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→ 6 February 2021
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Order your Matzos bread in time for Pesach (Passover)!

Aviv Matzos Bread

Hi Folks

Every year, we receive requests for Matzos bread for Passover.  Passover (Pesach) 2021 is coming up on the evening of March 27, and this year we have Matzos bread available!

It’s Aviv’s unleavened bread and made with only flour and water in 450g boxes. Matzos bread is traditionally eaten over Passover. Use Matzos as a substitute for bread or as a delicious cracker. No added sugars, salt, fats, colouring or preservatives.

There are only 30 boxes so be in quick and 21 (updated 7/2/21) boxes have sold already.

Price

$11 each + P&P

P&P via NZ Post and within NZ only.

1-2 boxes:  Untracked $7, Tracked $8. Let us know which you prefer.
3-4 boxes:  Untracked 9.50, Tracked $10.50.

If you require 5 boxes or more, or you wish to pick up in Christchurch, call us +64 (27) 433 9745.

How to make an order

Send us an email with your name, delivery address and quantity required to contact@nzfoi.org

Or if you are in Christchurch, you can pick up at our next NZFOI meeting (see the events calendar)

Payment instructions

Internet banking payments can be made to:

Bank:  Bank of New Zealand
Account Name:  NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Account Number:  02 0820 0569411 000
Code:  Matzos
Reference:  Your initials and surname

Cheques may be made out to NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc and posted to:

NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Box 37 363
Christchurch 8245

We will despatch within a day of payment clearing and receipt of a delivery address.

Shalom

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

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

Filed Under: Resources
→ 23 December 2020
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Nathan Lewin argues key evidence omitted by Kosher Slaughter advocates | JNS

Nathan Lewin

NZFOI: Nathan Lewin, a distinguished US Attorney, says that the Kosher Slaughter advocates neglected to include key evidence that would have strengthened their case, after an European Court ruled against them.

Neither this history [i.e. the evidence presented in the US] nor the scientifically supported proposition that shechita’s “simultaneous and instantaneous severance of the carotid arteries with a sharp instrument” is as effective as stunning was presented to the European court.

It is clear from the reasoning articulated in the opinion that no one gave the European court the evidence that was heard by the American congressional committees. The European court assumed that animal welfare, which it recognized as a permissible legislative goal, required stunning before slaughter.

It held that stunning only affected “one aspect of the specific ritual act of slaughter and that act of slaughter is not, by contrast, prohibited as such.” This limited restriction, it said, “is appropriate for achieving the objective of promoting animal welfare.”

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→ 7 December 2020
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Full Text: Director of Prayer for Israel NZ farewell message to the Ambassador of Israel

Teresa and Michael Thomas, Directors of Prayer for Israel, New Zealand

On November 12, NZ Friends of Israel held a farewell reception for H.E. Excellency Ambassador Yitzhak Gerberg.  One of the speakers was Michael Thomas , Director of Prayer of Israel New Zealand.  Here is the full text of his address:  

Greetings your Excellency,

My name is Michael Thomas, and my wife Teresa are honoured to be here tonight with you. Although we have only lived in New Zealand for three years, approximately 18 months ago, we were invited to become the directors of a Christian ministry called Prayer for Israel New Zealand.

This ministry was formed in 1981 by a wonderful Kiwi man, named Murray Dixon. Under his leadership, this ministry spread rapidly all over New Zealand… With literally dozens of groups springing up across the entire country of New Zealand. Today, no matter where my wife and I travel in New Zealand we are greeted by groups of individuals gathered together to regularly and fervently pray to the God of Israel for the people of Israel. You’ll find meetings throughout New Zealand that meet weekly, fortnightly or monthly… Typically for anywhere from 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours.

