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Progressive Jews hail NZ censure of Israeli annexation | J-Link

NZFOI: Hmmm….

PRESS RELEASE

THURSDAY, 25 JUNE 2020

J-LINK AOTEAROA, a group of New Zealand Jews, welcomed Aotearoa-New Zealand’s condemnation of Israel’s illegal plan to annex up to one third of the occupied West Bank in flagrant breach of international law.

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“The Aotearoa-New Zealand government has courageously followed its sponsorship of the 2016 UN Security Council resolution declaring Israel’s West Bank settlements illegal with a powerful statement condemning the planned annexation,” J-LINK spokeswoman Dr. Margalit Toledano.

“Israel is attempting to do this in breach of the Geneva Convention and United Nations international rights while the world’s attention is diverted by Covid19 and Black Lives Matter.

“Jews around the world know this is wrong, illegal and a prescription for bloodshed.”

“The world condemned Russia’s annexation of Crimea and it should damn this equally aggressive action.”

Foreign Affairs Minister Hon Winston Peters today called on Israel to reconsider its illegal plan. He said annexation would gravely undermine the two-state solution, breach international law, and pose significant risks to regional security.

J-LINK, an international network of Jewish organisations committed to democracy and peace, says annexation plans would lead to permanent Israeli military control over millions of Palestinians while denying them basic civil and political rights. It would put an end to Israel’s democracy and kill any hope for a Two state solution and peace in the Middle East.

“This new land grab will intensify the undemocratic and inhumane reality of Israeli’s 53-year occupation of whatever is left of the Palestinian territory. It is prescription for a violent conflict and bloodshed.” Dr Toledano said

Fifty Jewish organisations from all over the world signed J-LINK’s appeal to the Israeli government to take the annexation plan off the Israeli government agenda.

J-Link Aotearoa calls on all democratic countries to follow Aotearoa-New Zealand’s lead against Israel’s illegal plan.

J-LINK Aotearoa is part of J-LINK, an international network of Jewish organisations committed to democracy and peace.

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→ 2 June 2020
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Long time Jewish Advocate Honoured | Radio New Zealand

David Zwartz

Heartwarming…

“The chair of the Wellington Jewish Council, David Zwartz, has been made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit.

He has been an advocate for the Jewish community at many levels since the 1980s.

Zwartz was one of the group of faith leaders who founded the Wellington Interfaith Council, as well as establishing the National Interfaith Forums in 2003.

He said his work was not over.

“It’s really an ongoing task to bring people together – to explain to each other about their faiths and how their beliefs also go towards making a more harmonious New Zealand society,” he said.”

— Radio New Zealand

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→ 14 May 2020
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New Zealand Couple and Community Bring in Lag BaOmer | Chabad

Rabbi Mendel and Esther Hecht with their daughter.

After last Yom Kippur, as the community members of Chabad of Auckland, New Zealand, gathered together to break the fast, one congregant rose, telling those gathered: “If it weren’t for Chabad, I wouldn’t have been at synagogue today. I would have been at work.” Another remarked that while he’d been going to synagogue for 83 years, this year’s service was better than all the others combined.

Fast-forward seven months and one coronavirus pandemic later to Lag BaOmer. With the approach of the holiday, which is traditionally celebrated outdoors—a gorgeous time of year in New Zealand, with the warmer weather stubbornly clinging on, and the trees beginning to shed their red and orange leaves—Rabbi Mendel Hecht, director of Chabad of Auckland, was determined to celebrate with the community, social-distancing-style.

While encouraging everyone to stay in their own backyards for kosher Kiwi barbecues and roasted marshmallows, the young rabbi—who arrived with his wife, Esther, to far-flung New Zealand just a year-and-a-half ago, their young daughter in tow—and the Auckland Jewish community took part in a first-ever trans-Tasman Lag BaOmer celebration at the start of the holiday on Monday evening, May 11, with their Australian counterparts across the ditch.

As with every Shabbat and Jewish holiday, New Zealand Jews have the privilege of being the very first Jewish community in the world to usher in the holiness of the day.

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→ 21 April 2020
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Yom HaShoah 2020 Memorial Service | ZFNZ

Last night the Zionist Federation of New Zealand organized a memorial service to honour the victims of the Holocaust.

In case you missed it, you can catch the service here:

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→ 20 April 2020
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Anti-Semitic graffiti on Ōwairaka/Mt Albert targets Tūpuna Maunga Authority chair Paul Majurey ‘abhorrent act’ | NZ Herald

Tūpuna Maunga Authority chair Paul Majurey has called the graffiti an “abhorrent act”. Photo: Russell Brown

Anti-Semitic graffiti has appeared atop an Auckland maunga targeting the Tūpuna Maunga Authority chair Paul Majurey in what has been called an “abhorrent act”.

Since October, protesters have been occupying Ōwairaka/Mt Albert to prevent the removal of hundreds of exotic trees as part of a major cultural and native restoration project that has the backing of the city’s mana whenua and Auckland Council representatives.

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→ 18 March 2020
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NZFOI and Coronavirus: Go early and go hard!

With the Coronavirus Crisis, the world has reached another “new norm” and how long this “norm” is going to be, cannot be pre-determined. 

It depends on how much ordinary citizens take the crisis seriously, observe hygiene, self isolation and quarantine protocols.

Although the mortality rate of between 2-5% might seem low, it’s likely that if numbers of patients balloon, the number of serious cases that will require hospitalisation will quickly overwhelm the health system’s capacity to cope.  

