New Zealand Jewish News

J-Wire is working in conjunction with Miriam Bell to bring you news from the New Zealand Jewish community.

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Peer Protesters’ Convictions Quashed

Six protesters convicted of disorderly behaviour when protesting during a tennis match featuring Israeli star Shahar Peer have had their convictions quashed.

Justice Paul Heath said in New Zealand’s High Court that  the disruption of an individual’s enjoyment of a sporting event was not the same as disruption of public order.

Tennis administrators tried to stop the pro-Palestinian group protesting about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians. When they failed, the police took over and six protesters were arrested.

They were convicted in the city’s District Court.

The judgement quashing the charges stated  that  ”a verbalised protest may offend or disturb a member of the public. But disruption to an individual’s enjoyment of a sporting event is not the same thing as disruption of public order.

Justice Heath told the court the protest was to get a message to Peer about the concerns of the Israeli treatment of the Occupied territories saying “the level of the noise had to be sufficiently loud to impart their views to those inside the stadium.”

Protester John Minto told stuff.co.nz “Annoyance is not a crime, annoyance is part of being in a democracy.”

Geoff Levy, chairman of the New Zealand Jewish Council, told J-Wire: “The dismissal of charges against John Minto and others is not really a surprise.

The New Zealand Supreme Court gives great weight to Freedom of speech.  The right to protest if carried out in a in a way that is deemed ‘not to amount to disorderly behaviour ‘ (a question of degree) will nearly always be upheld.

This year the Supreme Court ruled unanimously that burning the New Zealand flag at an ANZAC    day ceremony did not amount to disorderly behaviour.

Heath J was following the law as it exists now in relation to the right of protest. ‘The  ( New Zealand )   Supreme court unanimously laid down a principle that we can’t punish behaviour as offensive unless it’s disturbing public order. And when protesters are exercising speech rights, we must be extra tolerant of their views and their methods – even if we despise both – before we can call their conduct criminal’.

It follows the US Supreme Court Views on   freedom of speech.”

 

Rick Sahar – Top Variety Artist

New Zealand entertainer Rick Sahar has been awarded the country’s 2011 “Top Variety Artist” award.

This prestigious award is in recognition for Rick Sahar’s entertainment talent – and for the many shows he has performed in various venues throughout New Zealand and as a variety of Rick’s comic characters and themes.

It was presented at the Variety Artists New Zealand Awards Night held recently in Auckland

As this award is decided by his peers in the entertainment industry, Rick feels humbled and honoured to be this year’s recipient and for the recognition that accompanies it. “I know I am good, but I did not know I am this good!”, Rick jokingly says. “To be appreciated for work I really enjoy doing is great and affirming of the effort and thought I put into being an entertainer, to honour the audience”.

Sahar is American-born, and has lived in New Zealand for 30 years where he has been a professional entertainer for 27 years. He has also performed shows in Australia, Hong Kong, Papua New Guinea and Israel, from kindergartens through to exclusive country clubs. Sahar told J-Wire: “I see myself as a tradesman simply doing a job that I am asked to do, much like a good plumber would, that leaves people happy”.

The popular entertainer is also an active member of Temple Sinai in Wellington at which he a member of the lay-chazzan team and the Rituals Committee.

Flotilla Activism Hurts Chances for Peace

Another round of “Flotilla Activism” aimed at inciting greater tension in the Arab-Israeli conflict is underway. Just like last year’s infamous Flotilla incident that resulted in nine deaths, this latest crop of flotilla participants – a fringe group of extremists working alongside terrorists – is more concerned with their own PR and promoting hate, violence, and chaos, rather than on working with Israelis and Palestinians to find peaceful solutions to the conflict.

It is all the more shocking, therefore, that several European government-funded groups are either publicly supporting or participating in this stunt.

Like other tactics before, the flotilla simply is a continuation of the “Durban Strategy” to isolate Israel internationally because of the Arab-Israeli conflict. Numerous NGOs are contributing to the strategy’s implementation.  This includes the Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions (ICAHD) – funded by the European Union (EU), Spain, and the governments of the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden, and Switzerland via the NGO Development Center (NDC) –  and the Alternative Information Center (AIC), which is funded by Diakonia (Sweden), and ICCO (the Netherlands).

Additionally, the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) is supporting the flotilla. It is funded by the European Union and the governments of Ireland, Denmark, the Netherlands, and Norway; NDC, and numerous private organizations, including Ford Foundation (USA), International Commission of Jurists (Sweden), and George Soros’s Open Society Foundations (OSI – US). Why European governments are lending support to this anti-peace initiative is incomprehensible.

