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NZFOI ADDRESS TO RALLY ON OCT 29, 2023

FOLKS

I’M TONY KAN,

PRESIDENT OF THE NEW ZEALAND FRIENDS OF ISRAEL

TO THE ORGANIZERS OF THE MARCH

TO THE OTHER MEMBERS OF NEW ZEALAND FRIENDS OF ISRAEL

TO ALL THOSE WHO HAVE SACRIFICED THEIR TIME TO BE HERE

WELCOME

I HAVE SAID THIS BEFORE AND WILL SAY IT AGAIN:

FOR DECADES NEW ZEALANDERS HAVE HOSTED ISRAEL TRAVELLERS

TRAVELLED THROUGH THE MIDDLE EAST OURSELVES

SERVED AS PEACEKEEPERS IN THE MIDDLE EAST

WE HAVE EATEN WITH ISRAELIS

LAUGHED WITH ISRAELIS

ARGUED WITH ISRAELIS

CELEBRATED WITH ISRAELIS

EVEN MARRIED ISRAELIS

WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO ISRAEL

IS A CRIME AGAINST ISRAEL

IS A CRIME AGAINST JEWS

IS A CRIME AGAINST HUMANITY

AND IT HAS BROKEN OUR HEARTS

NO MATTER WHAT DIFFERENCES ONE MAY HAVE ON A POLITICAL ISSUE

IT IS EVIL TO INVADE SOMEONE’S HOME

TO COLDLY SHOOT PEOPLE IN THEIR BEDS

TO COLDLY MAKE THEM KNEEL ON THE GROUND AND EXECUTE THEM

TO COLDLY KILL PREGNANT WOMEN BEFORE THEIR PARTNERS AND CHILDREN

TO COLDLY BEHEAD BABIES

NO MATTER WHAT YOUR CAUSE MIGHT BE

NO MATTER HOW RIGHT YOU THINK YOU ARE

THIS IS EVIL

THIS IS EVIL AND IT MUST BE CONFRONTED

ISRAEL’S MILITARY OPERATIONS TODAY

ARE NOT ABOUT VENGEANCE

ARE NOT ABOUT EVENING THE SCORE

IT IS NOT JUST ABOUT DEFENDING ONE’S COUNTRY

IT IS ABOUT ENSURING THE SAFETY OF THE ISRAELI PEOPLE

THE TRAGEDY IS THAT THE PEOPLE OF GAZA

ELECTED HAMAS TO BE THEIR LEADERS

AND WITH SUCH POWER COMES MUCH RESPONSIBILITY

AND HAMAS HAS CHOSEN TO ORGANIZE AN ATTACK

ON A SCALE THAT CANNOT BE IGNORED

THAT CONSTITUTES AN ACT OF WAR

AND IN SO DOING

THEY HAVE BROUGHT WAR UPON THEIR PEOPLE

BECAUSE ISRAEL MUST ACT BOLDLY AND COURAGEOUSLY

TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF HER PEOPLE

PEOPLE

THAT WE KNOW AS FRIENDS

AND THEIR RELATIVES

GRANDPARENTS

UNCLES

AUNTIES

COUSINS

FATHERS

MOTHERS

BROTHERS

AND SISTERS;

