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.
Time to reset our relationship with Israel | NZ Herald
MEDIA RELEASE
19 JANUARY 2023 (Published in NZ Herald, 31 JANUARY 2023)
OPINION — Recently, there have been calls for resetting our foreign policy in respect of Israel.
For decades now, New Zealand has founded its policy on Israel on the idea of a two-state solution: the idea that a Palestinian Arab state could exist in peace alongside the modern state of Israel.
This idea is dependent on a number of assumptions:
- That the Palestinian Leadership is interested in peaceful co-existence with the Jewish people.
- That peace in the Middle East is predicated on the establishment of a Palestinian State based on pre-1967 borders.
- That the Palestinian Leadership are more interested in the welfare and prosperity of its people than they are interested in the destruction of Israel and its people.
We have sufficient history to see that each of these assumptions has been proven wrong.
Time and again, each Palestinian regime has shown that it has no appetite for peaceful co-existence with Israel. The Arab language rhetoric is clear: the annihilation of the State of Israel is the end goal, and that relentless and deadly violence will be pursued until this goal is achieved.
It is an all-or-nothing philosophy that is prepared to grind its own people into perpetual poverty and suffering. During the 2000 Camp David Summit the Palestinians were offered nearly all of their demands. Amongst anyone who is familiar with such negotiations between peoples, a truly remarkable offer.
Yet the Palestinians declined it, setting off the second intifada. The Gaza peace for land deal only resulted in even more violence. The Palestinians have now received more foreign aid than Europe did to rebuild after the Second World War. And what have they done with it? They have used it to fund hatred, murder and misery.
The Abrahamic Accords have shown that there is an appetite for peace in the Middle East. The normalisation of Israel’s relations with Sudan, Morocco, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Oman, and Jordan show this.
Even Saudi Arabia has allowed Israeli civilian aircraft to fly through its airspace. These are monumental signs that the other Arab Middle Eastern nations are tiring of Palestinian narrow-mindedness.
The current Palestinian regime will try to turn us against Israel by accusing it of not holding to Western liberal values while pushing a totalitarian society within their own jurisdictions.
Today, Israel is a shining light in the totalitarian darkness of the Middle East. It demonstrates that Middle Eastern peoples can live together in a true democracy, where their vote counts, where there is no threat of governmental coercion as to how they can vote, where one’s civil liberties are protected by law, where its citizens have access to health care, education and state welfare assistance, where Palestinian Arabs can study law and fight for justice, where people can truly live and whatever they lawfully wish.
The Palestinian Regime needs to understand that its current goal of annihilating Israel, by fostering a grievance industry that enriches its leaders through the suffering of its people, has been discredited. New Zealand has to reset its foreign policy in regard to the Middle East.
Only by showing that this current regime has no credibility, will a new regime emerge that is free of corruption and is willing to enter into genuine peace negotiations with Israel. Only by strengthening our trade and diplomatic relations with Israel will we positively reinforce the regional behaviours we so desire.
We do need a foreign policy reset. We would be fools to continue to persist with the current policy that superficially shows even-handed support to the Palestinian Arabs, and yet has had so little success in bringing peace over so many generations.
Tony Kan
President
NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
Box 37 363
Halswell
Christchurch
New Zealand
NZ Friends of Israel Association is a registered charity that fights prejudice and intolerance through raising awareness of Jewish history and culture.
How to deal with Despots | Economist
NZFOI: A thought provoking piece from the Economist. Pragmatism v Idealism? What to do when there is a clash between societies over Vision and Values? Relevant issues that Israel has to daily wrestle with. In sharing this article, NZFOI is not saying we agree with the Economists ideas. But it is useful to start reflection and discussion.
For about 15 years after the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Western foreign policy seemed to rest on sure foundations. Liberal values—democracy, open markets, human rights and the rule of law—had just prevailed over communism. America, the first and only global hyperpower, had the clout to impose this moral code against terrorists and tyrants. And tough love was justified, because history had shown that Western values were the uncontested formula for peace, prosperity and progress.
Another 15 years on, Western foreign policy is in a mess. To see why, consider Muhammad bin Salman, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia. Our summer double issue, featuring profiles and long reads, leads with a deeply reported portrait of mbs, as he is known. It illustrates the erosion of each of the three pillars of Western foreign policy—values, power and that historic destiny.
