Israel–New Zealand relations

Israeli-New Zealand relations

New Zealand	Israel

Israel-New Zealand relations are the foreign relations between Israel and New Zealand.

History

New Zealand has a long history of support for Israel, and voted in favour of the 1947 UN partition resolution, which lead to the creation of the State of Israel, despite heavy pressure from the United Kingdom on all Commonwealth nations to abstain on the resolution. New Zealand recognised the State of Israel in January 1949.

New Zealand has an honorary consulate in Tel Aviv and Israel has an embassy resident in Wellington with an honorary consulate in Auckland. The Israeli embassy in Wellington was closed in October 2002 for financial reasons, but later reopened in 2010.

New Zealand was accredited to Israel from The Hague in 1986. The accreditation was moved to Ankara, Turkey in February 1996. The New Zealand Trade and Enterprise (NZTE) regional office in Dubai and the NZTE office in Ankara, cover Israel. Gad Propper was appointed New Zealand's Honorary Consul to Israel in June 1998. Israel appointed a new ambassador to New Zealand, Yuval Rotem in September 2007, also based in Canberra.^[1]

NZ Foreign Minister Phil Goff visited Israel from May 26–29 in 2003. New Zealand’s Minister for Research, Science and Technology, Pete Hodgson, made a technical working visit to Israel from November 26–December 3 in 2000. A delegation of four senior Israeli Foreign Ministry officials traveled to New Zealand for the inaugural New Zealand-Israel Foreign Ministry Consultations on September 11, 2003. A Knesset delegation visited New Zealand in August 2001.^[2]

In 2007, Israel's new ambassador to Australia and New Zealand commented that he wanted to hire a staffer who was "an indigenous New Zealander... a non-Jewish Maori...". New Zealand's Race Relations Commissioner responded to the comment by clarifying that it was unlawful in New Zealand (and Australia) to hire somebody on the basis of ethnicity.^[3]

Economic ties

In 1994 Israel opened a trade office in Auckland and the New Zealand and Israel Trade Association, known as NZITA, was established.^[4] When NZITA was first created it was managed by Ezra Karon and led by Auckland businessmen Mike Nathan and David Nathan.^[5]

New Zealand sent about $12.5 million of exports to Israel in 2002 and received around $60.1 million of imports, including fertilizers, plastic and soap. By 2005 annual exports from New Zealand to Israel reached NZ$16.834 million. Exports were mostly milk and cream (13.8%), electronic circuit boards (11.1%), preserved meat or offal products (10.9%), casein (10.8%), and medications (7.4%). Exports from Israel to New Zealand, which were mostly manufactured goods like steam turbines (11.3%), industrial water heaters (5.2%), plastic sheets and films (4.7%), telecommunications equipment (4.7%), and inkjet printers (3.8%), reached NZ$88.15 million. Fonterra, New Zealand's largest dairy company, is involved in a joint venture with the Israeli cooperative Tnuva which opened in December 2001. Agricultural exports to Israel increased in 2005, but protective barriers prevent a significant trade in agricultural products from developing. Visitor visa waivers are in place to increase business travel and tourism.^[2]

Israeli spies scandals

Main article: 2004 Israel-New Zealand spy scandal

Background

On July 15, 2004, New Zealand imposed diplomatic sanctions against Israel and suspended high-level contacts between the two countries in July 2005 after two Israeli citizens, Uriel Zosha Kelman and Eli Cara, were convicted of passport fraud in Auckland.

New Zealand police alleged that a third Israeli citizen, former Israeli diplomat Zev William Barkan, was the one who actually tried to get the passport. Tony Resnick, a former paramedic with St John Ambulance, which the cerebral palsy sufferer also belonged to, is also believed to have been involved. Barkan and Resnick were never found, but are believed to have left New Zealand before Kelman and Cara were caught. The New Zealand government said there was strong evidence that the two men were Mossad agents and Prime Minister Helen Clark said:

"The New Zealand government views the act carried out by the Israeli intelligence agents as not only utterly unacceptable but also a breach of New Zealand sovereignty and international law."

Kelman and Cara, who denied membership in the Mossad but pleaded guilty to trying to enter the country illegally and working with organized criminal gangs, were sentenced to six months in jail. They were also ordered to pay US $32,500 to a cerebral palsy charity because they tried to collect a passport in the name of a wheelchair-using cerebral palsy victim.^[6]

After serving either two^[7] or three months^[8] they were deported.

