Several New Zealanders were active users of a now-defunct neo-Nazi message board which had its data leaked last week – including one who says they were aged 15.

Another user, from Auckland, described themselves as “a firm believer in Italian Fascism”, and displayed extreme anti-Semitism in their posts, writing that “Israel’s control of Jerusalem is one of humanity’s greatest tragedies”.

“We can’t just nuke Israel because then we lose God’s City, instead we need to take it back with gunpowder and steel.”

Juliet Moses, spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council, said the comments were abhorrent and revolting.

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At the start of October, the Israel Institute of New Zealand (IINZ) exposed antisemitic material within a Facebook group of New Zealand based anti-Israel group Kia Ora Gaza. This included posts that compared Israel to Nazi Germany, comments that dehumanised Jews, and open support for terror against Israeli citizens.

IINZ has now found that four New Zealand members of parliament, including the Prime Minister, were part of the Facebook group where antisemitism was posted and tolerated.

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Dr Deborah Lipstadt has spent her life studying hate – specifically, the hatred of Jews. The Atlanta-based historian and author wrote about antisemitism in her 1993 book ‘Denying the Holocaust’ and found herself sued by British author and Holocaust denier David Irving for libel.

She won the case in part by providing evidence at the lengthy judge-only trial that the Holocaust happened, with a focus on the existence and use of gas chambers and a coordinated Nazi plan directed by Hitler. Her trial was made into a movie in 2016 called ‘Denial’.  Dr Lipstadt has published a new book this year called ‘Antisemitism Here and Now’ arguing that acts and expressions of antisemitism are on the rise again.

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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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