The moral calculus turns out to be fraught. As our profile concludes, the crown prince has a tendency to be violent and erratic and to oppress his foes. He has been held responsible for the murder of a Washington Post columnist. Yet he is also a moderniser who has liberalised Saudi society, tamed the kingdom’s clerics and given women new freedoms. Even if you doubt mbs’s reforming zeal, Saudi Arabia produces oil that could help America and its allies withstand an even more dangerous man: Vladimir Putin. Is the ethical policy to shun mbs or sup with him?
mbs also shows that American power is less imposing than it seemed 15 years ago. Saudi Arabia has been close to America since 1945, but mbs long snubbed Joe Biden by refusing to take his phone calls, instead palling up with an assertive Russia and a rising China. Saudi Arabia is key to a region that America tried to mend by invading Iraq but, although America and its allies are still formidable, the fighting has worn out voters’ willingness to see their troops act as a global police force. Their reluctance is understandable. The desert wars demonstrated that you cannot turn people into liberals by firing guns at them.
And history has bitten back. A young man in a hurry, mbs believes he can achieve Western levels of prosperity without the inconvenience of democracy or human rights. Justin Bieber and Monster-Jam motorsports sit snugly alongside his despotic rule.
mbs is not alone. China is asserting the merits of “people-centred” human rights that put peace and economic development above voting and free speech. Mr Putin has invaded Ukraine in what can be thought of as a war on Enlightenment values by a regime in thrall to a Russian brand of fascism. When Western leaders entreat the global south to stand up for the international system by condemning Mr Putin, many say that they have lost patience with preachy, hypocritical Westerners who readily invade other countries whenever it suits them.
The Economist has not lost its faith in the institutions that emerged from the Enlightenment. Liberal values are universal. Yet the West’s strategy for promoting its world-view is sputtering and America and its allies need to be clearer-eyed. They must balance what is desirable with what is possible. At the same time they must cleave to the principles that save them from the cynicism of Mr Putin’s desolate, truth-free zone. That sounds like a counsel of perfection. Can it work?
The best way for Western leaders to avoid charges of hypocrisy is to refrain from staking out moral positions they cannot sustain. While campaigning, Mr Biden pledged to treat Saudi Arabia as a “pariah”. But this month he went to Jeddah and fist-bumped mbs and was widely condemned for hypocrisy and moral cowardice. In fact, his mistake was a crowd-pleasing pledge that was always going to be a millstone in office.
Western leaders need to be honest about how much influence they really have. The assumption that the rest need the West more than the West needs the rest is less true these days. In 1991 the g7 produced 66% of global output; today, just 44%. In hindsight it was hubris to think that dictatorships could be cured of their pathologies by battalions of human-rights lawyers and market economists. Leaders ought to be clear about right and wrong, but when they weigh up whether to impose sanctions on wrongdoers they should assess the likely results rather than the appearances of virtue.
Another principle is that talking is usually good. Some say that turning up bestows legitimacy. In reality, it generates insights, creates a chance to exert influence and helps solve otherwise insoluble problems—by means of climate deals, say; or getting grain out of Ukraine; or asking al-Shabab, an affiliate of al-Qaeda, to help save Somalia from starvation. Mr Biden was right to talk to mbs. Emmanuel Macron, France’s president, is right to talk to Mr Putin. Everyone needs to talk to China’s president, Xi Jinping.
There are ways to help keep talks honest. In meetings you can have your say on human rights. You can temper your contact, as Mr Macron did after Russian troops committed war crimes. You can insist on also speaking to the opposition and to dissidents. In this and other things, Western leaders should co-ordinate with each other so that they are less likely to be picked off by a policy of divide and rule—by China over its treatment of dissidents abroad, for example, or the abuse of the Uyghur people in Xinjiang.
A last principle is to acknowledge that foreign policy, like all government, involves trade-offs. For most countries that is so obvious it hardly needs saying. But the West came to think that it could have it all. Such trade-offs need not be grubby. A clearer focus on outcomes after the Russian annexation of Crimea in 2014 might have led to more effective action by nato countries than the weak, conscience-salving sanctions they actually imposed. Unfortunately, Mr Biden’s simplistic attempt to divide the world into democracies and autocracies makes wise trade-offs harder.