Ironically, many of these individual governments, along with the European Union, have stated their strong opposition to the flotilla. The EU Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid Kristalina Georgieva, on May 18, 2011 declared, “We are not in favor of attempts to help people in this way. One needs to work with the authorities in Israel in order to transfer humanitarian aid via the formal channels…” Similarly, Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal told Dutch Parliament on April 28, 2011: “The Dutch government will unambiguously say that we are against this flotilla…”

Furthermore, under international law, UN member states, as mandated by UN Security Council Resolution 1373, must “prohibit their nationals or any persons and entities within their territories from making any funds, financial assets or economic resources or financial or other related services available” for terrorist activities.

Clearly, then, European funding of NGOs participating in the flotilla is contrary to government policy and to common sense. The individual governments and the EU should therefore freeze funding to these NGOs and launch investigations regarding their funding of NGOs active in these activities.

In addition to these government-funded NGOs, the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which led the 2010 Flotilla and is also centrally involved this year, has a history of supporting “armed struggle” and initiating violent confrontations with Israeli soldiers. Regarding these provocations, co-founders Huwaida Arraf and Adam Shapiro once wrote that deaths from Palestinian “resistance” are “no less noble than carrying out a suicide operation.  And we are certain that if these men were killed during such an action, they would be considered shaheed Allah.”

In other words, peace and humanitarian aid are not the primary motivation of flotilla organizers – partly because there is no need for a humanitarian mission to Gaza.

As reconfirmed by Mathilde Redmant, deputy director of the Red Cross in Gaza, on April 21, 2011, “There is no humanitarian crisis in Gaza.” Humanitarian aid reaches Gaza through multiple routes, including the hundreds of tons of goods that Israel trucks in each week.  Additionally, Israel has agreed to deliver any humanitarian aid to Gaza after inspection at the border.

The flotilla, therefore, fills no great humanitarian void, but is clearly designed to provoke Israel and expand the Durban process. And now, taxpayer euros are funding this activity that contradicts Europe’s policies vis-à-vis the Arab-Israeli conflict. Rather than contribute to this cause, European funding instead should reward NGOs whose efforts truly do work towards the goals of peace and coexistence.

Jason Edelstein is communications director of NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based research institution that tracks NGOs that claim to protect human rights, particularly in the Middle East.

 

NZ Moriah reach Milestone in Memorial Button Project

Reaching their collection target of 1.5 million buttons has left the pupils of, Moriah School in Wellington, “absolutely thrilled” to have achieved a milestone in their project to create a Holocaust Memorial to the Jewish children who died in the Holocaust.

Former Moriah School principal Justine Hitchcock, who remains at the head of the school’s Button Project Committee, says that the achievement of such a huge goal has really shown the students the rewards of reaching for the sky.

Hitchcock says the students started learning about the Holocaust in May 2008 and, on learning that 1.5 million children died in the Holocaust, decided to collect buttons to see just how big that number is.

After two and a half years, the children have now reached their target number of buttons and are moving on to the next part of the project – which is to raise the money to build a memorial sculpture to house the buttons.

“The children have already designed an amazing sculpture in honour of the children each button represents,” says Hitchcock. “It will be a mammoth task to fund and build, and one that we are again seeking support for from the wider Jewish community.”

The interactive sculpture the children have designed is called Bewilderment, and is a large 6x6x6 cube of stark concrete which encases a maze that people will be able to walk into and experience. The walls of the maze itself are clear and are filled with the buttons the school has collected. In the centre of the maze is a single light shaped like a candle, the design of which will be opened to local artists for tender.

Hitchcock says the sculpture will also feature a simple plaque quoting Vera Egermayer, a Wellington based Holocaust survivor, who met with Moriah pupils and whose words inspired the design of the memorial.

Egermayer told the children: “In a time like the Holocaust it is like living in a pitch black room, but every time someone does something nice for you, it’s like them coming in the room and lighting a candle. You need to focus on the light.”

Year 8 Moriah student Kessem Goldberg (12) says the maze is meant to represent Egermayer’s quote, about focusing on the light until you find your way out, and is meant to make the viewer feel scared, lost and alone.

“It is going to be dead silent in the maze and every time you take a step you’ll hear your footstep echoing. I think our design is a good design because it makes you feel like the children must have felt in the Holocaust and, hopefully, it will get you thinking about the children. While you’re walking through the maze you’ll feel like you’re being surrounded by one and a half million dead children but, hopefully, that will make you feel close and bonded to the children”.

