Australia/Israel Review

“This is not who we are,” a Jewish New Zealander said in a LinkedIn post asking for people to stand against hate, after the country’s latest incident of public antisemitism in early February.

Graffiti saying “genocide high school” had been sprayed onto the wall of the former Kadimah School building in Auckland. The school – the country’s only Jewish day school – has moved, but the defaced property is still owned by Auckland Hebrew Congregation.

Back in early 2020, an incident where swastikas were spraypainted outside Temple Sinai in Wellington was widely reported by media and condemned by public figures including local MPs.

Yet, that did not happen after the graffiti attack on Kadimah. The incident was covered by just one media outlet, and no public figures outside the Jewish community said anything. 

There was no public comment from the MP for the electorate the property sits in. Sadly, this is unsurprising – the MP in question is Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick, who has staunchly defended her chanting of “From the River to the Sea” at pro-Palestinian demonstrations.

A possible reason for the difference in response to the two incidents could be the broader environment in which they occurred. In 2020, the incident shocked because such overt antisemitism was unusual.

That is no longer the case. Since the October 7 terror attacks on Israel, antisemitism has skyrocketed in New Zealand, as it has globally.

Hate crimes targeting Jews increased 530% from 2022 to 2023, according to New Zealand Police data. Jews make up only 0.2% of the New Zealand population, but in the past year, 13% of all hate crimes in Auckland, and 10% of all hate crimes in Wellington, were against Jews.

There were 20 reports of wilful damage against Jewish facilities in 2024 up to October, while reports of Jewish children subjected to antisemitic episodes at school are at a record high. Virulently anti-Israel protests take place every week, and the rhetoric that accompanies them is also evident in poster campaigns and on social media. 

And, as noted, there has been very little condemnation of this from elected officials, public figures, and non-Jewish community leaders.

An exception of sorts came in the wake of a disturbing campaign launched in late January by notorious pro-Palestinian activist John Minto and his organisation, the Palestine Solidarity Network Aotearoa.

The campaign promoted a “genocide hotline” – members of the public were encouraged to call a number to report sightings of Israeli soldiers in New Zealand.

“We need your help to track them down so we can let them know they are not welcome here,” the campaign imagery said. Social media responses to Minto’s campaign included many that were threatening, or overtly violent, toward Israelis.

After being alerted to the campaign, the recently-appointed Chief Human Rights Commissioner Stephen Rainbow released a statement, saying, “This sort of action has the risk of a ripple effect which may cause harm in the community. We call on those behind the hotline to close it down and cease promotion immediately.” 

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters condemned the campaign as “an outrageous show of fascism, racism, and encouragement of violence and vigilantism,” while ACT Party leader David Seymour said the hotline and Minto’s behaviour were “absolutely disgraceful”.

The Human Rights Commission received more than 100 complaints about it, and complaints were also made to police and Netsafe, but the campaign posts were still up on social media as of Feb. 15.

NZ Jewish Council President Juliet Moses said she was pleased to see agencies such as the Human Rights Commission condemning Minto’s campaign.

“The media did a pretty good job of covering it, and the general feeling among the wider public seems to be that it was pretty appalling and unacceptable, and ‘not the way we do things in NZ.’”

The “hotline” also became tied to the issue of whether Israelis are being asked additional questions about their military service on New Zealand immigration applications, she said. 

“I still don’t have clarity around that one. The Immigration Minister says there has been no change to Immigration NZ’s policy on this, while others say there has been. 

“But it was interesting that once [US Senator] Ted Cruz made [a] post about it there was a sudden flurry of activity and comments about it, unlike in other situations.”

She wondered if there had been a bit more pushback from the New Zealand public on the whole anti-Israel issue recently. 

“Maybe they have been looking at what is going on in Australia – the firebombings, the graffiti, the bomb plan, and now the video of those nurses talking about killing Israeli patients.

“And maybe some realise that what is happening in Australia is what happens when you leave antisemitic rhetoric unchecked, and that there is no reason that it couldn’t happen here too,” Moses said.