Ideals and their consequences
The West has discovered that simply trying to impose its values on despots like mbs is ultimately self-defeating. Instead, it should marry pressure with persuasion and plain-speaking with patience. That may not be as gratifying as outraged denunciations and calls for boycotts and symbolic sanctions. But it is more likely to do some good.
Erdan Meets AP Head, Says Hamas Sought to Develop System in Gaza Media Tower to ‘Jam Iron Dome’ | Algemeiner
Israel disclosed that the Hamas terror group worked on an electronic system to disrupt the Iron Dome aerial defense system in the building housing the Associated Press’ office in Gaza, which was bombed during the hostilities in May.
During the 11-day Operation Guardian of the Walls, more than 4,300 rockets were fired by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad towards Israel. According to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) about 90% of the rockets were intercepted by the Iron Dome, helping to limit the number of civilian casualties and injuries.
Israel Ambassador to the United Nations and United States Gilad Erdan visited AP’s New York headquarters on Tuesday to share information on the targeting of the building, and to explain to top executives of the media outlet that it was being used by Hamas terrorists trying to “jam the Iron Dome — that is why it was prioritized by the IDF during last month’s operation.”
New Zealand Israelis say conflict was 11 days of tension, fear and exhaustion | Stuff
For Tanya Levy, the starting point of the Israel-Hamas conflict came at her daughters’ tennis lesson.
The siren indicating they had 90 seconds to find shelter before a possible missile hit sounded while they were in the middle of the courts.
Levy, a “born and bred Aucklander” who moved to Israel 20 years ago, compares her reaction to the siren to how residents of Wellington or Christchurch respond to the first signs of a quake.
“You just switch into business mode,” she said.
SHEIKH JARRAH: THE FACTS | CAMERA
A long-simmering controversy over the fate of Jewish-owned land and Palestinian tenants in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of Jerusalem has once again become frontpage news after yet another court decision reaffirming the pre-1948 Jewish ownership of the land and the obligation of the Palestinian tenants to pay their rent or be evicted.
At the same time, false claims have been made that the Israeli laws are unfair because Jews can recover property in the West Bank, but Palestinians can’t recover property in pre-1967 Israel.
The photo which tells all you should know about the Israel-Gaza conflict | Sky News Australia
Sky News host Rowan Dean says everything people need to know about the history and future of the current conflict in Gaza and Israel can be condensed into a single photo.
The conflict in the Middle East has continued to broaden with violent clashes between Palestinians and Israelis spreading across the West Bank.
“On the right-hand side of the photo, you can see the deadly rockets being fired out of Gaza in an aggressive and deliberately offensive act of war, designed to kill and maim as many innocent everyday Israeli citizens as possible,” Mr Dean said.
“On the left-hand side of the photo, looking like something out of Star Wars or Close Encounters, you see the Iron Dome, a technological miracle that allows Israel to shoot those Iranian and Hamas rockets out of the sky in a purely defensive act designed to save citizens’ lives. “That is the story of the Gaza conflict and the history of Israel and Palestine.
Pretty much everything else you will hear is obfuscation, distortion and lies, laced with the insidious moral relativism of the left.”
Read more and to see the video clip
Wellington Phoenix ban national flags at games in response to Middle East conflict | Stuff
Wellington Phoenix have asked fans to refrain from bringing national flags into their two New Zealand home games due to the growing tensions in the Middle East.
The move comes after the club was issued with a “please explain” from the A-League following Israeli striker Tomer Hemed’s controversial goal celebrations against Melbourne City last weekend.
The former Israeli international was cautioned with a yellow card for unveiling a kippah – a cloth cap traditionally worn by Jewish men – and placing it on his head following his 88th minute equaliser, while he also draped himself in the Star of David after scoring a penalty in the 37th minute.
Gaza-Israel Headlines mislead | NZFOI
NZ Friends of Israel has been observing the responses to the latest wave of violence between Arabs and Jews with concern.
