'Hitler was right': New Zealand Jews experiencing unprecedented rate of antisemitism - report

New Zealand Jews are disproportionately targeted in terms of hate crimes compared to other ethnic groups, despite comprising only 0.2% of the population, the New Zealand Jewish Council (NZJC) revealed in a new report shared with The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.

In Auckland, 13% of all reported hate crimes were against Jews, and in Tasman and Wellington, 10%. This means that a New Zealand Jew is 18 times more likely to be a victim of a hate crime than a Maori, five times more than an Asian Kiwi, and 160 times more likely than a European Kiwi. The number and severity of reported antisemitic incidents are the highest in the country’s history.

Assaults and threats

The report found that the number of incidents is 11.6 times higher than the eight and a half years preceding October 7, 2023. From January 1, 2014, until July 1, 2022, there were a total of 166 recorded antisemitic incidents in New Zealand. In the year following October 7, 2023, there were 227 incidents. This equates to a new average baseline of 9.7 reported antisemitic incidents per month in New Zealand, or about one every three days.

Another shocking finding was that two out of five (40%) of reported antisemitic assaults occurred in schools.

NZJC also reported an unprecedented number of threats against Jews, including death threats and threatening messages left on personal phones, as well as 20 reports of willful damage against Jewish facilities. This includes two acts of arson and antisemitic vandalism/damage to private houses and one incident of lit Molotov cocktails being thrown at a Jewish business.

There have been five antisemitic assaults reported in the year since October 7, 2023, as opposed to two in the 8.5 years prior.

The NZJC lists the five incidents: a man holding an Israeli flag at an anti-Israel protest in Auckland was punched; a Jewish high school student was given a Heil Hitler salute and punched in the face; a small group of Jews putting up posters of Israelis kidnapped by Hamas were egged in Christchurch; a Jewish intermediate school student was pushed to the ground and had “Free Palestine” yelled in his face while his eyes were covered from behind (he was later punched in the head and told that he cannot wear his kippah at school); and a Jewish woman was assaulted by anti-Israel protesters yelling “Free Palestine.”

Some 40 threats were recorded, and 70% of these were bomb threats to Jewish institutions during November and December 2023.

AMONG THE remaining 12 threats were incidents such as Jews being told, “I’m going to f***ing kill you” or “gas the Jews.”

There was also one report of an email being sent to a Jewish person naming their family members and evidencing attempts to find their home address.

In terms of willful damage, aside from the Molotov cocktail, there were several reports of graffiti on Jewish institutions or private residences, the attempted arson of a Jewish community center, and the shooting of fireworks through the window of a private house.

There was also one report of an email being sent to a Jewish person naming their family members and evidencing attempts to find their home address.

Some 162 incidents of abusive behavior were recorded, as opposed to 139 in the 8.5 years prior. These include incidents such as a Jewish student’s shirt being graffitied by classmates while he was at the gym with “approximately 12 distinct antisemitic references and close to 10 different styles of handwriting.”

“The graffiti included swastikas, ‘belongs in a chamber,’ ‘owner of Hollywood,’ and ‘hate Jews!!!’”

Some Jewish students were told, “I wish Hitler finished what he started,” or “Hitler was right.”

Both Jewish academics and the NZJC president suffered doxing on social media, and a Jewish musician had a performance canceled on the grounds that the organizers wanted to be “advocates for a ceasefire and liberation of Palestine.”

Almost all of the perpetrators of antisemitic hate crimes were either Māori (49%) or European (46%).

The report noted a particular concern with “the glorification of Hamas by some radical Māori.”

For example, Te Pāti Māori put out a press release condemning Israel, adding that “We must acknowledge the atrocity of colonization and the intergenerational trauma and extremism it produces. We must continue to fight for peace and justice for all indigenous peoples who continue to suffer from violent colonization and imperialism.”

The NZJC criticized the lack of condemnation of particular incidents or lamentations about the unprecedented wave of antisemitism in New Zealand.

However, the council did congratulate New Zealand’s decision to proscribe Hamas as a terrorist organization in February 2024 but did note that the state is an outlier in having not done the same for the IRGC or PFLP.

THE NZJC made the following recommendations to help reduce and combat antisemitism in New Zealand. That:

• the New Zealand Government increases funding support to the New Zealand Jewish Community for physical security enhancements.

• the New Zealand Police updates its Risk and Threat Situation for the Jewish community and that the police increase its visible presence at Jewish events.

• Members of Parliament and government agencies learn about antisemitism and call it out when it arises.

• the New Zealand Government ceases funding UNRWA and proscribes the IRGC and the PFLP as terrorist entities in their entirety, and that

• the New Zealand Government should appoint a special envoy to combat antisemitism in the country.

A Te Kahui Tika Tangata Human Rights Commission spokesperson told the New Zealand Herald they were concerned by the report’s findings.

“The commission condemns all forms of antisemitism, Islamophobia and racism,” they said. “We all want to live peacefully and go about our daily lives without fear for our well-being and safety or for that of our loved ones.”

New Zealand Jewish Council spokeswoman Juliet Moses said that acts of antisemitism “would rightly never be justified or tolerated against any other minority under the guise of opposition to overseas events.”

“We call on the government to provide an emphatic message clearly condemning these sorts of actions.

Moses told the Post that the report had been passed on to relevant authorities.

She also added that of all its findings, the prevalence of antisemitism within school settings was the most concerning.

In terms of tackling this, Moses told the Post that a “multi-pronged approach is required.”

“Schools and their leaders need to be better equipped to recognize and address antisemitism, with assistance from agencies like the Ministry of Education and Human Rights Commission,” she said.

“Students also need a better understanding of antisemitism, and the New Zealand Holocaust Centre has developed some excellent programs around this. But more generally, I think students need education in digital literacy, critical thinking, civic responsibility, and so on, to deal with the challenges of modern society.”