These groups are quite diverse from place to place and home to home. One tiny group outside of Palmerston North asked us to come and meet them. It’s a small group and they meet every Wednesday morning at 10:30 at the kitchen table. An Indian woman, two Kiwis, several Pacific Islanders, a Jamaican, a Filipino… And while we were there, they even had two Yankees.
Three weeks after meeting with them, we met a group of 60+ people in the town hall of Opitiki. Among these only four of us were “Pakehas” (non-Maori), the rest, of course, were Maori. And among them, a surprisingly large number were of Jewish descent. We gathered together for two hours to pray for Israel to the God of Israel. From every tongue tribe and nation, it seems that prayer for Israel is being poured out.

During lockdown, my wife and I introduced Zoom to nearly 250 people that ranged in age… People in their 40s, 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s & 90s… Most of these folks were not very technologically literate… But we worked with them, and they worked with us. The reason, was so that even during lockdown they wanted to meet together to pray for Israel. While most of these meetings were typically held fortnightly or monthly… Through the lockdown people were meeting weekly and often attended more than one meeting.
As we read in Psalm 122:6 “Shalu Shalom Yeerushalaim, “pray for the peace of Jerusalem.”

One of our joys in meeting and meeting some of these groups is encouraging them to close every meeting with the reading of the priestly blessing found in the sixth chapter of Bamidbar (or the book of Numbers).
So tonight, we would like to bless you as you and your family return to the Land.

Numbers 6:22-28

The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, “speak to Aaron and his sons, saying, thus you shall bless the people of Israel: you shall say to them,

Evareccha ADONAI vayish marecha
The Lord bless you and keep you;

Yaer Adonai panavalecha v’hunecha
the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;

Isa adonai panavelecha, v’asemlecha shalom
the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace

[and we never forget this last verse…]
“So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”

Go well, remember that there are always friends in New Zealand, and they are praying for you.

Thank you.

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→ 23 November 2020
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Full Text: Ambassador’s Farewell Address Nov 12

H.E. Ambassador of Israel to New Zealand, Dr Yitzhak Gerberg

NZFOI: As many of our members and supporters were unable to attend the farewell gathering in Christchurch, here is the full text of the Ambassador’s address on November 12.

BEGINS

Dear Friends of Israel

Kia Ora and Shalom,

The highlight of the past few weeks was the peace agreement between Israel, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and Bahrain. This historic agreements named “Abraham Accord” represents a meaningful landmark and historic breakthrough combining forces and finding common ground in the Middle East has never been more urgent than now especially in the midst of a global pandemic.

The Abraham Accord is set to generate immediate results and is essential in order to create normalization as well as real peace and security in our chaotic region.

In fact this is a historic diplomatic breakthrough that will advance large scale collaboration while unlocking a great economic potential. For instance the Health Ministers of Israel and the UAE have already agreed to cooperate on healthcare issues, particularly covid19 and set up businesses and student exchange programs.

Emirati investment firms and Israeli Hi-tech companies already signed agreements on collaborations and joint research and development; together we all will gain from the expansion of trade and commercial ties in fields such as cyber security, clean energy, medicine, finance, communications, and agriculture.

I hope that the Abraham Accord will pave the way for more countries in the region to realize the vast potential that exists in peace. Unfortunately, the Palestinian do not support the Abraham Accord despite the fact that this could be a big opportunity for them and they continue refusing to recognize the state of Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people.

Additional key concern of the UAE and Bahrain, other Sunni countries and Israel is the common threat of Iran. Iran is a rogue country with nuclear ambition as well as hegemonic regional goal and therefore Israeli missile defence systems and Israeli cyber security are of interest to the Arab Sunni Gulf countries.

Make no mistakes Iran wants to wipe out the state of Israel and is deeply meddling in Lebanon Syria and Iraq with their proxy terror organizations. Israel is acting in self-defense and in compliance with international law against internationally recognized terror organizations.

Iran has lately exceeded the limits of 300 kg. enriched uranium, builds up advanced centrifuges, and is developing medium and long-range missiles that can strike Israel as well as other Arab Gulf states. Iran also continues to support the terrorist organizations of Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza strip and lately ammunition nitrate that was stored by Hezbollah in Beirut caused two giant explosions killing hundreds of people.