The David vs Goliath story is misleading
The conflict has been narrowly portrayed as a David versus Goliath conflict supported by snapshots of “disproportionate” death tolls, “home-made” rockets contrasted with sophisticated state of the art military technologies, and forced evictions.
Just relying on this information alone to decide what stance to take on the Middle East conflict between Jews and Arabs is risky.
Perpetual refugee status keeps the conflict from being resolved
In nearly all modern conflicts, displaced peoples are resettled, so that they can rebuild, and get on with their lives.
Not so in the Middle East, where neighbouring countries, in order to keep the dispute with Israel alive, refused to allow refugees to resettle, but instead have refused them citizenship and turned temporary refugee camps into institutionalized ghettos.
Some 750,000 Jews have also been displaced through the Middle East conflicts. They are unheard of today, because they have resettled in other countries, a vast number in Israel. They have gone on to live their lives.
For the Palestinian Arab refugee, they are stuck in a twilight zone, unable to get on with their lives, dependent on foreign aid, because Arab political leaders, including their own, will not accept a Jewish state in their midst. In so doing, creating a long-running humanitarian crisis.
Ironic, as the establishment of Israel, as a homeland and refuge for Jews, under international law, was, in itself, a humanitarian response to the Holocaust and a recognition of how widespread and deadly Anti-Semitism was in the world.
As long as the world continues to fund this institutionalized victimhood, the Middle East conflict will persist.
The will to continue funding is heavily shaped by how media cover the Middle East Conflict.
Ethical journalism is what we expect but not what we get
In the West, we value ethical journalism. We expect factual and balanced reporting. But commercialization and the human need to be “relevant” means that many journalists have abandoned these ideals and have taken sides when it comes to Israel.
By doing so, they have become unwitting instruments of propaganda.
Hamas’ tactics are clear.
- Initiate a wave of violence to draw an Israeli military response.
- Embed Hamas operations near civilians and civilian structures such as hospitals, schools and even UN facilities so civilian casualties are inevitable.
- Milk the civilian casualties for all their propaganda value to win Western hearts and minds.
- End the conflict to maximise cost-benefit of campaign.
- Repeat when foreign aid begins to wane once more.
On the TVNZ news, a woman rants at the camera, saying no one would accept being evicted from their homes. Well, yes we do. If we can’t pay our bills, debt collectors come. If we don’t pay our rent, then we are evicted. Even in New Zealand.
Headlines skew the narrative and show bias
Headlines are powerful. They not only determine how many people will read an article, but a headline changes the way people read an article and the way they remember it.
To illustrate how bias comes through in headlines, here is a sequence of headlines on the Gaza conflict run by Stuff. Every effort has been taken to make this collection exhaustive but one or two may have slipped through:
