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Antisemitism in New Zealand is the manifestation of hostility, prejudice or discrimination against the New Zealand Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group. This form of racism has affected Jews since New Zealand's Jewish community was established in the 19th century.
According to the New Zealand Jewish Council, "Overt acts of antisemitism have been largely absent in New Zealand, but not entirely." [1]
Although Julius Vogel became the country's first Jewish premier in 1873, immigration policy instituted in 1881 curtailed Jewish immigration. [2] Immigration was effectively closed to cultures deemed too foreign (a category which also included eastern European Jews) and that were of non-British origin. [3] Some have attributed this attitude to New Zealand's geographic isolation at the time, to fear of economic competition, to the dilution of a perceived "white" culture. [4] [5] [6]
Antisemitism and discrimination increased during the Second World War, with Jews excluded from professions and immigration. [1] The immigration policy continued to favour migrants of British-origin while excluding Jews and Asians. [7] 1100 Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi persecution were given refuge in New Zealand, while thousands of other Jewish applicants were rejected. [7] The refugees that entered before and after the war encountered prejudice from a mostly homogeneous non-Maori New Zealand society. [7] The trade union movement in the country was ambivalent towards Jewish refugees, with the New Zealand Federation of Labour preferring non-Jewish victims of fascism. [7] Some local academics and the Christchurch Refugees Emergency Committee supported Jewish immigration. [7] Christian churches in New Zealand were mostly ambivalent towards the settlement of Jewish refugees, with only the Religious Society of Friends attempting to influence government immigration policy and then assisting the refugees that were permitted entry. [7] After the war, the government mostly rejected immigration applications from foreign relatives of New Zealand Jewry and those of the newly arrived refugees. [7] This was in contrast to Australian policy that stressed its humanitarian obligations. [7]
In 1977, the New Zealand Jewish community was targeted by a leaflet drop in the Auckland suburb of Remuera. The National Socialist Party of New Zealand was responsible for producing and disseminating 9000 copies of the pamphlet. It contained images of Jesus Christ, Adolf Hitler and it condemned Judaism, likening Jews to the devil. Colin King-Ansell, leader of the party, was convicted, leading to New Zealand's first ever conviction for hate speech. [8]
In 1990, a woman with a history of psychiatric illness, reportedly screamed anti-semitic epithets before carrying out a knife attack on four Jewish children. [9] [10] Two months earlier, in an apparent copycat attack of the desecration of Jewish graves in Carpentras, Jewish graves were desecrated in Dunedin. [9]
In 2004, scores of Jewish graves, including Solomon Levy's and other historic early Jewish graves, were smashed and spray painted with swastikas and other anti-semitic messages at Wellington. [11] The New Zealand Parliament responded rapidly to condemn the actions. [12] In 2012, a Jewish cemetery in Auckland was desecrated overnight with swastikas and anti-semitic statements scrawled across the grave stones. More than 20 graves were attacked at the Karangahape Road cemetery. [13] The perpetrator, a young Englishman on holiday in New Zealand, was convicted and ordered to leave the country. [14] In 2015, Jewish graves were again desecrated in Dunedin, with two broken and another vandalised with a swastika. [15]
In 2022, the New Zealand Jewish Council (NZJC) published a major survey of antisemitism in New Zealand, focusing attention on several areas of concern. [16] The survey found concerning levels of antisemitic sentiment, with various forms of antisemitism identified, including classical antisemitism, right-wing and nationalistic antisemitism, jihad-inspired antisemitism, and left-wing antisemitism (Zionophobia). [17]
Despite negative views, the study suggested a high level of warmth toward Jews in New Zealand, with a surprising 32% stating they knew a Jewish person. [18] However, Holocaust knowledge remains a concern, as only 42% could correctly identify the number of Jewish people killed in the Holocaust. The survey emphasizes the importance of Holocaust education in New Zealand. [19]
See, Antisemitism during the Israel–Hamas war
According to the local human rights group, Humanity Matters, over half of Jews in New Zealand reported in 2022 that they had encountered antisemitic misinformation or disinformation online that was either directly related to Israel or to anti-Zionism during the previous 12 months. [20]
The 2023 Hamas terrorist attack and subsequent Israeli counterstrike saw a rise in antisemitic sentiment in New Zealand as well, with Jewish community members and experts warning of real-life repercussions. [21] [22] Following safety concerns from the New Zealand Police, Jewish-affiliated institutions such as the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand as well as schools and synagogues were temporarily closed for fear of attacks. [23] Jewish people in New Zealand reported a sudden uptick of anti-Semitic slurs, threats of violence, and calls for the boycott of Jewish businesses. [24] In November 2023, a statue of Dove-Myer Robinson, a former Jewish mayor of Auckand, was defaced with a swastika following a protest for a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel. [25]
