candidate for prime minister failed to form a coalition after being given the task by the president after an election.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told the Likud faction ahead of the vote that he had not succeeded in reaching a compromise with Yisraeli Beytenu leader Avigdor Liberman on the controversial haredi (ultra-Orthodox) conscription bill, and that he had also tried unsuccessfully to woo MKs from the opposition to join his government.
NZFOI: Jennifer Lopez performed in Tel Aviv to a crowd of nearly 60,000, despite considerable pressure from pro-BDS supporters to stop the concert. Here is the Jerusalem Post’s review of her performance.
Jennifer Lopez is a name known around the world for a reason. J-Lo’s put in the work, and it shows as anyone who attended her ‘It’s My Party’ concert on Thursday at Tel Aviv’s Park Hayarkon can attest.
The Bronx-born actress, singer, dancer, fashion designer, producer and businesswoman turned 50 on July 24 and is celebrating the milestone with a 38-show tour, six of which are in international cities beginning with Tel Aviv. It was the first time Jenny from the block has performed in the Holy Land.
Green Party MP Golriz Ghahraman has been accused of antisemitism by the New Zealand Jewish Council.
The MP has come under fire after responding to a tweet on Thursday which suggested Mary and Joseph, the mother and father of Jesus according to the New Testament, were refugees.
“They were literally Palestinian refugees. And she (Mary) normally had her hair covered because that’s what modesty looked like in her culture…but let’s keep fighting about what race mermaids are,” Ghahraman tweeted.
New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses said calling Mary and Joseph Palestinian refugees was disrespectful to the Jewish community.
“Ms Ghahraman, by refusing to acknowledge that Jesus was Jewish, including when many people pointed out her error, is continuing to erase that connection, a favourite tactic of those who aim to delegitimise the modern day Jewish presence in the land,” she said.
