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→ 6 August 2019
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Jennifer Lopez Knocks it out of Hayarkon Park | Jerusalem Post

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.

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→ 14 July 2019
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New Zealand Jewish Council accuses Green Party MP of ‘antisemitism’ | Stuff

Golriz Ghahraman

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. 

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→ 14 July 2019
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Petition Platform Unilaterally Withdraws Pro-Israel Poll

The Students for Justice in Palestine started a petition to promote the idea that an academic prize offered by the Israeli Government for academic study of the Israeli Democratic system be withdrawn by Victoria University of Wellington.

Last week, the Shalom Students Association responded with a petition of their own, asking that the University not to discontinue the prize. The petition was hosted on petition platform, Action Station.

Within hours of the petition going live, Action Station unilaterally withdrew the petition.

Below is the email correspondence that followed after we asked them to explain their actions (newest at the top).

From: tony.kan@nzfoi.org <tony.kan@nzfoi.org>
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2019 7:02 PM
To: ‘ActionStation’ <support@actionstation.freshdesk.com>
Cc: ‘info@actionstation.org.nz’ <info@actionstation.org.nz>
Subject: RE: Embassy of Israel Scholarship Petition

Hi Eliot

Thanks for getting back to me.

You say Action Station’s goals are to promote peace and human rights, deepen democracy and create a more just, fair and sustainable society. 

Sounds laudable, and NZ Friends of Israel shares these goals. 

But in issues of controversy, where which path to peace is under debate, and there are credible arguments for multiple paths, how will you choose?

Does the Action Station then become a petition platform that only reflects its Member Review Panel’s political biases? 

The scholastic prize is offered without strings attached.  The Victoria University of Wellington’s academic integrity is not compromised in any way. It’s goals are to encourage scholars to study the Israel and its democracy.

The prize is awarded on the recommendation of the Head of the School of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations, in consultation with the academic staff and Head of Programme in Political Science and International Relations, of a piece of work that has already been carried out. 

The Embassy has no say in who will be the prize winner, nor does it put preconditions on whether the piece of submitted scholastic work is supportive of Israel or not. 

The Students for Justice in Palestine, ironically and misguidedly obstruct the course of natural justice, by removing an incentive for people from carrying out independent study of Israel and its democracy. 

Are they afraid that independent academics might find out something they don’t want the world to know? 

The discussion as to whether the petition should be allowed should include a discussion as to whether preventing it from running is in the interests of freedom of speech and whether freedom of speech is an integral part of any democratic system. 

In petitioning for the prize to be withdrawn, they are not promoting a free and open society where controversial issues may be subject to public discourse.  Instead they are seeking a closed society where only their own biases may be promoted. 

I look forward to finding out the outcome of your panel’s deliberations.

Warm regards

Tony Kan

President

NZ Friends of Israel Assoc Inc
Box 37 363
Halswell
Christchurch
New Zealand 8245

+64 (27) 433 9745
tony.kan@nzfoi.org
www.nzfoi.org

From: ActionStation <support@actionstation.freshdesk.com>
Sent: Saturday, July 13, 2019 10:38 AM
To: tony.kan@nzfoi.org
Cc: info@actionstation.org.nz
Subject: Re: Embassy of Israel Scholarship Petition

Hi Tony, thanks for the enquiry. 

Both petitions have been hidden for now and our Member Review Panel are considering them for approval. It should take a couple of days. 

Just to correct you, the OurActionStation site is not values neutral and the community campaigns you see here are started by members of the public and align with the mission of the ActionStation community as set out in our People’s Agenda. It’s not just a ‘petition site’ for any issue but to promote peace and human rights, deepen democracy and create a more just, fair and sustainable society.

Eliot 

— 

Eliot

Community Campaign Organiser

eliot@actionstation.org.nz

On Fri, 12 Jul at 2:57 PM , Tony.kan <tony.kan@nzfoi.org> wrote:

Hi Action Station

A petition has been launched by Students for Justice in Palestine that is calling for the discontinuance of the Israel Prize in Political Science & International Relations at Victoria University which is funded by the Embassy of Israel.

A new petition has been created in response to this by the Shalom Students Association to support the continuation of the Israel Prize.   Unfortunately this petition has been withdrawn. 

As a petition platform, we would expect that you would be wish to protect an ethically neutral reputation.  However we understand that you unilaterally withdrew this petition, which raises disturbing questions for us.

We invite you to share your side of how this petition came to be withdrawn. 