BOYFRIENDS

GIRLFRENDS

THE TRAGEDY IS THAT IN SO DOING

MANY INNOCENT PEOPLE HAVE DIED

AND EVEN MORE WILL DIE

BUT THIS WAR WILL BE NO DIFFERENT THAN OTHER PREVIOUS CONFLICTS

THERE WILL BE A FIGHT FOR THE WORLD’S HEARTS AND MINDS

FOR OUR HEARTS AND MINDS

HAMAS OWES ITS EXISTENCE TO FOREIGN AID

THEY HAVE WATCHED THE RUSSO-UKRAINIAN WAR JEOPARDIZE EUROPEAN AID

THEY HAVE WATCHED THEIR ARAB ALLIES RECOGNIZE

THAT ISRAEL BRINGS TECHNOLOGICAL AND ECONOMIC BENEFITS

TO THE REGION

AND SEVERAL ARAB COUNTRIES HAVE CHOSEN TO RECOGNIZE ISRAEL

AND A BRISK TRADE HAS BEGUN

NOW THEY HAVE CALLOUSLY STARTED THIS CONFLICT TO

RE-IGNITE THE FLAME OF SUPPORT

TO REINVIGORATE THEIR GRIEVANCE INDUSTRY

BY ENSURING THAT INNOCENTS

WOMAN,

CHILDREN AND

THE ELDERLY

ARE PUT IN HARMS WAY

UNLIKE OTHER WARRING NATIONS

ISRAEL WILL NOT INDISCRIMINANTLY BOMB CIVILIANS

THEY WILL USE ALL THEIR INTELLIGENCE RESOURCES

TO IDENTIFY HAMAS’ OPERATIONAL CENTERS

AND MUNITIONS STORAGE SITES

CARPET BOMBING IS NOT ON THE TABLE

BUT THEY HAVE AN ENEMY

WHO VALUES DEATH BECAUSE

THEY HAVELUE MARTYRDOM MORE THAN LIFE

AND SO THEY ARE WILLING TO PUT THEIR CIVILIANS AT RISK

BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM HOSPITALS

BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM SCHOOLS

BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM RESIDENTIAL BUILDINGS

BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM BEHIND THEIR WOMEN, CHILDREN AND CIVILIANS

BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM UN FACILITIES

AND EVEN BY FIGHTING THEIR WAR FROM SAFETY ZONES

IN 1938 THE BRITISH OFFERED THE ARABS STATEHOOD

ALONGSIDE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE

THE ARABS REJECTED IT THEN

IN 1948, THE UN RECOGNIZED THAT THERE WERE TWO ETHNIC GROUPS

THAT HAD A DEEP HERITAGE IN THE REGION

WHICH WAS ONCE PART OF THE TURKISH EMPIRE

THEY VOTED TO CREATE TWO NATIONS

THEY MIGHT LIVE SIDE BY SIDE AT PEACE WITH ONE ANOTHER

THE ARABS REJECTED THE OFFER OF NATIONHOOD THEN TOO

IN 2000

STATEHOOD WAS AGAIN OFFERED TO THE ARABS

AND THIS TOO WAS REJECTED

EVEN THOUGH 90% OF THE ARABS’ DEMANDS WERE MET IN THE OFFER

IN FACT THE ARABS WOULD REJECT OFFERS OF STATEHOOD TWICE MORE

EACH TIME THE DEAL WAS SWEETENED WITH EVEN MORE CONCESSIONS

IN THE TWENTIETH AND TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY

THE ARABS HAVE REJECTED STATEHOOD A TOTAL OF FIVE TIMES

THE ONLY GOAL THEY SEEK

IS THE COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF ISRAEL

YOU WILL HEAR

ACCUSATIONS OF JEWISH COLONIZATION

ACCUSATIONS OF DISPLACED INDIGENOUS PEOPLES

AS IF THERE IS ONLY ONE INDIGENOUS PEOPLE

BUT HISTORY TELLS US THAT FOR THOUSANDS OF YEARS

BOTH JEWS AND ARABS

HAVE LIVED IN THE REGION

SO WE IN THE WEST MUST TAKE ONE OF THE KEY STRENGTHS THAT WE BRING TO CIVILIZATION

AND THAT IS THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD

AND CAREFULLY SIFT THROUGH THE INFORMATION WE RECEIVE THROUGH THE MEDIA

AND WEIGH THE EVIDENCE

BEFORE WE JUMP TO ANY CONCLUSION

THE TRUTH WILL NOT EASILY COME TO YOU

WHEN EVIL WILL SEEK TO MISINFORM

WAIT FOR INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATIONS AFTER THE CONFLICT BEFORE JUMPING TO CONCLUSIONS

YOU WILL HEAR HOW GAZA IS ONE OF THE MOST DENSELY POPULATED AREAS OF THE WORLD

IMPLYING THIS IS THE SOURCE OF THEIR POVERTY

BUT IF YOU RESEARCH IT

FOR EVERY GAZA THERE IS A SINGAPORE

FOR EVERY DELHI THERE IS A TOKYO

FOR EVERY JAKARTA THERE IS AN AMSTERDAM

DON’T BELIEVE EVERYTHING YOU HEAR

THE SOURCE OF THEIR POVERTY IS THEIR GOAL OF WAGING WAR OVER BUILDING A NATION

FINALLY OVER 200 HOSTAGES WAIT TO BE RETURNED

AND WE ARE EXTREMELY FEARFUL FOR THEIR SAFETY

BECAUSE WE KNOW IN TRYING TO ENSURE THE SAFETY OF THE MAJORITY

ISRAEL IS PUT IN THE IMPOSSIBLE DILEMMA OF JEOPARDIZING THE SAFETY OF THE HOSTAGES

THANK YOU FOR COMING OUT TO SUPPORT ISRAEL TODAY

IN DOING SO, YOU SUPPORT

THE RIGHT OF AN INDIGENOUS PEOPLE TO BE SAFE IN THEIR HOMELAND

YOU SUPPORT THE IDEAL THAT HUMANITY SHOULD NOT SETTLE THEIR DIFFERENCES THROUGH VIOLENCE

THAT IF WAR IS INEVITABLE THAT HARM TO WOMEN, CHILDREN AND THE ELDERLY SHOULD BE MINIMIZED.

YOU SUPPORT TRUTH OVER MISINFORMATION

