NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Fighting racial intolerance in New Zealand and beyond
Since October 7, it has been impossible to truly understand Hamas’ motives and intentions. It can be just as hard to understand Palestinian public opinion right now. After the first few weeks of chaos, two Palestinian polls became available last week – and there is no good way to spin the results.
NZFOI: We suspected it. Now others are seeing it too.
Among images of the bombed-out homes and ravaged streets of Gaza, some stood out for the utter horror: Bloodied, abandoned infants.
Viewed millions of times online since the war began, these images are deepfakes created using artificial intelligence. If you look closely you can see clues: fingers that curl oddly, or eyes that shimmer with an unnatural light — all telltale signs of digital deception.
The outrage the images were created to provoke, however, is all too real.
Pictures from the Israel-Hamas war have vividly and painfully illustrated AI’s potential as a propaganda tool, used to create life-like images of carnage. Since the war began last month, digitally altered ones spread on social media have been used to make false claims about responsibility for casualties or to deceive people about atrocities that never happened.
Just so poignant and moving.
Emily Hand had to run from house to house, forced to move by Hamas as Israeli forces attacked Gaza, her father Thomas Hand told CNN.
“That’s terrifying. Being pulled, dragged, pushed … under gunfire probably,” he said on Tuesday.
It’s one of the details that his daughter is slowly sharing of what happened after she was kidnapped on October 7 and taken to Gaza, a place she now calls “the box.”
“She’s coming out slowly, little by little,” Hand said.
“We’ll only know what she really went through as she opens up,” he told CNN. “I want to know so much information … but you have to let them, when they are ready, come out with it.”
Inspiring stuff and ICYMI: An 85-year-old Israeli peace activist, who was abducted by Hamas and released in October, said she told Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar he should be “ashamed of himself” in a Gaza tunnel.
Prior to the current series of hostage and Palestinian prisoner releases, Yocheved Lifshitz met Sinwar where she was being held captive – a Hamas tunnel she described as an extensive warren.
ICYMI: ACT leader David Seymour has accused Chloe Swarbrick of repeating a pro-Hamas statement, but the Green MP dismissed the criticism as “purposeful distraction.”
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
At our AGM last week, Rob Berg, the President Emeritus of the Zionist Federation of NZ, addressed the members.
His talk was entitled “Jews and the World Today”.
Here is the video recording of the event and below it is the PowerPoint slide deck so that you can follow along.
In May, we had a commemorative luncheon to mark Israel’s 75th anniversary of its establishment.
Here is the audio recording of the event. Enjoy! Thanks to David Allan for his efforts in putting this together.
This is the speech given by Tony Kan, President of NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc at the Israel at 75 commemorative lunch held in Christchurch on April 30, 2023.
Mr Ambassador, Shmuel and the other members the Board of Management of the Canterbury Hebrew Congregation, to the committee members of NZ Friends of Israel, to the members of the NZ Friends of Israel and other supporters of Israel, on behalf of the New Zealand Friends of Israel, welcome.
One of the earliest records of New Zealand’s support for the Jewish people is recorded in a speech before the House of Parliament by Sir George Grey, in 1891, who said:
“…that New Zealand take for the first time a place amongst the nations of the world, in moving a question which is of common interest to all mankind, and formally recognize that it is the duty of the New Zealand nation, however small or however great it may be, to do all the good it possibly can for people in all parts of the world.”
He then placed before the House a motion:
“That a memorial be addressed to His Imperial Majesty of All the Russias, respectfully praying that all exceptional and restrictive laws which afflict His Jewish subjects may be repealed, and that equal rights with those enjoyed by the rest of His Majesty’s subjects may be conferred upon them. That the said memorial be signed by the Speaker, and be by him transmitted to his Majesty.”
Zionism, which is the movement for the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, was supported by many countries in the early part of the 20th century, including New Zealand.
One of the ways in which New Zealand supported Zionism was by endorsing the Balfour Declaration of 1917, which expressed the British government’s support for the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine. New Zealand was one of the countries that voted in favor of the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine in 1922, which gave Britain the responsibility of administering the territory and preparing it for self-government.
Peter Fraser, who served as the Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1940 to 1949, was a supporter of the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine.
