Australia & NZ.

During a recent visit to Israel, Bougie Herzog, Chairman of the Jewish Agency and former leader of the Opposition, asked me how life was Down Under in the ‘Golden Medina’. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, it was America that held the auspicious title, Die goldene medina as …

The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) has called on the Australian government to reconsider funding for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) following the revelation of rampant corruption at the highest levels of the scandal-riddled organisation. A recent internal UN ethics report was found to have documented “credible …

This was an interview that touched on the status and circumstances of Mizrahi (‘eastern’) Jews in Israel.  The presenter was Jonathan Green, and the Executive Producer was Claudette Werden.  The interviewees were Orly Noy, an Israeli born in Iran and Sara Saleh, an Australian citizen of Palestinian background.  Ms Noy …

The world’s attention is once again turned towards the fraught relationship between Iran and the U.S. and the growing threat of a military confrontation – a situation given much coverage in the media, both here in New Zealand and abroad.  What has been less well-covered, particularly in the New Zealand …

The United Nations continues to be a place where Jew-hatred flourishes and sadly New Zealand has played a role in propping up antisemitic organs of the UN and supporting anti-Israel resolutions. And there is Jew-hatred in the United Nations – the actions of the global body have made the annual …

Immigration New Zealand’s ‘State of Palestine Refugee Quota Factsheet’ presents a one-sided, distorted and politicised narrative of the Israel/Palestine conflict and totally erases Israel from the map. The fact sheet is on the Immigration New Zealand’s website and its purpose is to inform people about Palestinian refugees coming to New …

Elections are usually a time of colourful candidates and robust debates, of tedious ads and glittering promises.  However, the 2019 Australian federal election campaign was marred with an unusually high number of incidents of racism and bigotry directed towards candidates.  Candidates of Aboriginal, Asian, Jewish and Arab-Muslim background were targeted. …

Israel Institute of New Zealand co-director, Dr David Cumin, is calling for a moratorium on any further Kiwi taxpayer funding of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) until serious issues of corruption, antisemitism and extremism within that agency are resolved. UNRWA was established in 1949 and is the …

Julian Leeser is a Jewish MP who is is standing for re-election in the Federal seat of Berowra in NSW. in the upcoming Federal election. The following is posted with his permission from his Facebook page after a series of antisemitic graffiti attacks. ======= I am proud to be a …

ECAJ condemns latest Hamas rocket attacks on Israel.   5 May2019 The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ) condemns the actions of Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other terrorist groups in Gaza which over the last two days have fired more than 450 rockets, mortars and other explosive projectiles targeted at civilian …

Greg Barns’s diatribe against Israel and his apologia for dumped ALP candidate Melissa Parke (Talking Point, April 22) are sadly typical of the way the facts can get lost when it comes to much commentary about the Middle East. Barns accuses Israel of foreign interference in Australia’s domestic politics and …

Media release from the Australian Jewish Association.   THE PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY (“PA”) IS A TERRORIST ORGANISATION UNDER AUSTRALIAN LAW Does Labor policy embrace a terrorist organisation?” The Australian Jewish Association (“AJA”) has obtained an opinion from one of Australia’s most experienced senior criminal barristers that the Palestinian Authority (“PA”) is …

28 APRIL 2019 We are horrified by reports from the San Diego area of a fatal shooting at a Chabad house as members of the community gathered to mark the end of Passover, the Jewish festival of freedom.  The story is developing but we understand that at least one person …

Consumers of the media in Australia were adequately informed of the events of the last few days in Israel and the Palestinian territories – whereby a large rocket fired from Gaza into central Israel on March 25, injuring seven people, triggered a round of violence. Israeli retaliated with air-raids against …

Media Release –29 March 2019 Media Statement from the Zionist Federation of New Zealand on the antisemitic comments made by Ahmed Bhamji, a leader of the Masjid e Umar mosque in Auckland, at last weekends Love Aotearoa Hate Racism Rally in Auckland. ——————– At the recent Love Aotearoa Hate Racism (LAHR) rally …

MEDIA STATEMENT. 25 March 2019. Palestinian rocket attacks on Israel and voting in the UNHRC. The Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the peak representative body of the Australian Jewish community is deeply concerned by reports of renewed rocket fire from Gaza, which has caused injuries and loss of property in …

Israel and Samoa Agreement Strengthens Ties.​ Israel was pleased to host Prime Minister of Samoa, H.E. Tuilaepa Sa’ilele Malielegaoi for his first trip to Israel. Prime Minister Malielegaoi, accompanied by Ambassador to Samoa H.E. Itzhak Gerberg, highlighted the strong friendship between the two countries. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu​ held a successful meeting …

25 February 2019 The Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the elected peak representative body of the Australian Jewish community, situated at the apex of more than 200 Jewish organisations across Australia, has expressed its deep dismay at the announcement that two mainstream Jewish political parties in Israel, Jewish Home …

The Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) has welcomed the speeches by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Opposition Leader Bill Shorten which were delivered in Parliament marking 70 years of diplomatic relations between Australia and Israel. President of the Zionist Federation of Australia, Jeremy Leibler said, “The words spoken in Federal Parliament …

An ominous trend imagines a global Jewish plot to ‘import’ non-Europeans in order to destroy European culture. Little more than a year ago, far-right activists in Australia could reasonably accurately be divided into three ideological groupings: civic patriots, nationalists and racialists. Whatever they might be said to have in common, …