24 April: Worst round of cross-border violence between Israel and Gaza Strip in months
11 May: Jerusalem protests: The violent clashes between Palestinian protesters and Israeli police explained
11 May: Nine children killed in Gaza as violence intensifies with air strikes, rocket attacks
12 May: Israel, Hamas trade deadly rocket fire as confrontation escalates
13 May: New Zealand raises international law violations with Israel, expresses ‘grave concern’ over escalating violence
13 May: How Hamas pierced Israel’s famous Iron Dome shield
13 May: The three biggest US airlines are suspending flights to Israel.
13 May: Dozens killed in Mideast conflict that recalls 2014 Gaza war
14 May: Gaza hospitals were already struggling with Covid-19. Then the bombs fell
14 May: Israeli tanks pound Gaza ahead of possible ground incursion
14 May: Israel-Palestine conflict: Gaza ceasefire ‘not enough’ – Palestinian minister
14 May: Israeli-Palestinian conflict: Ongoing attack on Gaza Strip
14 May: Fighting between Hamas, Israel escalates as efforts to secure truce begin
15 May: US joins international effort to de-escalate the intensifying conflict in Gaza
15 May: Ending injustice is the only path to assuring Israel’s security
16 May: The moments before the bombing: Inside the Gaza media building destroyed by an airstrike
16 May: Media outlets demand Israel explain its bombing of news offices in Gaza
16 May: Israel airstrike in Gaza destroys building housing international media
16 May: Islamic nations hold emergency summit on Israel-Gaza attacks
17 May: The toughest tourism gig right now? Selling Israel to Muslim visitors in Dubai
17 May: Israel-Palestine conflict: 10 minutes of heavy airstrikes hit Gaza City as Hamas rocket attacks continue
17 May: Calls mount for Gaza-Israel ceasefire, greater US efforts
17 May: Associated Press’ top editor calls for probe into Israeli airstrike
18 May: Why is accountability for alleged war crimes so hard to achieve in the Israel-Palestinian conflict?
18 May: Green Party puts forward parliamentary motion to declare Palestine a state
18 May: Israeli strikes hit Gaza tunnels as diplomats work for truce
18 May: Israel-Palestine conflict: More airstrikes on Gaza mark second week of unrest
19 May: Palestinians go on strike as Israel-Hamas fighting rages
19 May: Israeli police say two killed in strike launched from Gaza
20 May: Now is the time for NZ to be brave, and stand up to Israel and China
20 May: As a Jewish New Zealander I am ashamed by Israel’s long history of inflaming tensions in the Mideast
20 May: Israel’s PM Benjamin Netanyahu ‘determined” to continue Gaza operation
20 May: Palestinian Kiwis worried for families in Gaza as bombs rain down
20 May: Israeli air strikes kill six, large family home destroyed in Gaza
21 May: Israel agrees ceasefire with Hamas in Gaza to end 11-day conflict
21 May: Israel-Palestine Conflict: The media is ‘dehumanising’ the nation of Israel
21 May: Israel unleashes wave of strikes in Gaza despite pushback from US President Joe Biden
23 May: Vitriol and double standards are directed against Israel
23 May: Egyptian mediators hold talks to firm up Israel-Hamas truce
A review of these Stuff headlines shows that they overwhelmingly present Israel as the antagonist. Of the 39 headlines only two mention Hamas’ indiscriminant rocket attacks and only one mentions that Hamas’ attacks are war crimes under international law, and even then only within the body text, not in any headline.
Amidst this barrage of biased headlines, even the NZ government’s call to de-escalate is twisted to be seemingly addressed toward Israel and not toward Hamas.
It’s not surprising therefore to see a growing wave of anti-Israel sentiment resulting in pro-Palestinian rallies being held around the country.
The NY Times, in its daily update, lengthily summarises the “toll” of the latest conflict by numbering the Arab deaths, separating out children from the rest of the statistics and describing the damage to infrastructure and housing. But only briefly mentions Israeli death toll with no further elaboration.
The real background tells quite a different story
The oft-mentioned East Jerusalem “eviction” is a legal dispute between tenants and their landlord and arises from long standing unpaid rent.
There are other cases regarding ownership disputes opened by Jewish owners who were themselves displaced after Jordan illegally annexed East Jerusalem but returned after Israel won the 1967 War. Now these Jewish owners are seeking reinstatement through the courts.
The Israeli courts have shown themselves to be politically independent and scrupulously so. It’s prosecution of past Prime Ministers and even the current Prime Minister, show that the Israeli courts are not intimidated by political power and that no one is above the law.
These court cases are ongoing and we should wait for their outcome before reacting.
Israel is accused of disproportionate use of force. But there is no question that Hamas and its allies are themselves using deadly force. Militarily, we would expect the amount of force should be sufficient, to stop the attacks. They haven’t stopped which suggests insufficient force has been applied.
The bombardment of Homs in the Syrian War is an example of how conventional warfare is conducted by the rest of the world. By the end of that siege, Homs was nearly levelled and looked like Stalingrad after it’s siege in WW2. Israel’s targeted strikes are comparatively humane, considering that its enemies use its own civilians as human shields.
Disinformation is a part of war, so reserve your opinions
Finally, we urge everyone to restrain themselves from jumping to conclusions during a military conflict. It’s been said that truth is the first casualty of war. This conflict is no different. Both sides will be wanting to manage the public narrative to their own advantage.
It’s not until after the conflict is over that independent foreign observers can report on what really happened. For example, in the 2014 Gaza War, it wasn’t until journalists returned to their home countries that they were able to safely report that Hamas was using civilians and civilian infrastructure, including UN facilities as shields.
