It’s that time of the year again folks.

Please submit nominations for Committee members and President one week beforehand, being 5pm Sunday 14 August.

After the formalities are over, we will be showing the movie “The Concert.”

“The Concert” is a 2009 French comedy-drama film by Radu Mihăileanu, starring Aleksei Guskov, Mélanie Laurent and Miou-Miou.

It is about the redemption of a former world-famous conductor of the Bolshoi Theatre orchestra, known as “The Maestro,” Andrey Simonovich Filipov, who had had his career publicly broken by Leonid Brezhnev for defending Jewish musicians and is reduced to working as a mere janitor in the theatre where he once conducted, becoming an alcoholic in the process.

It won the Best Original Score and Best Sound awards at César Awards 2010. It was also nominated for two Magritte Awards in the category of Best Film in Coproduction and Best Editing for Ludo Troch in 2011, and Best Foreign Film at the 68th Golden Globe Awards.

Please bring a plate of finger food.  We’d be grateful if you avoided pork or seafood products.

CANTERBURY UNIVERSITY: RAPHAEL WEIN AND NAFTALI GROSS

Tuesday October 25, 12 noon

 THE NZ INSTITUTE OF INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS INVITES YOU TO WHAT PROMISES TO BE AN ENGAGING AND FASCINATING ADDRESS

Ethical Dilemmas of Serving in the Israeli Defense Forces:  Israel’s war against terrorism.

About the Speakers:

Raphael is a Business Administration and Political Science Student at Ariel University and is a reservist in the IDF.  Naftali is a medical student at the Hebrew University and a volunteer paramedic for Magen David (the equivalent of St John’s Ambulance Service in NZ) and is also a reservist in the IDF.  Both were combatants in the 2014 Gaza War. 

Venue:  Logie 104, University of Canterbury, Ilam, Christchurch.
A map showing the location of the venue may be obtained by clicking this link.

Admission is free

Feel free to pass this notice on to anyone else you feel may be interested.

CANCELLED:  Folks, unfortunately recently implemented visa requirements have meant that Stan does not have the necessary visas required to enter Australia.  This has meant that the NZ leg of his speaking tour has been cancelled.  We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

The Coming of the Kingdom of Heaven: How God used the ANZAC nations to help prepare the way for the King.

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Stan has lived in Israel for half of his life even though he was born to a Gentile couple serving on the mission field in the small kingdom of Swaziland. Following three years volunteering on Israeli collective farms in the 1980s, he worked as a political reporter for the South African newspaper, The Daily Dispatch – where his pen had its training during apartheid’s waning years. He has traveled to various nations, speaking to Christians about developments in Israel. In 2011 he was accredited by the Israel Ministry of Tourism as a tour guide, and takes individuals, small groups, families, busloads and helicopter-loads of Christians around God’s Land. Stan has lived in Israel for half of his life even though he was born to a Gentile couple serving on the mission field in the small kingdom of Swaziland. Following three years volunteering on Israeli collective farms in the 1980s, he worked as a political reporter for the South African newspaper, The Daily Dispatch – where his pen had its training during apartheid’s waning years. He has traveled to various nations, speaking to Christians about developments in Israel. In 2011 he was accredited by the Israel Ministry of Tourism as a tour guide, and takes individuals, small groups, families, busloads and helicopter-loads of Christians around God’s Land.

A young girl is taken to an aid station in Alleppo

The Failure of the

UN and International Law in Syria:

A Classical Realist Perspective

Speaker:   Jeremy Moses

Date:  Monday 13 August 2018

Time: 5pm for 5:30pm

Venue:  South Arts Lecture Theatre A4

In collaboration with Victoria University of Wellington & AUT – Auckland University of Technology, & supported by New Zealand Human Rights Commission the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand brings you, ‘At the Forefront – Human Rights Speaker Series’, a forum for discussion & debate on Human Rights.

Paul Moon is a New Zealand historian and a professor at the Auckland University of Technology.

He is a prolific writer of New Zealand history and biography, specialising in Māori history, the Treaty of Waitangi and the early period of Crown rule.

In collaboration with Victoria University of Wellington & AUT – Auckland University of Technology, & supported by New Zealand Human Rights Commission the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand brings you, ‘At the Forefront – Human Rights Speaker Series’, a forum for discussion & debate on Human Rights.

Paul Moon is a New Zealand historian and a professor at the Auckland University of Technology.

He is a prolific writer of New Zealand history and biography, specialising in Māori history, the Treaty of Waitangi and the early period of Crown rule.

We are forming a group to go view this documentary on Sunday June 16.  If you’d like to join up, call our Wellington Regional Coordinator, Joanna Moss on (022) 154 7865.