Figure 1 Sir Peter Fraser
Fraser had extensive contacts with New Zealand’s Jewish community and local and visiting Zionists. Like Savage, he was a close friend of the Jewish brewer, Ernest Davies. He attended a reception given by the Auckland Jewish community for David Ben-Gurion in January 1941 when Ben-Gurion was returning to Palestine after an unsuccessful attempt to arouse American Jewish opposition to the 1939 White Paper. When the Zionist Federation of New Zealand held its first Dominion Conference in Wellington in 1943, Fraser delivered an understanding and thoughtful address.
In addressing the United Nations delegates at the San Francisco Conference in April 1945, Fraser asserted that:
“Whatever can be done to help the persecuted Jewish people shall and must be done to the utmost ability of all right-thinking men…
There should be no antagonism or misunderstanding between the Jewish and Arab peoples, everyone living in Palestine would naturally benefit from what the Jewish people have made out of a land which was once desert, until the desert bloomed as a rose. Palestine is very akin to the ideals of New Zealand except that the Jewish people went into Palestine with a tradition of privation…
…I hope and believe that the representatives from this country who take part in the counsels stand foursquare for justice for the ancient home and new hope of the Jewish people.”
New Zealand supported the establishment of a Jewish state in Palestine, and eventually voted in favor of the UN partition plan that called for the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states in Palestine.
Yizthak Triester reports that: Yet before the vote, the New Zealand Prime Minster was torn: He wanted the United Nations to succeed as an international body. He wanted Britain to be allowed to withdraw from Palestine. But he knew that without an international military presence, the Partition Plan would lead to war. He voiced his concerns to Carl Berendsen, New Zealand’s delegate to the United Nations.
Figure 2 Sir Carl Berendsen
By November 21, Fraser had made up his mind. He told the British Secretary of State that, “We must support partition as the solution which offers the best possible hope, however small, of dealing with the situation as it exists at the present time.”
However, Berendsen continued pushing the UN to delay the vote until a better solution was found, preferably with the United States committing to send soldiers to the region to enforce the decision.
Figure 3 Chaim Weizmann
On November 22, Chaim Weizmann, who would become Israel’s first president, sent a telegram to Fraser, stressing that if New Zealand abstained from the committee vote on partition, “through doubt on certain issues,” New Zealand would prejudice the only chance for a decision.
As the deadline for the vote approached, Fraser replied to Weizmann that partition without enforcement was, “futile and seems calculated to lead to bloodshed and chaos.”
Isaac Gotlieb counted Berendsen as a friend and neighbour, though they did not see eye to eye on the issues of Judaism or Zionism. And Carl had his doubts about the partition plan.
By now, Fraser realized that without New Zealand’s vote, the Partition Plan may not receive the necessary two thirds majority. Although he feared the plan was flawed, he knew there was no alternative. So, before the vote, he went to discuss his options with Isaac Gottlieb.
Figure 4 Isaac Gottlieb
Isaac Gotlieb was a passionate Zionist. In 1943, he became the first head of the New Zealand Zionist Federation. He traveled the country raising money for the Zionist cause, and in 1946, he represented New Zealand at the first World Zionist Convention in Basel.
Isaac Gotlieb was born in Latvia in 1891 and emigrated to NZ in 1909, having completed his apprenticeship as a carpenter in Wales, and after a few years, in 1924 at the age of 33 opened his own company called The Art Cabinet Co.
He became a very successful businessman. During the depression years, while others went bankrupt, Isaac and his brother Morris flourished.
He mixed in social circles that included Fraser, and other government officials. When the prime minister and his colleagues came to visit my great uncle on just before the partition vote, he employed every argument he had to convince them that they should support it. It worked.
In a speech to the New Zealand Parliament on 27 November 1947, Fraser stated his government’s support for the partition plan, which proposed the creation of separate Jewish and Arab states in Palestine.
In his speech, Fraser said,
“It is the solemn duty of the General Assembly to create a free and independent state of Israel, and to guarantee it a secure existence in the world. This is an act of justice that we owe to the Jewish people, who have suffered so much in recent years. At the same time, we recognize the rights of the Arab people, and we hope that the two states will live side by side in peace and friendship.”
On 29 November 1947, New Zealand was one of the 33 countries that voted in favour of the partition plan, while 13 countries voted against it and 10 abstained. New Zealand’s support for the partition plan was based on its belief that the Jewish people had a legitimate claim to a homeland in Palestine, and that the partition plan was a fair and practical solution to the conflict between Jews and Arabs in the region.