THAT YOU SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT GOOD PEOPLE SHOULD NOT STAND ASIDE LEAVING EVIL TO TRIUMPH

THANK YOU

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→ 19 October 2023
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“We will never forget, but will not be captive to the past”

The Press 18 October 2023

Juliet Moses

Julian Moses is a spokesperson for the New Zealand Jewish Council.

“Hamas did not build a state, but a terrorist infrastructure to destroy one.”

Jews are an ancient people with a long collective memory. Embedded in the memory, alongside happier times, our massacres we have suffered – during this destruction of our two temples in Jerusalem by the Babylonians and Romans, the 1190 massacre at York Castle, the pogroms of the Russian Empi (which my family flew), the 1929 Hebron rights, the Nazis’ Kristallnacht 1938, Baghdad’s Farhud of 1941, the 1972 Munich Olympics, to name a few.

Now there is another messenger that we will carry with us. October 7, 2023.

On our joyous festival of some Torah, Hamas, the year-round-backed terrorist regime that rules Gaza, stage a mass coordinated terror attack on Israelis with thousands of rockets and infiltration by more than 1500 members.

More than 1400 Israelis were murdered (proportionately in New Zealand, that would be about 770 people) and thousands hospitalised. More than 190 hospitals remained in Gaza. It was the deadliest day for us since the Holocaust.

As President Biden said: “this attack is brought to the surface painful memories and the scars left by millennia of anti-Semitism and genocide of the Jewish people.”

The barbarity, gleefully broadcast to the world, is unspeakable. Literally. Hardened war correspondence and soldiers at the scene had been rendered speechless, crying and retching.

There were raped women paraded through Gaza like trophies, Holocaust survivors and children taken hostage in Taunton, babies burned in the cops, families riddled with bullets while in hiding, a woman’s execution uploaded onto Facebook for her granddaughter to discover, 260 revellers at a music festival – peace – slaughter, shot in the back and safely and dismembered by grenades as they had in a bomb shelter.

The victims included Arabs (who comprise 20% of Israel’s citizens) and many other nationalities. Elderly peace activist Vivian Silva, who drove cancer-stricken Gazans to Jerusalem for treatment, is presumed adducted.

It leaves an indelible bloodied stain on the frame fabric of humanity.

Our pain and read are soothed by the many Kiwis who have expressed their horror and supported us, and compounded by those who not even allowed us the dignity and time to mourn.

While the death squads still stalled their prey through Israel and we were desperately missed during our family and friends need to check on them, the celebrations, justifications, equivocation, sanitisations and contextualisations began.

In New Zealand came from politicians, academics, columnists, a formal all-black, and (I will limit the word “civil”) society groups.

In declaiming about decolonisation, liberation, power imbalances, resistance and justice, they had to history’s long list of codewords like Christ-killers, poisoning the wells, Usery, and racial purity, that legitimise the dehumanisation and massacre of Jews. Yet, it is they who have lost their humanity.

Thousands marched in Auckland on Saturday, shutting the Hamas rallying cry “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” demanding the annihilation of Israel, where almost half the world’s Jewish population of some 15 million lives. We do not feel safe.

There was also the silence, including from those we believe to be friends, record the words of Martin Luther King Jr.: “In the end, we remember not the words of our enemies, the silence of our friends.”

As a moral duty of anyone who cares about the Palestinian people and wants peace to unequivocally condemn these atrocities, demand the release of hostages and reject the insidious inversion of morality in reality being propagated.

That inversion will talk about occupation and blockades, but omit to mention that Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005, dismantling every settlement and removing every two (including those buried there).

