Shalom.Kiwi

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ANZACs secured Palestine for the Allies

ANZAC commemorations in New Zealand usually understandably focus on the Gallipoli campaign, while some of the lesser known battles have received less attention. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Beersheba. This battle, as part of the Sinai…

Guest Post: Remember. Remember. Remember.

Earlier this year, I was privileged to attend the Auckland UN Holocaust Remembrance Day; on behalf of the Christian Church I offered this prayer: Our loving Heavenly Father … Mere words cannot describe the depths of our sorrow and shame…

United Nations War Crimes Commission Docuemnts on the Holocaust

UN documents shed light on Holocaust for Yom HaShoah and beyond

Tonight marks the start of Yom HaShoah Ve-Hagevurah, which literally translates as ‘Day of the Holocaust and the Heroism’. It falls on the day in the Hebrew calendar (27 Nissan) when the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began. Yom HaShoah serves as…

A Kiwi link to Denial: The Canterbury Tales

The movie Denial has just started screening widely in New Zealand cinemas. Rachel Weisz stars as Deborah Lipstadt, an historian and writer who was sued for libel by renowned Holocaust denier and anti-Semite, David Irving (played by Timothy Spall). What…

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…