Cara, who visited New Zealand 24 times between October 2000 and March 2005, claims he was working as a travel agent.^[9]

Repercussions

Prime Minister Clark cancelled a planned visit to New Zealand in August by Israeli President Moshe Katzav, delayed approval for a new Israeli ambassador to New Zealand, and called the case "far more than simple criminal behaviour by two individuals" which "seriously strained our relationship." Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom expressed sorrow, and said that Israel would work to repair the relationship. Dr. Alon Liel, former Director-General of the Israeli Foreign Ministry, said that Israel must protest the sanctions, "for if not, it's a silent admission that the two men worked for the Mossad."^[10]

Jewish graves in Wellington were vandalized with Swastikas and Nazi slogans carved into and around 16 Jewish graves. David Zwartz, a leader in the Jewish community in New Zealand who was appointed as the Honorary Consul from Israel to New Zealand in 2003, said:

"...there is a direct connection between the very strong expressions against Israel and people here feeling they can take it out on Jews. It seems to me Israel-bashing one day, Jew-bashing the next day."^[11]

The Israeli Deputy Chief of Chief of Staff, Gabi Ashkenazi, was denied permission to visit New Zealand to speak at a private fund-raising event in March 2005 because of the freeze on visits from Israeli officials.^[12]

Reconciliation

On June 26, 2005 Foreign Minister Shalom sent a letter of apology to the New Zealand government saying:

"In this context, we wish to express our regret for the activities which resulted in the arrest and conviction of two Israel citizens in New Zealand on criminal charges and apologize for the involvement of Israeli citizens in such activities.^[13] Israel commits itself to taking steps to prevent a recurrence of similar incidents in the future."^[14]

Diplomatic relations were fully re-established on August 30, 2005 when Naftali Tamir presented his credentials, which were accepted, to Governor-General Dame Silvia Cartwright before a guard of honor."^[7] The Foreign Minister's deputy director for Asia and the Pacific, Amos Nadav, said, "We are happy the crisis is behind us and look ahead to the future."^[15]

2011 investigation

A combination of unusual events immediately following the death of an Israeli backpacker in the 2011 Christchurch earthquake caused the New Zealand government to investigate whether he and his companions had links to Israeli intelligence. No such links were found, but the story gained media attention in July 2011 due to the suspicious circumstances that the man held several foreign passports and in that his companions all left New Zealand within 12 hours of the earthquake and their companion's death.^[16][17]

2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict

Main article: 2006 Lebanon War

On August 14, 2006 Prime Minister Helen Clark expressed satisfaction that the United Nations Security Council had unanimously passed Resolution 1701, calling for a "full cessation of hostilities" between Israel and Hezbollah, on August 11.

"I call on all parties involved in this tragic conflict, as well as the wider international community, to use their influence to help bring peace and a lasting solution. New Zealand stands ready to consider what role we might play in an expanded UN presence in southern Lebanon, taking into account the other demands on our Defence Force."^[18]

See also

• International recognition of Israel

References

1. ^ "'I need a Maori' - Envoy wants NZ reminder". The Dominion Post. 5 October 2007. http://www.stuff.co.nz/4226023a10.html. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
2. ^ ^{a b} "Israel - Country Information Paper". New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Countries/Middle-East/Israel.php. 
3. ^ http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/909846.html
4. ^ Eugene Bingham and Tony Stickley (17 April 2004). "How the trap was sprung". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/topic/story.cfm?c_id=467&objectid=3561101. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
5. ^ New Zealand - Israel Trade Association
6. ^ New Zealand jails Israeli 'spies'
7. ^ ^{a b} "Ritual shows NZ, Israel again friends". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 31 August 2005. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=606&ObjectID=10343272. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
8. ^ "Israel 'admits' to NZ spy mission". The New Zealand Herald. Reuters. 27 October 2005. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=606&ObjectID=10352280. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
9. ^ Young, Audrey (27 June 2005). "A murky tale of bugs and spy claims". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=606&ObjectID=10332882. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
10. ^ Israel's New Zealand Problem
11. ^ New Zealand-Israeli row deepens
12. ^ Goodenough, Patrick (15 March 2005). "Government shuts out Israeli general". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10115325. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
13. ^ "Israeli ambassador to meet NZ Governor-General". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 29 August 2005. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=606&ObjectID=10342990. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
14. ^ O'Sullivan, Fran (27 June 2005). "Israel remains silent over Mossad role in scandal". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=606&ObjectID=10332870. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
15. ^ "Apology opens door for Israeli minister to visit NZ". The New Zealand Herald. NZPA. 28 June 2005. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/feature/story.cfm?c_id=606&ObjectID=10333039. Retrieved 6 October 2011. 
16. ^ Claire Trevett and Derek Cheng (21 July 2011). "Israelis 'were just backpackers'". The New Zealand Herald. http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10739852. Retrieved 21 July 2011. 
17. ^ "'Israeli spies among New Zealand earthquake casualties". Jerusalem Post. 20 July 2011. http://www.jpost.com/International/Article.aspx?id=230110. Retrieved 21 July 2011. 
18. ^ NZ welcomes Security Council resolution

External links

• New Zealand Herald: full coverage on Israeli spies case
• Wellington Jewish Community Website
• Auckland Jewish Community Website
• New Zealand Jewish Community Forum