Shalom.Kiwi

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Kiwi Commentators Reveal Holocaust Ignorance

Amongst the recent legitimate outcry about the Trump administration’s policy of separating children from their parents on the southern border of the United States, many commentators around the world have been quick to raise analogies with the treatment of Jews…

What is BDS really about?

What is BDS really about? What about apartheid? BDS tactics BDS is shrouded in the stench of antisemitism Don’t be fooled What is BDS really about? BDS, the boycott, divestment and sanctions campaign against Israel, dishonestly brands itself as…

Commentary that ”Palestinians innocent, Israelis evil” is morally bankrupt

Donna Miles-Mojab wrote that the language used about Palestinians is putting their lives at risk. I agree that the language used by most mainstream media to report and analyse the events in Gaza is shameful and it does risk Palestinian lives….

NZ called out at UN: ‘Shocking and shameful’

This week New Zealand’s Prime Minister, yet again, pointed an accusing finger at Israel for the “devastating one-sided loss of life” in the conflict on the Gaza border. Ms Ardern could perhaps be excused for getting it wrong, in speaking…

The Gaza clashes: 10 things the media isn’t telling you or asking

The mainstream media in NZ and elsewhere is currently awash with bias, ignorance and misinformation about the conflict on the Gaza border that resulted in the deaths of 60 Palestinians. Here are 10 points you are very unlikely to hear:…

Recounting 70 years (and still counting)

Seventy years ago Hitler’s war against the Jews was no longer raging. The Holocaust had finally been checked. The Crematoria of Auschwitz-Birkenau and of other of Hitler’s extermination centres had been snuffed out. However the furnaces were still smouldering in…

Israel at 70

Israel, a country half the size of Canterbury, is often in the news, but rarely for positive reasons. On 14 May the Jewish homeland celebrates 70 years since its rebirth as a modern state under the mandate of the UN,…

New Zealanders Show Support for Israel

Late in 2016 many New Zealanders were appalled at the stance taken by our government in co-sponsoring UN Resolution 2334, which was seen as a biased, counter-productive and unbalanced censuring of Israel. A large number of Israel supporters responded with…

Exploring the Kiwi connection as Israel turns 70

Last week Israelis began a series of events in celebration of 70 years of statehood since the Declaration of the Establishment of the State of Israel in 1948. While New Zealand’s relationship with Israel has in recent years been frosty,…

Michael Wood’s 2018 Yom HaShoah Address

Tonight is about remembrance. Recalling the evil barbarism of the Shoah. Remembering the courage and humanity of those who suffered and were murdered, along with those who heroically resisted. Also I think, it is about remembering and acknowledging the collective…

Green MPs Davidson and Ghahraman show selective concern for human rights

Green MPs Marama Davidson and Golriz Ghahraman demonstrated selective outrage last week, suggesting that their concern for human rights in the Middle East extends only so far as Israel can be blamed. In the space of one week they stridently…

Dayenu

Passover has always been my favourite festival. It’s not eating a cardboard-like substance, sinus-clearing horseradish and other artery-clogging food that makes it so. Even as a child, I recognised intuitively that there was something special and rich in meaning in…

From Paris to Auckland: “I’m very happy that we’re here. I’m breathing again”.

Last Friday, 85 year old Jewish Parisienne and Holocaust survivor, Mireille Knoll, was murdered in her home, allegedly by her neighbour and an accomplice. The attackers stabbed her 11 times and then set her and her apartment on fire. Two…