The U.S. made a decision to enforce all previously ended sanctions on Iran (which is called snap-back sanctions). Israel supports those sanctions because we see it as a necessary tool against Iranian nuclear capability, aggression towards Israel as well as a threat they impose against peace in the Middle East, not to mention the human rights abuses that are regularly conducted in Iran.

Last year we saw further growth in anti-Semitism, anti-Israeli sentiment and de-legitimation of the State of Israel, which are all derived from antisemitism that was transformed into Boycott Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) against Israel.

Together we must fight antisemitism, racism, xenophobia and BDS against Israel.

On a more positive note I’m glad that the Arab Gulf countries have understood that Israel is not the problem in the Middle East but rather a prominent solution to the regional problems and we do expect other Arab countries like Oman, Kuwait, Morocco and Saudi Arabia to follow.
The challenges we – as well as the entire world – are facing today know no boundaries and it is essential that we combine our capabilities.

We call on all counties to voice their support for the “Abraham Accord”. Although New Zealand has not yet officially supported the “Abraham Accord”, has repeatedly failed to condemn terrorism against Israel and has not designated the military wings of Hezbollah and Hamas as a terrorist entities we certainly expect them to do so, not to mention the fact that the government has continued the pattern of imbalanced approach towards Israel in its voting record at the UN as it was demonstrated by New Zealand sponsorship of the anti-Israeli resolution 2334 and when N.Z. failed to take the opportunity to ensure that Hamas terrorism would be condemned at the UN.

On the other hand, there was a very positive development in our bilateral relationship when an agreement on technology and innovation was signed between New Zealand and Israel.

Israel and New Zealand enjoy friendly relations, these relations are based on common democratic values, friendship between people to people, the history of ANZAC in Israel during the first world war as well as mutual interests led by the idea that we need to transform our challenges into opportunities.

As you know, Israel is a hub of Hi-Tech and innovation with over one thousand one hundred and fifty start-ups based on artificial intelligence. I anticipate the collaboration between New Zealand and Israel in the fields of High-Tech, cyber security, advanced and precise agriculture, clean and renewed energy as well as adaptation to climate change, usage of drip irrigation, restoration of biodiversity, green houses with mitigation of gas emission, plant species with resistance to diseases, land rehabilitation, water management, reduction of water loss, food alternatives, storage and saving of agricultural products.

So the sky is the limit. I believe that this is the time that NZ opens an embassy in Israel and for that, we need your support.

I would like to use this opportunity and thank each and every one of you for your support, true friendship and concern towards Israel, that helps us fulfill the prophecy of prophet Ezekiel (chapter 36 verse 24) ” For I will take you out of the nations; I will gather you from all the countries and bring you back into your home land”.

Last but not least – soon I will be leaving NZ back home to the holy land and I would like to thank you all for the friendship you have showed me and my wife. We had a great time in New Zealand, mainly because of your friendship.

Toda Raba, Tena koutou-Katoa and Kia Kaha,

God bless New Zealand,

God bless Israel and

God bless you all.

ENDS

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→ 5 November 2020
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Racist physicist sneers at Einstein and Jews in a 1927 anti-Semitic letter up for auction | Live Science

Philipp Lenard, Nobel Laureate (1862-1947)

In 1927, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist named Philipp Lenard penned a letter to a colleague complaining about recent achievements by Albert Einstein and musing that academia and the sciences were becoming dominated by Jews. 

Lenard, an early supporter of Germany’s Nazi Party, remarked that a prestigious appointment for Einstein was undeserved; he then wondered if non-Jews would soon be wiped out entirely. 

The original letter, written in German, is up for auction at Nate D. Sanders Auctions in Los Angeles. Bidding for the item, which also includes an English translation, starts at $16,000 US, according to the auction listing.

