New Zealand Prime Minister John Key is currently campaigning to seek victory in the September general election…but posters have been daubed with vile antisemitic slogans.
John Key is not a practising Jew but he told media in new Zealand this week: “I just find it disappointing for the Jewish community. I have a Jewish past which is extremely well known. My mother was Jewish, and some of my mother’s family went to the concentration camps,” Key told reporters this week. “But for the Jewish community in New Zealand, they are hard-working, decent people and they don’t deserve to be brought into some sort of personal campaign that’s directed at me.”
President of the New Zealand Jewish Council Stephen Goodman told J-Wire: “The New Zealand Jewish community is concerned about the rise in antisemitic acts and statements being made at present. New Zealand has been a country where we have been free to practice without fear of threats, hate speech or vilification. Recent activity, such as the defacing of John Key’s billboards and actions associated with political rallies, is an unacceptable. It must be dealt with swiftly; it has no place in our culture.
All New Zealanders, whatever their political stance or religion, need to confirm that this is a society free from such abhorrent discrimination.”
Co-president of the Auckland Jewish Council Geoff Levy is currently overseas. He added: “I have read with concern about the growing tide of anti semitism in Auckland and other parts of New Zealand .I have read the comments from John Key on the billboard daubing and share his views.