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Holocaust Centre of New Zealand visits Nelson students to teach humanity

Nelson students have been part of a new humanity education outreach programme that aims to reach regional centres in the South Island. Last week, members from the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand visited Nelson College, Nelson College for Girls and…

Happy Passover from Shalom.Kiwi

One of the Jewish religion’s most sacred and widely observed holidays, Passover (or Pesach in Hebrew – פסח), commemorates the story of the Israelites’ departure from ancient Egypt, which appears in the Hebrew Bible’s books of Exodus, Numbers and Deuteronomy,…

The man who survived Dr Mengele’s experiments

Benjamin Steiner cut a distinctive figure with his dapper clothes, trilby hat and twinkly eyes. But belying that appearance, his body covered in scars and the number A-421734 tattooed on his left forearm, was a terrible truth. Steiner was a…

Young Australian Greens refuse to meet with Jewish students

The Australasian Union of Jewish Students invited members the NSW Young Greens to a meeting with bipartisan young political staffers at the NSW Parliament. However the NSW Young Greens co-convenor, Kleon Toffetti, refused the invitation because “We have a longstanding…

Free speech threatened at New Zealand universities

An open letter signed by a diverse group of 27 prominent Kiwis has been sent to New Zealand MPs affirming the importance of free speech on university campuses. Professor Paul Moon led the initiative saying, “It is dangerous and wrong…

An Illusion of Paradise

Dr Norman Simms has taught in New Zealand, Canada, France, and Israel for over forty years as a specialist in literature and in Jewish thought and identity. His latest work, “Jews in an Illusion of Paradise: Dust and Ashes Volume…

BSA-TVNZ-inaccurate reporting-Gaza blockade

BSA rules Gaza blockade cannot be reported as “illegal”

The Broadcasting Standards Authority has upheld a complaint concerning TVNZ’s coverage of the Israeli maritime blockade of Gaza, on the basis that it breached the required standard of accuracy by stating the blockade of Gaza is “illegal”. In doing so…

10 Questions for Bill English on NZ’s ‘longstanding policy’

After months of evasion, the New Zealand Prime Minister has finally admitted, in response to another question from Winston Peters about UN Security Council Resolution 2334 in Parliament earlier this week, that the resolution was not put to cabinet for approval….

Israel and New Zealand to do battle on the ice in April

Ice sports are not usually associated with Israel, just like bobsledding wasn’t associated with Jamaica until Cool Runnings, and baseball wasn’t associated with Israel before their remarkable wins in the 2017 World Baseball Classic, but Israel has one full sized…

The boundaries of responsible discourse

[‘The Boundaries of responsible discourse’ by Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis was one of a collection of essays on antisemitism and the lessons of the Holocaust, commissioned by the U.K. Holocaust Education Trust.] No-one enjoys being on the receiving end of…

How New Zealand pushed a trophy resolution through and scored an own goal

Since the passing of anti-Israel UN Resolution 2334 on Christmas Eve last year, co-sponsored by New Zealand, there have been questions about what kind of mandate the Foreign Minister had and the level of prior advice and knowledge of the…

Surprising admissions from New Zealand’s Permanent Representative to the UN

For many New Zealanders the anti-Israel UN Resolution 2334, co-sponsored by New Zealand on the Eve of Christmas 2016, came as a shock. It is one thing for a democratic nation to criticise another democratic nation for its policies. It…

Happy Purim from Shalom.Kiwi

“They tried to kill us. We survived. Let’s eat”, sums up most Jewish holidays fairly well. In the case of Purim, the attempted destruction of the Jews occurred in Persia, modern day Iran. The Jews survived because of an intelligent,…