It created the conditions for Palestinians to self-government for the first time in history, to be free and flourish, and coexist peacefully with the neighbours.

Instead, they elected Hamas, an internationally designated terrorist regime, after which both Israel and Egypt imposed military blockades to defend their borders.

Hamas did not build a state, but a terrorist infrastructure to destroy one.

Hamas does not want, and violently derails, peace – except that which the founder of Palestinian nationalism, Yasser Arafat, envisaged when he said, “peace for us means the destruction of Israel.”

Actually, can be no peace without the destruction of the genocidal ideology of Hamas. Enshrined in Hamas’ founding document as the unambiguous injunction to both obliterate Israel and Jews.

Hamas knows that, unlike itself, as well sees its first duty is protecting its people. Hamas launched this attack – for terrorism, not territory – understanding is people, who had two holes hostage, would pay a terrible price.

What would you demand of our government if there were an army of over 30,000 Isis-like terrorists and our border, willing and able to continue their genocidal mission?

In the meantime, Jewish people will do what we have always done. We will outlast Hamas, as with all our enemies who have sought our destruction through our civilisation.

We will never forget, but will not be captive to the past. We want to smear for all innocent lives lost. And to all those who on our right to self-determination, freedom and dignity, we will honour the same in return and continue to out stretch our arms in peace.

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→ 31 January 2023
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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:

  1. That the Palestinian Leadership is interested in peaceful co-existence with the Jewish people.
  2. That peace in the Middle East is predicated on the establishment of a Palestinian State based on pre-1967 borders.
  3. 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.

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→ 24 February 2021
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The Businesses of Mahmoud Abbas and His Sons | JCPA

Mahmoud Abbas

[NZFOI: For background reading and future reference; and relevant to be aware of to contextualise the upcoming general elections]

Abu Abbas is not prepared to countenance Muhammad Dahlan as his successor.

The PA chairman’s two sons, Tareq and Yasser, own an economic empire in the territories worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and they rely on their connection with their father.

Mahmoud Abbas’ main endeavor is to find a fitting successor who will ensure both the continued existence of his sons’ businesses and their wellbeing.

The succession battle in the Palestinian Authority has become very elemental since Mahmoud Abbas rejected the request of four Arab states – Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates – to mend fences with his bitter rival Muhammad Dahlan. Some of those states want to see Dahlan as the next PA chairman.

Although some in Fatah view Abbas’ rejection of the Arab request as an act of “political suicide,” Abbas does not show signs of stress. At the urging of Egypt and Jordan, which fear Hamas, he called off the elections in the territories and consented to a return to Fatah by some of Dahlan’s people. As far as Abbas is concerned, he has complied with most of Egypt and Jordan’s requests. Yet, still, he is not prepared to countenance Muhammad Dahlan.

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→ 18 February 2021
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Biden speaks with Netanyahu after delay raised questions | CNN

Israeli PM, Benjamin Netanyahu on the phone with US President, Joe Biden

President Joe Biden spoke Wednesday with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, ending what had been a lengthy stretch without a call after Biden took office.

The period without communication had raised questions about what was behind the delay, though the White House insisted the two men had a strong relationship and that Biden was simply calling leaders in other regions before arriving at the Middle East.”

It was a good conversation,” Biden told reporters in the Oval Office shortly after the call ended, without elaborating.

In a post on Twitter, Netanyahu said he had spoken with Biden for roughly an hour in “friendly and warm” terms, affirming the US-Israel alliance and discussing issues related to Iran, regional diplomacy and the coronavirus pandemic.

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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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→ 1 October 2020
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When it comes to Israel it doesn’t matter that much which major party forms the government | NZFOI

In many minds, Anti-Semitism has disguised itself as advocacy for Palestinian Arabs and opposition to Israel’s existence.  Unsurprisingly therefore, NZFOI is keenly interested in NZ’s policies toward Israel in its fight against Anti-Semitism.  Those following the many articles setting out the policies, the statements and the track records of the various NZ political parties in relation to Israel, will have noticed something: 

Over the last few years, no matter what they have said prior to entering government all have become subordinated to the “long-standing” and “even-handed” foreign policy set out by previous administrations and closely guarded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Each administration has parroted these two catch-phrases, “long-standing” and “even-handed” policy (or their synonyms) over and over whenever the Middle East Conflict has arisen.   