NZFOI
Vitriol and double standards are directed against Israel | Stuff
NZFOI: Well said…
The Levant is a complex place. I don’t understand it. I suspect that many of those who live there struggle to come to grips with its long history and interlocking internecine grievances, real and imagined.
So, I am not going to proffer my view on the rights and wrongs of the various resentments that continue to boil over into violence in that troubled region. My sympathies lie with the State of Israel. I lay no claim to objectivity.
What I can, and will, comment on is the way the latest conflict is being covered in this country and the reaction of a number of our citizens who have elected to wade into this difficult area with the confidence and certainty of a dilettante at a gallery opening.
The latest burst of activity began, according to news stories, with a fracas at the Al Aqsa mosque. No one died.
In response to this, or at least in the immediate aftermath, Hamas, the governing body of the Gaza Strip, unleashed thousands of rockets towards Israel. The Israeli Defence Force (IDF) reacted. This isn’t a shock. The first responsibility of a state is to defend its citizens.
I’d say sending a barrage of rockets is a declaration of war, a casus belli, that would justify invasion and occupation of the enemy. Israel did not do that. They elected to target selective military infrastructure and political leaders they feel are responsible.
In any military engagement there is the risk of civilian casualties. The IDF claims that Hamas use the civilian population as human shields but that, regardless, they maintain that they are taking great care to avoid collateral damage.
On the face of it, this claim stands up. If the IDF wanted to inflict mass civilian deaths on the Palestinian population they have the means to do so. None of this should be controversial. Even if you believe Israel is illegitimate, the facts point to a limited military response rather than total war. It is true that the death toll is lopsided, if we accept uncritically the casualty figures from Hamas, but this reflects the effectiveness of the Israeli defence systems rather than any proof of disproportionality by the IDF.
However, this has not been the reaction by some in these islands. What we have seen is media coverage heavily concentrated on the attacks by the IDF in Gaza and on local anti-Israeli protests which, in my view, has created the impression of an unconstrained bombardment of the civilian population.
I am not going to claim that all those who make false statements about Israel suffer from anti-Semitism. To do so would require opening a window into another’s soul and there is another explanation that I think fits: hyperbolic claims against Israel are rewarded in the potent currency of social media likes and re-tweets.
You don’t need to hate Jews to appreciate that making outlandish and sometimes false claims against Israel will get you on the news and be rewarded with praise for your compassion and humanity. But I do not believe this is a complete explanation of what we are observing. While Hamas and the IDF exchange rockets and invective, there is another conflict 2000 kilometres to the south: Yemen. Here, on this blighted desert land, a war by proxy between Saudi Arabia and Iran has claimed over 200,000 lives.
If the real concern was the deaths of children, we would have marches, protests and parliamentary resolutions flying out faster than a barrage of Hamas rockets about what is happening in Yemen. There isn’t. What we have is an obsession with Israel and her failings that is absent for any other global conflicts.
Hanging like a spectre over this drama is the Holocaust, the event that in many ways led to the creation of the Israeli state. We like to gloss over this tragedy as a historical anomaly, a creation of a fevered Teutonic mind that we are excused of responsibility because we fought the National Socialists.
This is a misreading of history. The genocide began after the war was declared and the allies did not go to war to save European Jewry. Rather we have used it as an ex-post rationalism to bolster our moral superiority. This crime was a European one, and it was the culmination of a millennium of hostility to the descendants of Isaac, son of Abraham.
All Western nations, including our own, have been tainted with the stain of anti-Semitism. From the crusades and the expulsion of the Jews by Edward I, through to forced conversions, blood libel, pogroms, ghettos and grotesque characterisations, no western nation is without sin.
There are valid reasons to critique Israel. The settlements, blockades and universal healthcare are all things that trouble me. If I lived there, I would be as contrarian towards their government as I am to my own. There are many who feel strongly, some with cause and others just responding uncritically to media coverage, about the plight of the Palestinians.
But there is also vitriol, lies and a double standard that is applied to and directed against Israel; some of which may be driven by ignorance and a desire for attention, but there is an undercurrent that does not look like good people with honest intentions campaigning against a perceived injustice. To me, it has a darker feel of an ancient hatred repackaged for a modern era.
Damien Grant is a Stuff columnist.