On October 14, the Auckland War Memorial Museum, lit up in white and blue in a gesture of solidarity with Israel, was attacked by over 100 pro-Palestinian protestors, who disabled the lighting installation, though accounts vary as to whether the lights were covered or damaged. [26] The protest was followed by condemnation of the museum's perceived support of the war in Gaza, which led to an official apology by the institution being issued, though the apology itself was condemned by Jewish organizations as "shameful" and a "betrayal" of the NZ Jewish community. [26] [27] On November 7, pro-Palestinian graffiti was sprayed on the fence of the Beth Shalom centre in Auckland's Epsom suburb. An unsuccessful attempt was also made to set the property on fire. Google Maps had mistakenly listed the property as the local Israeli consulate. Behind the vandalised fence is a building that was until recently home to Habonim Dror Aotearoa New Zealand, a Socialist-Zionist youth movement. [28] The incident was condemned by ACT Party Member of Parliament David Seymour, who reported the matter to Police. [29]
The Green Party MP Chlöe Swarbrick drew criticism for her public usage of the slogan "from the river to the sea, Palestine shall be free". The NZJC responded that "There is one very important question that was not put to Chlöe, and is not put to anybody who uses that phrase: do you believe that Israel should exist, do you believe in a two-state solution? I'd like somebody who uses that chant to actually answer that question." [30] In an ongoing study conducted by the Holocaust Centre of New Zealand, half of Jewish parents surveyed, revealed that their children had been subject to antisemitism since the 2023 Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7. [31]
The NZJC had criticized the "notable silence" of political leaders and demanding of them to confront the rising anti-Semitic sentiment in the country. [32] [33] Some political leaders were further called out for perceived inflammatory language, with the NZJC claiming that "this directly incites antisemitic behaviour and we call on all leaders to consider their words carefully". [34] For instance, Indigenous rights party Te Pāti Māori immediately likened Israeli retaliatory action to genocide and called for the expulsion of the Israeli and US ambassadors. [35] Anti-Israeli rhetoric further escalated during a parliamentary debate and Question Time on a proposed call for an immediate ceasefire introduced by Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters: Israel's actions were labeled as genocide by Labour’s associate foreign affairs spokesman Damien O’Connor, Green MP Golriz Ghahraman, Green Party co-leader Marama Davidson, and Te Pāti Māori co-leader Debbie Ngarewa-Packer. [36] The NZJC subsequently released a statement expressing their dismay at the language used at the debate. [37]
Different opinions exist among historians regarding the extent of antisemitism in American history and how American antisemitism contrasted with its European counterpart. In contrast to the horrors of European history, John Higham states that in the United States "no decisive event, no deep crisis, no powerful social movement, no great individual is associated primarily with, or significant chiefly because of anti-Semitism." Accordingly, David A. Gerber concludes that antisemitism "has been a distinctly minor feature of the nation's historical development."
Antisemitism —prejudice, hatred of, or discrimination against Jews—has experienced a long history of expression since the days of ancient civilizations, with most of it having originated in the Christian and pre-Christian civilizations of Europe.
Antisemitism has long existed in the United States. Most Jewish community relations agencies in the United States draw distinctions between antisemitism, which is measured in terms of attitudes and behaviors, and the security and status of American Jews, which are both measured by the occurrence of specific incidents.
Antisemitic incidents escalated worldwide in frequency and intensity during the Gaza War, and were widely considered to be a wave of reprisal attacks in response to the conflict.
Antisemitism in Canada is the manifestation of hostility, prejudice or discrimination against the Canadian Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group. This form of racism has affected Jews since Canada's Jewish community was established in the 18th century.
Racism in the Palestinian territories encompasses all forms and manifestations of racism experienced in the Palestinian Territories, of the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem, irrespective of the religion, colour, creed, or ethnic origin of the perpetrator and victim, or their citizenship, residency, or visitor status. It may refer to Jewish settler attitudes regarding Palestinians as well as Palestinian attitudes to Jews and the settlement enterprise undertaken in their name.
The Jewish community in Sweden has been prevalent since the 18th century. Today Sweden has a Jewish community of around 20,000, which makes it the 7th largest in the European Union. Antisemitism in historical Sweden primarily manifested as the confiscation of property, restrictions on movement and employment, and forced conversion to Christianity. Antisemitism in present-day Sweden is mainly perpetrated by far-right politicians, neo-Nazis, and Islamists.