Hitchcock says the students, and the broader school community, are extremely grateful for, and appreciative of, the support and contributions they received from people all around New Zealand.“

Having successfully reached our goal of 1.5 million buttons, we now have the confidence to move on to our next step – building a Holocaust Memorial for the whole nation to treasure. We want the memorial to be one that everyone in, or visiting Wellington, can visit because we think it is important for people to remember the child victims of the Holocaust so that nothing similar can ever happen again.”

Cost of Jewish Day School education slashed in Auckland

The New Zealand Government is to to integrate Auckland’s Kahimah School into the country’s education system, slashing the costs to families of a Jewish education for their children.

In a statement issued by Jenni Raynich, the community has learned that the fees at Kadima have dropped from NZ$11,400 to around $500 annually.

The Kadimah School will be State Integrated from 1 January 2011

Jenni Raynish, chairperson of the Goldwater Trust which runs the school, said: “I am delighted to confirm that the Minister of Education has approved the integration of Kadimah School from 1 January 2011. I know we have all been anxiously waiting for this exciting news – which will ensure the school can continue to provide quality Jewish and secular education to the children of our community today and tomorrow – just as it has for the past 40 years.

Please join me in thanking the Auckland Hebrew Congregation Trust Board, particularly Michael Stiassny, Chair of the Board. Without his personal endorsement and the support of his board, achieving state integration for Kadimah would not have been possible. The funding provided by the AHCTB has been vital in keeping the school going through this lengthy integration process.

The whole community is also indebted to Sarah Katz, Chair of the Raye Freedman Trust, who has personally dedicated hours of time and effort to the integration process. The Raye Freedman Trust has been a key supporter of the school for many years and has recently taken over the funding of the school.

Thanks also to Robert Minahan, Principal of Kadimah School and all teaching and support staff for their dedication throughout the uncertainty of the past 12 months.

To celebrate this extraordinary and long hoped for outcome, the Friedlander Foundation will be sponsoring a community integration celebration from 5pm – 7pm on Sunday 14 November 2011, in the AA hall.”

Anne Tolley, the Minister of Education and key officials are expected join the celebration.

Raynish explained the benefits of integration:

How integration will benefit the community

This is a significant and momentous decision that will bring immeasurable benefits to parents, grandparents and the entire Jewish community of New Zealand.

For Jewish children, parents and grandparents (of today and tomorrow):

The Jewish character and Hebrew and Jewish Studies teachings at the school for the past 40 years will continue – unchanged and enshrined in perpetuity.

Jewish education in Auckland will be affordable to all parents who want this for their children as attendance fees from 1 January 2011 will cost around $500 per year per child – instead of $11,400 per year. This is a saving of almost $90,000 per family per child over the 8 years they would attend the school, based on the current school fees. For most families who have 3 children at the school this amounts to around $270,000 saved.

For Kadimah School:

The Ministry of Education will pay up to $1 million a year of teaching salaries and operating costs every year – ensuring the school can continue to deliver the same very high quality of Jewish education and secular studies as it has done for the past 40 years.

For Jewish education throughout the community:

A further $175,000 will be available for Hebrew and Jewish Studies educators when we reach the maximum role – which can go towards the salaries of the Rabbi and other religious education involved in the school and the community.

For the Auckland Hebrew Congregation Trust Board – owners of the Greys Avenue site on behalf of the community:

$100,000 of the Ministry of Education’s money will be paid every year for building maintenance and up-keep – lifting a considerable burden off the AHC and the wider community.From 1 January 2011, Kadimah will have $50,000 to contribute towards paying off the debt on the Greys Ave site – increasing to $175,000 per year as the school roll grows to its maximum.

The AHCTB will continue to appoint 6 of the 7 Goldwater Trust Board members who will continue to be the Proprietors of Kadimah.

If new buildings are required, the Ministry of Education can fund these, as it has done for many other integrated schools. Ownership of these buildings stays with the community.

For Jewish community groups including the AHC synagogue, the Chevra, the Zionist Federation, the Jewish Council and B’nai Brith

The $600,000 per year which is currently paid by parents in school fees for their children to attend Kadimah, will now become available to be contributed to other Jewish community causes including synagogue membership.

We look forward to celebrating this historic outcome.

Stephen Goodman, President of the Auckland Jewish Council welcomed the news. He told J-Wire: “The Auckland Jewish Council is pleased that all the effort put in to achieving integration has produced this desired outcome.  It will build upon the successes of Kadimah and enhance Jewish Education in Auckland.”

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