Green Party MPs Use Hamas Slogan The representative body for New Zealand Jewry condemns the inflammatory comments and inaccurate statements made by two Green MPs in recent days, which risk stoking antisemitism and endangering Jews in New Zealand, as we have seen around the world in…
A Tonge-lashing from an antisemite This article, written by Juliet Moses, was originally published by Times of Israel. On Sunday morning, I enjoyed a sleep-in. The one day of the week there’s no school, work, sports, or synagogue to rush off to. Once I had…
The problem with Ardern’s Corbyn endorsement For many Jewish New Zealanders, their decision on which political candidate to support will at least partly be based on that candidate’s position on Israel and “the conflict”, as well as their sensitivity around anti-Semitism as it exists in 2017. …
TVNZ honours Nazi soldier, minimises Holocaust A recent Sunday programme on TVNZ reported on a “remarkable survivor” of World War II who arrived in New Zealand in the 1950s. This was not a Jewish refugee who survived the war and the horrors of death camps. Nor…
From Amsterdam to Auckland – a story of modern Jewish migration Imagine you have a thriving business, a beautiful home in a photogenic European capital, your kids are in a great school, your partner has a stable and well-paid job. Your favourite restaurants and shops are around the corner. Your friends…
Shifra Horn: Palestinians spurning offers of peace Fifty years ago this week, Israelis were euphoric. Our young army had just won the Six Day War and our newly created country in our historic homeland had been spared what we thought was our inevitable death and destruction. That…
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…
Jewish Community backs HRC in hate crime reporting and no new laws The New Zealand Jewish Council has added its voice to those government ministers opposing the idea of new hate crime legislation but support the idea of collecting more information when crimes occur. Recording hate crimes as such, and identifying the…
A “Judenrein” Jerusalem? New Zealand’s shame A respected British commentator recently described New Zealand as “a stupid country of no other significance”. She was referencing NZ co-sponsoring UN resolution 2334, which effectively bans Jews from living in certain areas. I am not convinced that New Zealand…
A principled man with a mighty pen – Sir James McNeish It seems somehow fitting that on November 14, the day much of New Zealand was shaken repeatedly by earthquakes, and the supermoon hung in the sky, news came that two of the country’s most creative and well-loved souls had slipped…
Terms misused by anti-Israel activists: A doublespeak dictionary for modern anti-Semites In the seemingly intractable conflict between Israel and the Palestinians, words are just as powerful weapons as rockets or knives. Words can kill, but they are also a casualty of the conflict. You may remember Newspeak, the fictional language in…
Archbishop: ‘We must stand together against antisemitism’ Antisemitism is an insidious evil. The habits of antisemitism have been burrowing into European and British culture for as long as we can remember. In England, during the late mediaeval period, the Jewish community faced constant persecution: Shylock, the great…
Anti-Semitism 101 — A case study Yesterday a Shalom.Kiwi reader, Natalie Owen, posted a series of hate-filled anti-Semitic rants in response to one of Shalom.Kiwi’s articles. Normally these kinds of abusive rants would be removed, but on this occasion we thought they served a useful purpose in…