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→ 5 November 2020
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Christchurch: New Hebrew Roots Bible Study

Hi Christchurch Folk, there is a new bible study that has started up which explores the Hebrew roots of the bible both Old and New Testaments.

Meeting on Wednesdays, well-researched and thought-provoking, this study program will give you access to many useful resources.

For more details, contact our secretary Rebecca Marchand: rebecca.marchand@nzfoi.org.

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→ 5 November 2020
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Gal Gadot’s favorite Jewish prayer | Aish

Gal Gadot, actress

In a recent interview with Vanity Fair, Israeli superstar Gal Gadot radiates positivity. Interviewer Nancy Jo Sales describes how Gadot has the “happiest smile I think I’ve seen on anyone since the start of the pandemic. I wonder about that smile, and how Gadot manages to stay so happy. I wonder if it’s because she seems so aware of how lucky she is.”

Throughout the interview, Gadot describes herself as lucky. She’s lucky for her family, lucky for health, lucky she has the opportunity to play Wonder Woman on screen.

She is also very grateful to God for her good fortune. “In the Jewish culture there’s a prayer that you’re supposed to say every time you wake up in the morning to thank God for, you know, keeping you alive,” Gadot explains, referring to the Jewish prayer, Modeh Ani. “You say ‘modeh ani’, which means ‘I give thanks’… So every morning I wake up and step out of bed and I say ‘Thank you for everything, thank you, thank, you, thank you…Nothing is to be taken for granted.”

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→ 5 November 2020
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The Detail: The life and times of Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta | Stuff

Nanaia Mahuta, Minister of Foreign Affairs for New Zealand

NZFOI: Naturally we are interested in the background of the new Minister of Foreign Affairs for New Zealand.

Nanaia Mahuta’s appointment as the Foreign Minister in the new cabinet stunned even the political insiders but a closer look at her 24 years in parliament reveal her to be a person of depth and ambition with a record of quiet achievement.

Today, The Detail’s Sharon Brettkelly looks at the political career of Mahuta and how it was shaped by her early years spent with her father, Sir Robert Mahuta, the key negotiator in the Tainui treaty deal.

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→ 14 October 2020
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The War of Return — A review | Quillet

[NZFOI has recently acquired this book for the members’ library.]

In a story that may be apocryphal, the late Christopher Hitchens claimed that he had once seen legendary Israeli diplomat Abba Eban comment that the most striking aspect of the Israeli-Arab conflict is how easily it can be solved: It is simply a matter of dividing the land of Israel into a Jewish state and an Arab state. The only thing standing in the way of this solution is the intense religious or nationalist attachment of both sides to the idea of an undivided nation between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea. Indeed, this assumption that partition alone can bring peace has been the foundation of all of the international community’s peace efforts since the 1967 Six Day War. The only difficulty, it is believed, is persuading the two sides to agree to it.

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→ 5 June 2020
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Justice for Some: A review

Justice for Some by Noura Erakat was published last year. It is a pro-Palestinian perspective on the Middle East Conflict and International Law.

Most reviews of the article have not been reviews at all but synopses of her material interspersed with the “reviewer’s” cheers and plaudits.

Spotted on the web, here is a pro-Israeli comment on her book that resonated with us:

In “Justice for Some,” Professor Noura Erakat delivers an anti-Israel tirade in the antiquated terms of Marxism.

The main target of Professor Erakat’s assault is the 1922 British Mandate for Palestine (the BMP), the League of Nations law that enabled the creation of the State of Israel. The professor declares that the BMP institutionalized a “racist,” “settler-colonial,” “Apartheid regime” of “oppression” dedicated to the “juridical erasure” of the Palestinian people.

Equally extreme is her view of the Oslo Accords, the set of agreements signed by Israel and the Palestinians in the 1990’s to resolve their longstanding feud. She condemns the Oslo peace process as a continuation of oppressive “colonial practices.”