Yours faithfully

Tony Kan

President

NZ Friends of Israel Assoc Inc
Box 37 363
Halswell
Christchurch
New Zealand 8245
+64 (27) 433 9745

tony.kan@nzfoi.org
www.nzfoi.org

The petition is now hosted on change.org

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→ 23 May 2019
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The real goal of BDS is not to bring about a negotiated 2-state solution, it is to destroy Israel

“Ending the occupation doesn’t mean anything if it doesn’t mean upending the Jewish state itself…BDS does mean the end of the Jewish state. But can’t I see the value in reaching across the aisle, so to speak? The movement may be burgeoning but remains too small. Why shouldn’t we indulge in ad hoc partnerships to get things done? Richard Silverstein, Richard Goldstone, and many other self-proclaimed Zionists have done an immeasurably positive amount of work in skinning the Zionist cat (That’s a deliberate analogy. I don’t kid myself about how difficult it must be for a Jewish person to criticize the Zionist state), shouldn’t they be asked to join the BDS movement?

To be sure, I’m not dogmatically against cooperating with people whose views I find objectionable. If it came down to it, I’d be happy to work with the racist up the street to get the city to fix a neighborhood pothole.”

-Ahmed Moor,
Pro-BDS Author

Filed Under: Opinion
→ 14 May 2019
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CHRISTCHURCH, Sunday 2pm: “Denial”

Deborah Liptstadt

On Sunday in Christchurch we will be screening the movie “Denial”, the fascinating story of how a British court found David Irving guilty of being a fraudulent Holocaust denier after accusing historian Deborah Lipstadt of libel after she called him out.

Here’s an article by Lipstadt commenting on Anti-Semitism in the US today.  However, there are themes here that should resonate with New Zealand readers. 

The NZ government’s silence regarding the recent Gaza rocket attacks, and not calling out BDS actions in New Zealand as anti-Semitism show how conflicted our government’s attitudes are in relation to Israel.

The screening will be on Sunday, May 19, 2pm, Northwood Villa Clubrooms, Northwood Villa Crescent, Northwood, Christchurch 8051. Please bring a plate of finger food for afternoon tea.  We’d be grateful if you refrained from bringing any pork and/or seafood products.  

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→ 3 May 2019
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How an anti-Semitic cartoon ended up in the New York Times | CNN

 

Reporters in the New York Times (NYT) newsroom could hear protesters outside on Monday.  “Shame on you!” they shouted.  Some held signs that accused the newspaper of being anti-Semitic.  Others waved American and Israeli flags.

The demonstrators packed Eighth Avenue in New York City in response to a recent cartoon that was baldly anti-Semitic.  The image appeared in international editions of the Times last Thursday.  It called to mind “a very dark time in Jewish history,” lawyer Alan Dershowitz said at the protest.  “I ask myself, how could it have happened?”

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→ 2 May 2019
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NZ MP promoting BDS | J-Wire

Duncan Webb, MP

A New Zealand Labour MP is actively promoting the discriminatory BDS campaign against Israel. Dr Duncan Webb has recently tweeted that “[BDS]… is a concrete way to express a political view…”

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→ 3 April 2019
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The Holocaust Memorial of 70,000 Stones | BBC


Stolpersteine, or ‘stumbling stones’, are commemorative plaques honouring victims of the Holocaust

At the end of a quiet, suburban cul-de-sac in north-eastern Berlin, Michael Friedrichs-Friedländer quickly ushers me into his garage. He casts a watchful glance down the road, as if to check I’ve come here alone.

“I’d ask you not to mention the precise location,” he said. “The neighbours all know what I do, but I don’t want any outside trouble.”

Inside, the garage smells of fresh cement, with lingering wafts of strong coffee and cigarettes. There’s a back door open onto a garden, letting in a wash of late-afternoon sun. A large-scale map of Germany is pinned to the far wall. In the corner, there’s a simple workbench, where Friedrichs-Friedländer has left a hammer, a set of metal stamps, and a sheet of paper bearing a series of names, dates and the word ‘Auschwitz’.

For the last 14 years, Friedrichs-Friedländer has hand-engraved individual Holocaust fates onto small commemorative plaques called Stolpersteine, or ‘stumbling stones’. Each plaque is a 10cm brass square affixed on top of a cuboid concrete block that’s installed into the pavement directly before a Holocaust victim’s last known, voluntary residence.

There are now more than 70,000 of these stones around the world, spanning 20 different languages. They can be found in 2,000-plus towns and cities across 24 countries, including Argentina, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Russia, Slovenia and Ukraine. Together, they constitute the world’s largest decentralised memorial.

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