After the establishment of Israel in 1948, New Zealand was one of the first countries to recognize its independence. New Zealand also provided military and other forms of support to Israel in its early years, including sending a small contingent of troops to serve with the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) in the region.
75 years later, Fraser’s hopes for Israel have been realised. Today, Israel’s economy is a source of regional employment and wealth. With the Abrahamic Accords, regional peace is another step closer. And if further peace can be given a chance and maintained, then the economic windfall for all concerned, not just Jews, would be astronomical.
Today, Mr Ambassador, New Zealand continues to stand with Israel, affirming its right to exist, and working with Israel to ensure peace prevails, so that all may live and become anything they lawfully aspire to be.
In the desert, the Rose is blooming.
Thank you for your attention.
FAREWELL
Folks, thanks again for taking the time to come out and share in this special occasion.
Please do take home a balloon or two as a momento.
Before you go, I’d like to thank you, Shmuel, member of the Board of Management of the Canterbury Hebrew Congregation, for all your help in getting this event going. I’d also like to thank Rebecca Marchand, our secretary for ably organizing the ticket sales and communicating with ticketholders, to Yoko Allan, David Allan, Alison Clarke and John Clarke for all their work in scouting out the venue and for handling the decorations. I’d also like to thank you all for your support, without which this event would not be possible.
And of course, I’d like to thank the Ambassador himself for making the time to come, for sponsoring the event, and for the Israel-NZ badges, which may be obtained from Sarah, over there.
The Torah Prophet, Zechariah said,
Thus says the Lord: I have returned to Zion and will dwell in the midst of Jerusalem, and Jerusalem shall be called the faithful city, and the mountain of the Lord of hosts, the holy mountain.
4 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Old men and old women shall again sit in the streets of Jerusalem, each with staff in hand because of great age.
5 And the streets of the city shall be full of boys and girls playing in its streets.
6 Thus says the Lord of hosts: If it is marvelous in the sight of the remnant of this people in those days, should it also be marvelous in my sight, declares the Lord of hosts?
7 Thus says the Lord of hosts: Behold, I will save my people from the east country and from the west country,
8 and I will bring them to dwell in the midst of Jerusalem. And they shall be my people, and I will be their God, in faithfulness and in righteousness.” [1]
And the Torah prophet Ezekiel said:
37:1 The hand of the Lord was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of the valley; it was full of bones.
2 And he led me around among them, and behold, there were very many on the surface of the valley, and behold, they were very dry.
3 And he said to me, “Son of man, can these bones live?” And I answered, “O Lord God, you know.”
4 Then he said to me, “Prophesy over these bones, and say to them, O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord.
5 Thus says the Lord God to these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live.
6 And I will lay sinews upon you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live, and you shall know that I am the Lord.”
7 So I prophesied as I was commanded. And as I prophesied, there was a sound, and behold, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
8 And I looked, and behold, there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them. But there was no breath in them.
9 Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath; prophesy, son of man, and say to the breath, Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe on these slain, that they may live.”
10 So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived and stood on their feet, an exceedingly great army.
11 Then he said to me, “Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel. Behold, they say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are indeed cut off.’
12 Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will open your graves and raise you from your graves, O my people. And I will bring you into the land of Israel.
13 And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and raise you from your graves, O my people.
14 And I will put my Spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you in your own land. Then you shall know that I am the Lord; I have spoken, and I will do it, declares the Lord.” [2]
Zechariah spoke around 520 BCE and Ezekiel 586 BCE: They spoke over 2,500 years ago.
Can we not stand back and behold what has happened and not be marvelled?
Am Yisrael chai, the People of Israel live.
Please join me in saying it again.
Am Yisrael chai, the People of Israel live.
And again.
Am Yisrael chai, the People of Israel live.
As you leave with that thought to ponder, may you return to your homes safely. Thank you.
[1] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Zec 8:3–8). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
[2] The Holy Bible: English Standard Version (Eze 37:1–14). (2016). Crossway Bibles.
The PowerPoint Slide Deck may be found here.
It was to be one last mother daughter adventure: penning the story of a lifetime.
They had been on a few journeys together, Inge Woolf and Deborah Hart. This last one, though, would be bittersweet.
Holocaust survivor Woolf had been part-way through writing her memoir in 2020 when she was told she was dying.
A practical woman, a realist, she told her family simply that everyone had to die sometime, recalls Hart.
