Kia ora and welcome to ICFI’s latest newsletter. 

NZ ISRAEL INNOVATION HUB
We’re pleased to be hosting the ‘Israeli and Māori: Tech Partnerships and Trade Webinar’ for Josh Brown of the New Zealand Israel Innovation Hub, Thursday 16 June, 7pm.

If you are interested in exploring business or trade links with Israel, this is the webinar for you. Josh will explain how NZIIH can help facilitate bilateral trade, cultivate cross-border connectivity and access specialist advice. 

Register here.

Dead Sea Guardians
The Doc Edge Film Festival is now showing. Unfortunately the Boycott Divestment Sanctions movement has attacked the film festival for receiving support from the Israeli government for the film Dead Sea Guardians. We have issued a MEDIA RELEASE expressing our support for Doc Edge and the film, which is a story about kaitiakitanga, the caretakership of a precious taonga.

A Palestinian, a Jordanian and an Israeli, join together in an attempt to swim the Dead Sea to raise awareness of the plight of the moana which is in danger of drying up. The film explores the process of working out differences kanohi ki te kanohi, in order to achieve kotahitanga (unity). 

We would encourage you to show your support for the festival and for Israel by attending one of the sessions:

Auckland  Sat 18 Jun 2:15 pm
Christchurch Sat 25 Jun 12:45 pm
Wellington Sat 2 Jul 6:30 pm
Virtual Cinema From Mon 20 Jun - Sun 10 Jul

https://docedge.nz/festival22/film/dead-sea-guardians/

ICFI’s AFRICAN CONNECTION

Patrick believes that establishing full governmental, diplomatic and economic relationships with Israel is important. He recognises that the African continent and Israel have held a special relationship since the beginning of time as documented through the Hebrew Scriptures. He hopes to see strong bonds established between Israel and the 54 nations of Africa. 

Patrick has expressed his dismay at the “despicable spirit and message of hate, racism and anti-Semitism” that was released from Durban in 2001. He affirms his support for the right of the Jewish people to self-determination in their ancestral home.

We look forward to working with Patrick on projects to cultivate the relationships between indigenous peoples and Israel.

INTERNATIONAL WEBINARS
Hon Alfred Ngaro & Dr Sheree Trotter were invited by the Canadian Antisemitism Education Foundation to present a webinar ‘Understanding Jewish Indigeneity: Indigenous New Zealanders Speak’. 
Watch it online.

Sheree also participated in a Dispelling the Myths Series organised by Creative Communities for Peace, presenting on the topic, Jewish Indigeneity and the Land of Israel.
Watch online

ISRAEL 

Israel has been through a difficult season in the past few months, with a spate of terrorist attacks over a two month period in which nineteen civilians were murdered. In addition to the distress of mourning these losses, Israel has had to face the usual battle of narratives and the fact that while Israel Mourns, Palestinians celebrate the world is silent. 

In partnership with the Israel Institute of NZ we have produced videos commenting on these issues. We’ve addressed the way in which the Media contributes to Jew hatred. Indeed, when an Al Jazeera journalist, Shireen Abu Akleh was killed in a gun battle in Jenin, the media (and one MP) wasted no time in accusing Israel of deliberate assassination - a trial by media. You can watch these commentaries by clicking the links below. 

ICFI IN THE MEDIA
Sheree was also able to bring some public attention to these issues with op-ed articles in Newsroom and Stuff in which she challenged an implied equivalence between Ukrainians and Palestinians and another that questioned the commonly accepted Palestinian narrative by which people seem to feel justified in turning a blind eye to terrorism against Israelis.