Antisemitism in France has become heightened since the late 20th century and into the 21st century. In the early 21st century, most Jews in France, like most Muslims in France, are of North African origin. France has the largest population of Jews in the diaspora after the United States—an estimated 500,000–600,000 persons. Paris has the highest population, followed by Marseilles, which has 70,000 Jews. Expressions of antisemitism were seen to rise during the Six-Day War of 1967 and the French anti-Zionist campaign of the 1970s and 1980s. Following the electoral successes achieved by the extreme right-wing National Front and an increasing denial of the Holocaust among some persons in the 1990s, surveys showed an increase in stereotypical antisemitic beliefs among the general French population.
Since World War II, antisemitic prejudice in Italy has seldom taken on aggressive forms.
British Jews have experienced antisemitism - discrimination and persecution as Jews - since a Jewish community was first established in England in 1070. They experienced a series of massacres in the Medieval period, which culminated in their expulsion from England in 1290.
Antisemitism in Greece manifests itself in religious, political and media discourse. The 2009–2018 Greek government-debt crisis has facilitated the rise of far right groups in Greece, most notably the formerly obscure Golden Dawn.
Evidence for the presence of Jewish communities in the geographical area today covered by Austria can be traced back to the 12th century. In 1848 Jews were granted civil rights and the right to establish an autonomous religious community, but full citizenship rights were given only in 1867. In an atmosphere of economic, religious and social freedom, the Jewish population grew from 6,000 in 1860 to almost 185,000 in 1938. In March 1938, Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany and thousands of Austrians and Austrian Jews who opposed Nazi rule were sent to concentration camps. Of the 65,000 Viennese Jews deported to concentration camps, only about 2,000 survived, while around 800 survived World War II in hiding.
Antisemitism in Venezuela has occurred throughout the history of the Jews in Venezuela. However, under the presidencies of both Hugo Chávez and Nicolás Maduro, allegations of antisemitism grew following actions and statements by the Venezuelan government, while also occurring in public incidents. The Bolivarian government would also use the words of "Jewish" and "Zionist" interchangeably in order to avoid accusations of antisemitism.
Antisemitism in Australia is the manifestation of hostility, prejudice or discrimination against the Australian Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group. This form of racism has affected Jews since Australia's Jewish community was established in the 18th century. There are a number of organisations that track antisemitic activities, including the Executive Council of Australian Jewry, that publish an annual list of all reported antisemitic activities. Antisemitism in Australia is perpetrated by a variety of group, and it has manifested in the publication of antisemitic publications, in efforts to prevent Jewish immigration, and in attacks on Australian Jews and their communal institutions.
Belgium is a European country with a Jewish population of approximately 35,000 out of a total population of about 11.4 million. It is among the countries experiencing an increase in both antisemitic attitudes and in physical attacks on Jews.
Antisemitism is a growing problem in 21st-century Germany.
Zionist antisemitism or antisemitic Zionism refers to a phenomenon in which antisemites express support for Zionism and the State of Israel. In some cases, this support may be promoted for explicitly antisemitic reasons. Historically, this type of antisemitism has been most notable among Christian Zionists, who may perpetrate religious antisemitism while being outspoken in their support for Jewish sovereignty in Israel due to their interpretation of Christian eschatology. Similarly, people who identify with the political far-right, particularly in Europe and the United States, may support the Zionist movement because they seek to expel Jews from their country and see Zionism as the least complicated method of achieving this goal and satisfying their racial antisemitism.
Antisemitism in the People's Republic of China is mostly a 21st century phenomenon and the prevalence of it in contemporary China is contradicted by the fact that there is little mention of antisemitism in China in historical sources. In the 2020s, antisemitic conspiracy theories in China began to spread and intensify. Some Chinese people believe in antisemitic tropes that Jews secretly rule the world and are business-minded.
Following the Hamas-led attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 and the outbreak of the Israel–Hamas war, there has been a surge of antisemitism around the world. Israeli Immigration Minister Ofir Sofer has stated that Israel is bracing to expect a large wave of Jews migrating to Israel due to the rising antisemitism around the world.
In the early 21st century, antisemitism was identified in social media platforms with up to 69 percent of Jews in the US having encountered antisemitism online according to the 2022 report released by "The State of Antisemitism in America". Jews have encountered antisemitism either as targets themselves or by being exposed to antisemitic content on their media page.