These two phrases or variations of them are being recited by each administration because this is the advice given by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT).  We know this because of the good work of the Israel Institute of New Zealand who obtained the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade’s advice on NZ’s UN voting between 2015-2018 through the Official Information Act.  In those documents, the Ministry says: 

“New Zealand has for many years endeavoured to take a balanced and even-handed approach to Middle East issues in the UN, with the primary objective of supporting a sustainable two-state solution, best achieved through direct Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.”

In defending Resolution 2334, Bill English said it “expressed long-standing international policy.”

Based on his 2017 pre-election statements, Winston Peters looked like an opportunity to reset NZ’s relations with Israel in the aftermath of NZ’s unwise sponsorship of Resolution 2334.  Yet in 2020, he too repeated that NZ’s policy was a “consistent” one and it was “balanced” when questioned as to why his government supported anti-semitic bias at the UN.

During a casual conversation with Gerard van Bohemen, a previous NZ Representative to the UN and now High Court judge, he too re-affirmed that NZ’s stance on the Middle East was “long-standing” and “even-handed.”  It’s been crafted over many decades and transcends individual administrations.  He then said, we shouldn’t have a go at the Ministry as they are just a civil service, there to implement the policies of the current administration.  NZFOI needed to get to the academic experts who helped shape the policy in the first place.

It’s almost as if the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has frightened each incoming administration with disastrous consequences if it dared to touch the “long-standing” and “even-handed” policy which embodies the collective wisdom of previous governments, that in their eyes, has performed so well in protecting New Zealand’s interests.

Without focusing on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the “experts” it uses to form its views on international issues, NZ’s interests, and therefore how it advises each incoming administration, NZ’s stance on the Middle East Conflict will not be diverted from its current course. 

Because of this, when it comes to Israel it doesn’t matter that much which major party forms the government.

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→ 4 September 2020
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Saudi breaks 72-year taboo with green light to Israeli flights | Stuff

El Al now free to fly through Saudi Arabian airspace

Israeli airlines will be allowed to cross through Saudi Arabia on a regular basis, shattering a 72-year taboo as Gulf Arab nations and the Jewish state draw steadily closer together.

On Wednesday, Saudi Arabia approved a United Arab Emirates request to use the kingdom’s airspace “for all flights coming to the United Arab Emirates and leaving to all countries,” a consequential, if oblique outreach to Israel.

The short statement by the state-run Saudi Press Agency, citing an unidentified official at the aviation authority, was quickly followed by a tweet from the foreign minister.

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→ 20 August 2020
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US will not consent to West Bank annexation ‘for some time,’ Jared Kushner says | JTA

Jared Kushner, Senior Advisor to the President

Israel will not move forward with its West Bank annexation plan without U.S. approval — and that consent won’t come for some time.

That’s what Jared Kushner, a senior adviser to President Donald Trump, told reporters from Middle East media outlets on Monday. Kushner said the Trump administration had gained Israel’s trust by moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem and thus Israel will honor its commitment not to advance its idea to annex parts of the West Bank.

“That land is land that right now that Israel, quite frankly, controls,” Kushner said. “Israelis that live there aren’t going anywhere. There shouldn’t be any urgency to applying Israeli law.”

Kushner said the focus now has to be on implementing the peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates that was announced on Thursday. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu agreed to suspend annexation as part of the deal.

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→ 17 February 2020
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Egypt builds a wall on border with Gaza | Al-Monitor

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Maj. Gen. Ahmed Abdel Khalek, the Egyptian intelligence officer in charge of Cairo’s Palestinian portfolio, arrived in the Gaza Strip Feb. 10 as head of an Egyptian security delegation that made a field trip along the Egyptian-Gazan border as part of the new Egyptian preparations to boost border security and prevent extremists from entering the Sinai Peninsula from the Gaza Strip. The delegation also met with Hamas’ leadership in the Gaza Strip. 

Speaking to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity, tribal sources in the northern Sinai Peninsula stated that on Jan. 27 Egyptian armed forces embarked on the first phase of building a 2-kilometer-long barrier on the border with the Gaza Strip, starting from the Kerem Shalom crossing to the Rafah border crossing. Such a step went unannounced by the Egyptian armed forces, the sources added. 

Read more: https://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2020/02/egypt-builds-new-barrier-to-boost-border-security-gaza-strip.html#ixzz6EAF8DxYI

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