Jews uneasy as changes in attitude creep in

By GRAHAM REID

On Wednesday a letter was published in Wellington's Dominion Post. The writer wanted to know why there was a memorial to former Israeli prime minister Yitzhak Rabin - a man he described as leading "a bloodstained life" - on public land in the central city's Harris St.

It may have been an honest inquiry, and there have been a few such similar letters in the five or so years since the memorial - a piece of Jerusalem stone acknowledging Rabin as a Nobel Peace Prize winner beside an olive tree - was dedicated.

A reply yesterday pointed out the memorial was for Rabin's efforts to break a deadlock between Israelis and Palestinians and that "soldiers sometimes make the greatest peacemakers, and to urge us to reflect on whether his violent death really means that we must descend again and forever into the abyss".

The original letter came as no surprise to some.

"I thought it was just an anti-Israel letter," says David Zwartz, Israel's honorary consul. "It's just jumping on the bandwagon, I suppose. It's something people feel they can vent their feelings on.

"Just lately there have been far more letters about Israel in the Dominion Post than usual and some from people who do write quite regularly. I recognise the names."

Some in the Jewish community have detected a shift from anti-Israel to anti-Jewish opinion. Although overt anti-Semitism has been minor, if not non-existent, that doesn't mean local Jewish communities feel comfortable.

"We are vigilant," says Wendy Ross, a former president of the Auckland Jewish Council.

"There is some anti-Jewish feeling but basically not. Large numbers of New Zealanders have been to Israel and are not anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic in any way. Basically we have good lives here and always felt secure, up to now.

"But government attitudes impinge very much on what happens to a community."

Others in the Jewish community also believe there has been a subtle change in the social climate which has been led by the Labour Government's less sympathetic attitude towards Israel and its more pro-Palestinian stance.

Last year Foreign Minister Phil Goff visited Palestinian leader Yassar Arafat and shook his hand, for many local Jews a symbolic gesture tantamount to government approval for a man who has direct links to Palestinian terrorists and attacks on Israeli citizens.

"He went to Israel and insisted on going to see Arafat, who is a murderer of Jews. That's the way we look at it," says Ross, speaking in a private capacity. "And Phil Goff went there to shake his hand."

Ross also notes that as Prime Minister, Helen Clark has been in the Middle East a number of times but has never visited Israel.

Some feel attitudes towards New Zealand Jews have changed discernibly given Goff's recent comments about the wall Israel is building (which many local Jews considered ill-informed), and the possible arrival of controversial author and Holocaust-denier David Irving in September.

Discussion is made murky by the language used. Historically, it has been politically convenient for Israel that the line be blurred between anti-Israel policies and anti-Semitism.

Discussion about the country's less palatable politics can be closed down by invoking the fear of a return to the darkest days of human behaviour in the middle of last century.

Zwartz concedes there is a problem of differentiation of the issues of Judaism and Israeli politics. But it is exemplified by his occupying two important, but distinct, roles which are nominally secular and religious.

He is Israel's honorary consul to New Zealand and also president of the New Zealand Jewish Council.

But the distinction needs to be made because if it was once helpful to the cause of Israel the ambiguity is perhaps less so now.

Many outside the faith see only a simple equation between Israel and Judaism. But the local Jewish communities embrace all aspects of the political spectrum, from those who are strongly Zionist to those who openly disapprove of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's policies, which they see as provocative.

But because Judaism is as inextricably linked with the state of Israel as the Jewish homeland, the important distinction between anti-Israel statements and anti-Semitism becomes opaque, and in the minds of some, irrelevant.

After Clark railed against Israel following the alleged Mossad spies scandal, Jewish graves were desecrated at a cemetery in Wellington. Clark's somewhat dismissive comments about the connection between the two events left many Jews angry. At best, says Ross, she was naive and at worst exercising poor judgment.

Zwartz: "People were upset about it because some of those graves had been there for 150 years, and they hadn't previously been desecrated. But the day after her strong comments about the alleged Mossad agents came out they were. So it's a bit disingenuous to say there was no connection whatsoever."

Zwartz observes that after the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior there wasn't an attack on French graves at Akaroa, "or any other French property that I am aware of".

He accepts the damage may have been an act of simple vandalism perpetrated by those with no political agenda but still asks, "Why do that thing on that day? I think it was related to the strong words of the Prime Minister."