Therefore:

  1. We urge everyone to take this crisis seriously. 
  2. NZFOI is cancelling all meetings for April and May.
  3. A decision whether meetings will be held in June will be made in late May.
  4. We urge all our members to observe extraordinary hygiene protocols:  Wash your hands frequently and regularly, if you have a cold or flu, self-isolate.  Don’t wait for a diagnosis or testing.
  5. Don’t shake hands or hug when greeting others.  A smile and a wave is sufficient.  
  6. Throw away ideas that persevering with work even though you are feeling unwell shows a good work ethic.  If unwell or you have had contact with someone recently returned from abroad, don’t go to work.
  7. If you have a fever, or shortness of breath, notify the authorities ph 0800 611 116.  Self-isolate everyone in your household and don’t send your children to school.
  8. If your role permits it, talk to your employer about working from home.
  9. Don’t panic but do take everything seriously and act conservatively.
  10. If you are over 60, have a pre-existent lung condition or a compromised immune system, then stop hosting Israeli travellers.  Your health and well-being is more important at this time.
  11. For those who believe in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, it is not a lack of faith, if you take practical steps to prevent infection for both yourself and others.  
  12. There is no clash between Science and G-d.  Science is the pursuit of truth; and G-d is truth.
  13. Look out for your neighbours, especially the elderly and infirm.  Offer to help them out.
  14. All these things may seem inconvenient and over the top, in this instance, a little short term pain results in much long term gain.  
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→ 1 March 2020
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All White Tom Doyle glad to be back in NZ after unsettling encounter with neo-Nazism | Stuff

Tom Doyle, NZ Footballer

Tom Doyle is enjoying New Zealand, after an unsettling four-month stint in a German city that was the site of major neo-Nazi marches in 2018.

The 11-cap All White is in Tahiti this week with Auckland City, chasing success in the OFC Champions League and a place at the Fifa Club World Cup in December.

As he soaks up the sunlight in the Pacific – and does his job on the pitch, whether at left back or left centre back – he is glad to be back on this side of the world.

At the start of August, shortly after Doyle made his debut for Chemnitzer FC in the German third tier, the club sacked its captain, Daniel Frahn, accusing him of openly displaying sympathy for neo-Nazi elements within its support base.

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See this video discussing the rise of the far-right in Chemnitz:

https://www.euronews.com/embed/745054

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→ 1 March 2020
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From breaking point to the big turnaround, for Dan Shamir it’s all about the coaching | Stuff

Dan Shamir in the midst of a huddle with the Breakers during a time-out.

NZFOI: For those who don’t follow Basketball, they may be surprised to find that the coach of NZ’s only professional basketball team, the Breakers, in the Australian Basketball League, is from Israel. Readers may guess from the headline that they had a nightmare first half of the season before pulling off an astonishing comeback, only to miss the play-offs by a whisker.

Dan Shamir can talk basketball till the cows come home. He’s a hoops tragic who has invested his life in a sport he’s been besotted with since he was an aspiring young point guard growing up in the holy city of Jerusalem. Now his hardwood pilgrimage has brought him to the far corner of the planet, that passion and intensity remain undimmed.

So, in a long, at times probing, conversation around the season of two halves that he has just undergone with the Breakers, his first coaching in Australia’s National Basketball League in a two-decade career, the game face is very much on. Huddled in his corner office at the club facility on the North Shore, he dives into difficult questions with transparency, passion and insight. It’s only when you question him about the wisdom of this move to the relative hoops backwater of New Zealand that a smile finally crosses his bespectacled face.

At last we get a glimpse of the man behind the clipboard-clutching coach. The 45-year-old husband, father of three and citizen of the world finally relaxes and rips it strictly from the heart.

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→ 26 February 2020
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CLARIFICATION TO THE OPINION COLUMN IN THE DOMINION POST ON 25 FEBRUARY | One Chronicle

Clarification to the Opinion Column in the Dominion Post on 25 February
Tuesday, 25 February 2020

In an opinion piece published in the Dominion Post on 25 February the authors, Fred Albert and Marilyn Garson expressed their contentious views on the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism (https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-antisemitism).

In their column, the authors chose to self-describe themselves as “members and service leaders” at Wellington’s Progressive Synagogue without offering any further disclaimer. In doing so their views are in effect being ascribed to be those of the Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation (Temple Sinai) and its members.

This effective misrepresentation is damaging to the Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation and is disregarding of its members.

As Board Chair, I want to distance the Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation from the views expressed by the authors in their column. Their views are in no way representative of those of the Board or the congregation, they are rather the views of a vocal fringe.

Furthermore, I want to assert that the Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation is not anti- or non-Zionist. It is an affiliate of the Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ), a Zionist organisation and support and love for Israel is at the heart of Progressive Judaism.

I trust this will help to correct misconceptions arising from this newspaper column.

Matthew Smith

Board of Management Chair
Wellington Progressive Jewish Congregation (Temple Sinai)

Source

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→ 26 February 2020
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Racists don’t care about new definitions of hate | Stuff

Temple Sinai was the recent subject of an anti-Semitic graffiti attack

NZFOI: This article was written by two members of the Temple Sinai community and derailed efforts urging the Wellington City Council to adopt the IHRA definition of Anti-Semitism. It was met with outrage by the rest of the Jewish community and the President of Temple Sinai has distanced the organisation from the article, stating that its views do not represent the views of the Temple Sinai board.

If you follow the issue of racism or the protest against Israel’s occupation of Palestine, you will know the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism. It has lit fires of protest across Europe, Canada and the US.

The problem lies not in the IHRA definition of antisemitism but in a set of examples which have been used to conflate criticism of Israel with a hatred of Jews. Anti-Zionism has been called antisemitism.

Given this document’s global trail of controversy, we were stunned to see a motion on Wellington City Council’s agenda for Wednesday, February 26, to adopt the IHRA document for our city.

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