NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Fighting racial intolerance in New Zealand and beyond
In the past 24 hours, Israel has been attacked by the terrorist organization Hamas. More than 400 rockets have been fired from the Gaza Strip. This number is the highest recorded on any day since Hamas began firing rockets into Israel more than 10 years ago. The previous record was 192 which fell in one day during Operation Protective Margin.
A new round of hostilities triggered by a botched Israeli covert operation into the Gaza Strip pushed the territory’s fragile security situation to the brink today.
Palestinian militants launched hundreds of rockets towards Israel and Israeli jets carried out bombing raids.
Israel’s military said it had rushed extra infantry troops and air defences to the boundary with Gaza as at least 200 projectiles were launched towards Israeli territory in less than three hours.
At least two projectiles hit houses, while an anti-tank missile hit a bus transporting soldiers near the border, the military said, critically injuring a 19-year-old soldier.
GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) — Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians, including a 13-year-old boy, as thousands of people protested Friday along the fence dividing the Gaza Strip and Israel, Gaza’s Health Ministry said.
The ministry said the boy was struck in the chest, a 24-year-old man was shot in the back and another man, 28, succumbed to his wounds at hospital.
It added that 126 protesters were wounded by live fire.
Responding to calls by Hamas, the Islamic militant group that rules Gaza, thousands of Palestinians thronged five areas along the fence, burning tires, throwing rocks and chanting slogans against a stifling Israeli-Egyptian blockade on the territory.
A kite with an incendiary device is readied for its launch
JERUSALEM (AP) — A group of Israeli farmers is filing a war crimes complaint at the International Criminal Court in The Hague on Monday against Hamas over the torching of thousands of acres of farmland in recent months.
Bashar al Assad
President of Syria
In recent weeks, as the Syrian regime prepared and launched a major military operation to regain control of southwest Syria, this area has become a significant issue in international and regional diplomacy. It was, among others, the focus of discussions between Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Jordanian King Abdullah in Amman (June 18), Jordanian and Russian foreign ministers in Moscow (July 4), Netanyahu and Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow (July 12) and recent phone calls between Netanyahu and US President Donald Trump. Finally, it made its way into the July 16 Helsinki summit between Putin and Trump.
In the last year and a half, the Syrian regime has regained control over nearly two thirds of the country, apart from the southwest and southeast, the province of Idlib adjacent to the Turkish border, and the north-east, which is under the control of the Kurdish-dominated SDF. Having won the battle in the eastern suburbs of Damascus (Eastern Ghouta, the Yarmouk refugee camp and other areas east of Damascus), the Syrian regime decided to focus on the south, up to the borders with Jordan and Israel. This area includes the provinces of Dara’a (with the city of Dara’a, considered the “capital” of the south); Quneitra, which borders the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights; and Suweida’ further to the east, which is home to a large Druze community. In recent years, Dara’a and Quneitra have been mostly controlled by rebel groups.
The regime’s assault in the south essentially put an end to the de-escalation agreement – established in the three southwest provinces in the summer of 2017 by a Russian-US-Jordanian agreement (and first announced by presidents Trump and Putin in July 2017). The agreement excluded the jihadi groups – ISIS, which controls the Yarmouk basin (on the border triangle between Syria, Jordan and Israel) and Hay’at Tahrir a-Sha’m (HTS, formerly Jabhat al-Nusra).
The Syrian-Russian strategy and its implementation on the ground
The Syrian regime’s move towards the south was decided upon and implemented in close coordination with Russia. It incorporated and synchronised military moves, Russian diplomatic efforts vis-à-vis Israel, Jordan and the US, and Syrian regime negotiations with rebel groups and villages on the ground. The Assad regime first amassed troops in the area, sent warnings to rebels and started quiet negotiations with them about laying down their arms. Then, both Russia and Syria began airstrikes in the south followed by a Syrian ground offensive focused on the area of Dara’a – occasionally halting to give a chance to translating the military pressure to deals with the rebels. Simultaneously, Russia was conducting talks with both Jordan and Israel to make sure neither, especially Israel, opposed the Syrian offensive and would be undermining it in any way.
This strategy appears to have been by and large successful. At the time of publication, the Syrian regime has already taken over almost all of the province of Dara’a, including the city (where the uprising in Syria was sparked in 2011), the border area with Jordan and the Nassib Crossing, the main border crossing with Jordan. This constitutes a practical and symbolic victory shutting the door to potential support for the rebels from Jordan. The regime is now fighting to take over the province of Quneitra, adjacent to Israel’s border, and has already reconquered the strategic hilltop of Tel al-Harrah, some 10 kilometres from Israel’s border.
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A kite with an incendiary device is readied for its launch. Another day of peaceful protest at the Gaza border.
NZFOI: This article is a response to Rob Berg’s article. How would you rebut her arguments?
OPINION: Forget the kibbutz-building Zionists of the past; the new Zionism is not about “doing” and forging a vision for the future; it is about focusing on “hasbara” (Hebrew: explaining) and preserving the status quo.
This is why Benjamin Netanyahu has made no effort toward making peace with the Palestinians even though it has become clear to the world that the subjection and collective punishment of Palestinians are against any notion of human integrity and decency.
And if there was ever any proof needed that Netanyahu’s global PR project (the hasbara project) is failing miserably, it can be found in a recent Stuff opinion piece by the president of the Zionist Federation of New Zealand, Robert Berg.
Berg argues that New Zealand’s co-sponsorship of a Security Council resolution declaring Israeli settlements “a flagrant violation of international law” was “anti-Israel”.
