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→ 18 September 2019
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Is antisemitism on the rise once again? | Radio NZ

Dr Deborah Lipstadt

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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→ 26 July 2019
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Congress overwhelming passes resolution condemning global boycott targeting Israel | Washington Post

The House [Congress] on Tuesday overwhelmingly passed a measure condemning efforts to boycott and economically isolate Israel over its policies toward Palestinians, an explosive global issue that exposed fissures inside the Democratic ranks.

The 398-to-17 vote comes after months of turmoil centering on Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), two Muslim freshmen who have stood accused of anti-Semitism over public remarks they have made referencing Israel and the Holocaust.

The congresswomen, repeatedly singled out by President Trump in the past week, opposed the resolution, arguing that it infringes on free speech and the right to participate in boycotts for human and civil rights.

Trump renewed his attacks on Omar on Tuesday, calling her an “America hating anti-Semite” in a tweet. Omar apologized in February after suggesting that Israel’s American supporters were motivated by money.

The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement, or BDS, calls on the international community to withdraw investments and shun the Israeli government, businesses and other institutions to win greater rights for Palestinians living in disputed territories. Its critics argue that its goals would fundamentally undermine Israel’s status as a Jewish homeland.

“You want to criticize the government? That’s your right. You want to stop buying products from a certain country? That’s also your right,” said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.). “But participating in an international commercial effort that undermines Israel’s legitimacy and scuttles the chances of a two-state solution isn’t the same as an individual exercising First Amendment rights.”

Engel said of the BDS movement: “It’s a fraud. It’s Israel-hating. It’s Jew-hating. We’ve had enough of that in the world.”

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→ 16 July 2019
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Green MP Golriz Ghahraman guilty of clumsiness, not racism | Stuff

Liam Hehir

One summer as a teenager I had a temporary job and became friendly with one of my coworkers, with whom I enjoyed talking to about the news.

One day this person took me aside and offered to lend me a book but wouldn’t tell me what it was about. I felt a little bit put out by the secrecy but agreed nonetheless.

I received delivery of the book next day and took it home to read. It was all about the people that the author thought really run the world and who are responsible for everything bad that happens. That is to say, it was a book about the Jewish people and their imagined crimes.

It was a bit of a shock to me and an early lesson in just how insidious conspiratorial thinking can be. We probably all know at least one person who is sunny, helpful and honest in their personal dealings who also harbours some absolutely crazy views about the world. And antisemitism is so persistently among those insane outlooks that i daresay we can assume it will never die.

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→ 15 July 2019
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Israel-Embassy-Sponsored Scholarship Should Be Terminated Kristin Crowe | Salient

NZFOI: This article describes Student for Justice in Palestine’s (SJP) campaign to have an Israeli government academic prize withdrawn. It is a step toward mounting further pressure on the Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) to adopt BDS. Salient is the VUW weekly student magazine.

On Thursday, 16 May, Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) held a meeting at Berrigan House to protest a scholarship for essays on the Israeli State—a state whose political systems they say are inherently “racist” and “brutal”.

The Embassy of Israel Prize in Political Science and International Relations is listed on Victoria’s website through the Department of History, Philosophy, Political Science and International Relations. The $250 scholarship is awarded to one student per year on the merit of an essay on one of the given topics—including ”Israel and the Middle East”, ”Israel’s bilaterial relations with its neighbours”, and ”Israel’s democracy in the context of the Middle East”. The winner is selected by the Head of Department, and the winning essay “may be provided” to the Ambassador.

In the wake of a century of fighting between Israelis and Palestinians, US interventions have failed to produce peace. Israel’s continued presence in Gaza and the West Bank—including building settlements illegally in Palestinian territory, restricting the flow of commercial goods to Palestine, and denying Palestinians the right to vote—has sparked an international protest movement. Proponents are calling for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli state.

Many universities in the US, Canada, and New Zealand have SJP groups which promote BDS on their campuses. Victoria is not currently participating in BDS protest, and maintains ties with Israeli universities. Lecturers from these universities have appeared on Kelburn campus, drawing criticism.

SJP at VUW are calling for the university to terminate the prize, calling VUW’s partnership with Israel “unjust” because the political climate in Israel is “directly comparable” to Apartheid South Africa.

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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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→ 7 June 2019
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The Netherlands makes fighting antisemitism a national priority | Jerusalem Post

The government previously has not budgeted a lump sum for fighting antisemitism, only for specific issues connected to it such as security at Jewish institutions.

The Dutch government has allocated $3.535 million towards fighting anti-Semitism – the first time Holland has placed the fight on its list of national priorities.