While no one suggests the Government is anti-Semitic - those spoken to are at pains to underscore that it is not - its support for Palestinians may give comfort to those who are or might be.

When asked whether the social climate has changed or is much the same, Stephen Goodman, president of the Auckland Jewish Council, says "both things are true".

"As far as everyday Jewish life is concerned, New Zealand is a good place to live. That's why we chose to live here, and that continues as it has for the last almost 170 years since Jews have been in New Zealand.

"On the other side, there is a definite discomfort that anti-Israel attitudes will get translated into anti-Jewish attitudes. The majority of the New Zealand population is easy-going and not going to get too upset, but fringe elements will take advantage of situations. There is a definite feeling of unease that we are heading towards more unsettled times."

He cites a lecture by the American academic Dr Daniel Pipes.

"He said anti-Semitism has swung from being a right-wing institution to being left wing - looking around the world, left-wing governments are more likely to be anti-Jewish. I hadn't thought of that previously, but I think he's right - although admittedly he's a Bush supporter, so he was going to say that anyway."

Into the discussion come a number of voices by those who, while identifying themselves as Jewish but not practising, also have a perspective.

Jeremy Rose, a Wellington journalist who has been instrumental in creating dialogue between local Jewish and Arabic groups, feels no discomfort in New Zealand society but admits he is outside the mainstream Jewish community.

"But I don't have any fears of increasing anti-Semitism in New Zealand. I've seen no evidence at all. There are a small number of nutters, but I don't believe there is any serious problem.

"There are quite a lot of us outside the tent, Jewish but not actively religious or Zionist, who have as much right to talk as Jews as anybody else.

"It's valid to talk to non-practising Jews because anti-Semitism has never distinguished between practising Jews, Zionist Jews or any other kind. Anti-Semites are not known for their subtlety."

Rose was disturbed that Zwartz would link the "grotesque and violent destruction of Jewish gravestones" to Clark's "entirely reasonable and considered stand" over the alleged spies.

In one of Zwartz' roles he is obliged to defend Israel, which may not be helpful to perceptions of local Jews who don't.

But Rose concedes Jews outside the mainstream don't have the same concerns about being ostracised or alienated from the prevailing opinions within the community. This allows them to be more outspoken.

Despite political differences and even commitment to the faith, there is considerable common ground, says Wendy Ross.

"It's diverse as far as religion is concerned from orthodox observance to non-observance, but you'll find few who are not concerned for the safety of Israel. On that it is united."

There is a conundrum in the Jewish situation also, as seen with the announcement that Irving may come here.

Auckland lawyer Juliet Tetro wrote a letter to the Herald on Monday articulating the argument against Irving being allowed the freedom to speak here.

In the free market of ideas the truth often doesn't prevail, she said. Jews cannot afford to be silent about Irving, but if they raise their voices it seems such a predictable reaction that people won't listen. A kind of, here-they-go-again response.

If he comes he may encourage anti-Semitic activity or fuel what exists. If the Jewish community insist he be banned they look to be curtailing free speech - and that plays into the hands of anti-Semites and those who believe Jews control the media and have something to hide, says Rose.

"If we control the media we're doing a bloody poor job of it," says Tetro.

Zwartz says Irving's intended visit is "just something which has come up and not part of any overall feeling about the position of Jews in the New Zealand community. It's something we respond to because it is seen as a very unpleasant and possible threat to our existence here."

The concern is not that Irving's audiences will necessarily be swayed - he tends not to attract large crowds - but that his views will attract disproportionate media attention and may go unchallenged.

"We wouldn't give credence to a flat-earther," says Ross, "but we do give credence to someone who says the Holocaust didn't happen. It's a worrying development. It could blow over and may blow over, but we are worried and uncomfortable."

But when it is added to heated discussions last year over the 1993 master's thesis by former Canterbury student Joel Hayward, which questioned the validity of Holocaust history, Goff's visit to Arafat, Clark and the alleged spies, the damage to the gravestones ...

Ross articulates a concern perhaps only fully understood within a minority community which has a history of being oppressed, marginalised and murdered.

"All these things add fuel to ... Although there's no fire, there are little pockets of flames here and there. And they can be fanned."