What Berg fails to mention is that resolution 2234 passed in a 14-0 vote by all members of the UN Security Council including those with a veto power – that is: France, UK, Russia and China.
Even Israel’s own closet ally, the United States, did not vote against the resolution – it abstained. So, it is ludicrous to suggest the resolution was “anti-Israel” and New Zealand is “out of step” with its Western allies.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: His project of keeping Palestinians on the edge and maintaining the status quo is not only failing the Palestinians, it is denying Israel a peaceful future, says Donna Miles-Mojab.
But Israel does not see itself accountable to the international community.
When our Prime Minister, Jacinda Ardern, expressed her concern at the “one-sided loss of life” during the Gaza protests, she was not complaining, as Berg suggests, about “lack of Jewish deaths”.
Of course, to any fair-minded person, it is clear that the prime minister’s remarks referred to Israel’s disproportionate response to Gaza’s protests – but “hasbara” is not about fairness, it is about propaganda to ward off the critics of Israel, which is why Berg’s attacks did not stop there.
In his piece, Berg names some of New Zealand’s bravest defenders of human rights, MPs Marama Davidson and Golriz Ghahraman, and accuses them of siding with those “advocating the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state” and “resurfacing modern-day blood libels”. This is beyond outrageous!
Where is the evidence for Berg’s accusations? He offers no evidence because there is no evidence.
What Berg is doing is what the main pillar of hasbara project is based on: to conflate anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel’s policies.
But the world is waking up to the true realities of a state that calls itself democratic but is happy to cage almost two million people in a small strip of land called Gaza under horrendous conditions.
Almost half of the besieged Palestinians in Gaza are children younger than my 15-year-old son.
Mr Berg, no amount of “explaining” can ever convince me or the rest of the world that those children who never had anything to do with any decisions made in the past, deserve to be collectively and cruelly punished by Israel.
Netanyahu’s project of keeping Palestinians on the edge and maintaining the status quo is not only failing the Palestinians, it is denying Israel a peaceful future and a respectful place among the international community.
If Mr Berg is committed to peace in the Middle East, he will do better to criticise Israeli politicians for its actions than to blame brave Kiwis for their response.
Freelance writer Donna Miles-Mojab is a Scottish-born Iranian New Zealander.
David Cumin, NZ Israel Institute
1. It is incorrect to refer to the blockade as “illegal” and BSA has ruled it is irresponsible for NZ media to do so.
2. Violation of a lawful blockade constitutes unlawful activity and an interception in international waters is entirely correct if the vessel is attempting to breach a blockade, according to International Law. The detention of Mr Treen was inevitable, given his attempt to breach a legal blockade.
3. This group, like the last, has admitted their cargo is not nearly as important as the publicity – “There is also some medical aid on board, although the amount of medical aid is merely a gesture,” said Richard Sudan of Iran’s Press TV UK. “We’re talking just a few boxes.”
4. Thousands of truckloads of goods enter Gaza from Israel, even now as Hamas and other militant groups continue to indiscriminately send flaming kites, mortars, and missiles over the border. If this group truly cared about delivering aid, they could easily do so via Israel.
5. The shipmates of Mr Treen are known to support terror groups, including Hamas as PFLP.
6. There has not been violence on boats when this stunt has previously been attempted as long as the activists followed instructions and did not resist arrest. Mr Treen has admitted to resisting arrest.
7. According to the UN Palmer Report (paragraph viii), “…Where a State becomes aware that its citizens or flag vessels intend to breach a naval blockade, it has a responsibility to take proactive steps compatible with democratic rights and freedoms to warn them of the risks involved and to endeavour to dissuade them from doing so.”.
8. Israel unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005 and removed all Jews in hopes it would become the “Singapore of the Middle East”. Hamas violently took control of Gaza in 2006 and has continued its conflict with Israel at the expense of the welfare of the Gazan people. Instead of building infrastructure, Hamas has invested in terror.
– David Cumin
Mike Treen
A New Zealand union leader has been attacked and being unlawfully detained by the Israeli military, his union claims.
The alleged incident took place on Monday morning, and Mike Treen was attacked along with other international campaigners on board the ship Al Awda while taking part in a mission to deliver aid to Gaza.
Unite Union is calling on the government to demand for his release from Israeli authorities.
“Mike was taking part in a peaceful mission to deliver aid to Gaza and was in international waters when attacked and detained. We understand he has been taken, kidnapped in reality, to the southern Israeli port of Ashod,” said National Secretary Gerard Hehir.
“We expect the New Zealand government to strongly protest and demand his immediate release, along with his fellow campaigners and the Al Awda so they can deliver the much needed medical aid to the port of Gaza”.
Hehir said the mission posed absolutely no threat to Israel or its people.
“It is a fishing boat loaded with medicines,” he said.
Another propaganda/hasbarah stunt…
Israel is in the throes of political upheaval as the country’s ruling party seeks to pass legislation that could allow for Jewish-only communities, which critics have condemned as the end of a democratic state.
For the past half-decade, politicians have been wrangling over the details of the bill that holds constitution-like status and that Benjamin Netanyahu wants passed this month.
A kite with an incendiary device is readied for its launch
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel’s military says it has struck Gaza after Palestinians tried to launch flaming kites into its territory.
It said aircraft targeted “infrastructure” there Thursday, without elaborating. It said the strike came after Palestinians attempted to launch “arson kites” into Israel.
Israel has been battling large fires caused by kites and balloons rigged with incendiary devices or burning rags launched from Gaza that have destroyed forests, burned crops and killed wildlife and livestock.