The funding, earmarked earlier this week during budget talks among members of the ruling coalition, establishes the fight against anti-Semitism as a key point demanding government attention alongside education, immigrant integration and five additional issues.

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→ 5 June 2019
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NZ votes against Israel in WHO resolution with false accusations | UN Watch

Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (above), Director-General of the World Health Organization, blames Israel for violating the health rights of Palestinians and Syrians in the Golan in a report which was adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 22, 2019.

Intriguingly New Zealand decided to vote in favour of this resolution. Its recent voting history at the UN, in relation to Israeli issues suggests that the New Zealand government has turned from a founding supporter of Israel to one of its most active opponents. New Zealand must re-think its root cause analysis. How many Holocausts must humanity endure before it realises the necessity for a Jewish homeland where all Jews may live without fear of subjugation, persecution and eradication? — NZFOI

GENEVA, May 22, 2019 — The annual assembly of the UN’s World Health Organization today voted 96 to 11 for a resolution, co-sponsored by the Arab bloc and the Palestinian delegation, that singled out Israel over “Health conditions in the occupied Palestinian territory, including east Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan.”

Hillel Neuer, Executive Director of UN Watch, condemned the delegates’ abuse of the UN body as a forum to target Israel.

“Out of 21 items on the meeting’s Agenda, only one—Item No. 14 against Israel—focused on a specific country. There was no agenda item or resolution on any other country, including Syria, where hospitals and medical infrastructure have suffered devastating bombings by Syrian and Russian forces; Yemen, where 19.7 million people lack access to health care service due to the current crisis; or Venezuela, where the health system has collapsed, causing millions to flee the country,” said Neuer.

“Today’s resolution is a fantastic lie. The UN reached new heights of absurdity by enacting a resolution which accuses Israel of violating the health rights of Syrians in the Golan, even as in reality Israeli hospitals provide life-saving treatment to Syrians fleeing to the Golan from the Assad regime’s barbaric attacks,” he said.

“Shame on France, Belgium and Sweden for encouraging this hijacking of the annual world health assembly, and diverting precious time, money, and resources from global health priorities, in order to wage a political prosecution of Israel, especially when, in reality, anyone who has ever walked into an Israeli hospital or clinic knows that they are providing world-class health care to thousands of Palestinian Arabs—including last week to Palestinian leader Jibril Rajoub—as well as to Syrians fleeing Assad,” Neuer added.

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→ 27 May 2019
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German Jews warned not to wear kippas | Stuff

Israel’s president said Sunday (Monday NZT) he is shocked by a German official’s comment that he wouldn’t advise Jews to wear skullcaps in parts of the country, which is drawing mixed reactions at home.

Felix Klein, the government’s anti-Semitism commissioner, was quoted Saturday as saying: “I cannot recommend to Jews that they wear the skullcap at all times everywhere in Germany.”

He didn’t elaborate on what places and times might be risky.

“The statement of the German government’s anti-Semitism commissioner that it would be preferable for Jews not wear a kippa in Germany out of fear for their safety, shocked me deeply,” Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said in a statement.

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→ 23 May 2019
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No, Israel isn’t a country of privileged and powerful white Europeans | LA Times

Mizrahi Jews

Along with resurgent identity politics in the United States and Europe, there is a growing inclination to frame the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of race. According to this narrative, Israel was established as a refuge for oppressed white European Jews who in turn became oppressors of people of color, the Palestinians.

As an Israeli, and the son of an Iraqi Jewish mother and North African Jewish father, it’s gut-wrenching to witness this shift.

I am Mizrahi, as are the majority of Jews in Israel today. We are of Middle Eastern and North African descent. Only about 30% of Israeli Jews are Ashkenazi, or the descendants of European Jews. I am baffled as to why mainstream media and politicians around the world ignore or misrepresent these facts and the Mizrahi story. Perhaps it’s because our history shatters a stereotype about the identity of my country and my people.

Jews that were expelled from nations across the Middle East have been crucial in building and defending the Jewish state since its outset.

Israel, the world’s only Jewish state, was not established for just one type of Jew but for all Jews, from every part of the world — the Middle East, North Africa, Ethiopia, Asia and, yes, Europe. No matter where Jews physically reside, they maintain a connection to the land of Israel, where our story started and where today we continue to craft it.

The likes of Women’s March activist Tamika Mallory, Temple University professor Marc Lamont Hill and, more recently, Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) falsify reality in their discussions of Palestinians’ “intersectional” struggle, their use of the term “apartheid” to characterize Israeli policy, and their tendency to define Israelis as Ashkenazi Jews alone.

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→ 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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