To combat the alleged colonial oppression, Professor Erakat recommends worldwide “resistance,” described as a blend of economic and legal activism against Israel.

These “coercive pressures,” she contends, would reverse the legal injustices of the past, “dismantle” Israel’s “illegal … colonial infrastructure,” and “liberate” Palestine.

Erakat champions two related forms of resistance: the BDS movement, a boycott campaign “aimed at isolating and shaming Israel;” and “lawfare,” the use of legal tactics to damage a political enemy.

She agrees with BDS leaders that all Palestinians should be allowed to relocate to Israel under a supposed “right of return.”

Regrettably, she omits the fact that such a novel population shift would make Israel a majority-Arab state. Even more disturbing, she enjoys hinting at the prospect of “Palestinian sovereignty” over Israel.

Although the professor maintains that “armed struggle” is available to Palestinians “as a matter of legal right,” she considers BDS and lawfare more effective.

Professor Erakat is not the first Palestinian to assail Israel with the debunked Marxist rhetoric of oppression and resistance. The Palestine Liberation Organization has been spewing the same hate-filled jargon since its founding in 1964.

The only difference between the two manifestos is that one would annihilate Israel through terrorism while the other would do the job through the cynical weaponization of economics and law.

Mainstream scholarship on the BMP confirms the mandate reflected a valid recognition of Jewish self-determination, not an act of colonial oppression.

The law was approved unanimously by a vote of all League of Nations members, not just the “colonial powers.” The great powers did not even share a common political goal, let alone a scheme of oppression.

They competed shrewdly for influence over the territories subject to the League’s mandate system.

Great Britain, the empire that most actively prepared the Jews for statehood, soon became the movement’s most powerful opponent.

Moreover, the Jews could not participate in the League’s BMP vote because they lacked membership in the world body.

Far from serving as agents of any colonial hegemons, the early Zionists immigrated to Palestine to escape the persecution of those regimes.

Another 800,000 Jewish immigrants came to Palestine from the Arab world, including the Jordanian-occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank, where they had suffered a brutal ethnic cleansing.

Jews from all hemispheres migrated to the “Land of Israel” because that was their ancestral home. There, they supplemented indigenous Jewish communities much older than the region’s first Arab dwellings.

Middle East Arabs won the greatest share of mandatory bequests. They gained four large new states: Lebanon; Syria; Iraq; and Transjordan (present day Jordan).

By contrast, their Jewish neighbors had to settle for a much smaller tract because Great Britain reallocated 77% of their League-designated territory to create Transjordan.

The Arabs could have celebrated their vast, newfound sovereignty. But instead, in 1948 they waged a five-state military jihad against Israel and grabbed portions of the Jewish foothold for themselves. That illegal offensive was the real “oppression” that turned the BMP border-drawing exercise into perpetual ethnic strife.

As an international lawyer, Professor Erakat must realize that expunging Israel through terrorism or any other manner would violate the animating principle of the United Nations.

Article 2 of the UN Charter requires nations to settle their differences “by peaceful means” without harming the “sovereign equality,” “security,” “territorial integrity,” or “political independence” of any state.

As a human rights lawyer, Erakat should know better than to portray the existence of Israel as a racist endeavor. That unfounded charge constitutes antisemitism as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and officially recognized by the US, Canada, 24 EU member states, and five other state signatories.

She compounds the human rights affront by endorsing the BDS movement. A September 23, 2019 UN report titled “Elimination of all Forms of Religious Intolerance” determined that BDS is a form of antisemitism.

A less biased study of legal claims in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict would have considered both sides of the debate.

The author would have acknowledged Israel’s indigenous rights, self-determination rights, and sovereign rights to the territories in dispute.

She would have weighed possible remedies for the Jewish refugees from East Jerusalem and the West Bank. And she would have backed at least one legal measure to curb terrorism. Sadly, “Justice for Some” demands justice only for Palestinians.

— Anonymous

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