“…by the end, Keane and McConnell are tugging so hard at heartstrings that most viewers will be unable to resist, even the ones who can see the puppeteers in constant motion.” – Hollywood Reporter

It’s hard to imagine anybody living a normal life in the Gaza Strip. Frequently labelled as the world’s largest open-air prison, it makes an appearance on news reports every time a confrontation erupts between Israel and Hamas. On TV sets thousands of miles away, this tiny piece of land has been reduced to an image of violence, chaos and destruction.

The Gaza which is seldom seen is ordinary, everyday Gaza, a coastal strip smaller than Lake Taupō and home to an eclectic mix of almost two million.

So what do the people who live there do when they’re not under siege?

Gary Keane and Andrew McConnell’s atypical approach to their subject matter yields unexpected, unfamiliar stories of people plagued by conflict but not defined by it.

“We don’t wanna be killed or injured. We simply want to live.”
– Paramedic in Gaza

Gaza cannot be understood in a purely political context or by analysing tragic sound bites during conflict. It can only be understood by immersion, by living amongst its people and by recognizing and exploring its rich social diversity and cultural subtleties.

As the filmmakers travel through the physically broken and battered landscape, they allow their subjects to speak for themselves.

Through them, we gain a nuanced understanding of what life is really like for Gaza’s citizens. In Keane and McConnell’s tender portrait of beleaguered humanity, we experience familiarity and affinity with this unique community.

100% on Rotten Tomatoes

A kite with an incendiary device is readied for its launch

Folks

The NZ Institute of International Affairs (NZIIA) has invited us to their event:

Title:  Who lives behind the Gaza blockade, and what can Aotearoa NZ (and we) do?

Speaker:  Marilyn Garson

Date:  Tuesday, Feb 25

Time:  5.30p-6.30p

Venue:  South Arts Lecture Theatre A6, University of Canterbury Campus

Abstract: Marilyn Garson worked for 18 years with excluded communities affected by war.  She has established locally owned social enterprises with Cambodians with disabilities, Afghan women and others.

In 2011, she was invited to move to the Gaza Strip. As the economic director of a large NGO programme, she led an ambitious Gazan team.  In 2013, she became a consultant to the office of UNRWA’s then-Gaza director.  They set about launching the GGateway enterprise to create technology-related jobs behind the Gaza blockade. Marilyn volunteered to stay in Gaza as part of the UN emergency response team that prepared to shelter 35,000 displaced Gazans – but 293,000 people needed shelter through 50 days of bombardment.

Marilyn recently published Still Lives – a memoir of Gaza, chronicling four years of work (2011 – 2015), and the lives being lived behind the Gaza blockade.

As a Jew, Marilyn has skin on both sides of the Israel-Palestine conflict. She discusses the conflict, and NZ’s aid policy, in the unifying language of law and human rights.

She asks, who really lives behind the Gaza blockade, and what can we do about it?

Shalom

NZ Friends of Israel Assoc Inc

Box 37 363
Halswell
Christchurch
New Zealand 8245

+64 (27) 433 9745
contact@nzfoi.org
www.nzfoi.org

NZ Governments and Israel

4.30pm, Sunday, October 11

Hao Room, Halswell Centre, 341 Halswell Rd, Christchurch

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

Ashley Church is a current director of the Israel Institute of NZ and has a business partnership with ex-network newsreader and public relations consultant, Rawdon Christie. He also provides consulting and management services to Membership Organisations, Associations and Business Coops.

The Israel Institute of New Zealand is an independent think tank dedicated to providing New Zealanders with a better understanding of the State of Israel through accurate analysis, insightful commentary, and effective advocacy.

He is an NZME correspondent, for Energy, and Business issues and has appeared on My House My Castle, NZ Open Home, ASB I Want to Buy a Home and TVNZ Breakfast.

ADMISSION

Please bring a plate of finger food,  no pork or seafood products.  A collection will be taken to help defray travel and other event-related costs.

CHRISTCHURCH FEBRUARY GATHERING: THE IRAN NUCLEAR DEAL

2.30pm, Sunday, February 28

Hao Rm, Halswell Centre,
341 Halswell Rd, Christchurch

From 6:30 am Sunday, February 28, Christchurch will be in a Level 2 Lockdown. Under Level 2 rules, attendance will be limited to a maximum of 100.

NZ Friends of Israel invites you to a discussion on the issues arising from renewing the Iran nuclear deal.

• • • • • • What was the original nuclear deal?
          • What was learnt from it?
          • What are the risks to Israel if Iran successfully develops a nuclear weapon?
          • What can be done about it?
          • What can we do about it?

Admission: Bring a plate of finger food, please no pork or seafood products.