From the Australian Jewish News:

New Zealand graves desecrated – again
Michelle Coleman

FOR the third time in as many years, Jewish graves in Wellington have been desecrated. Vandals used vivid blue paint to horrifically deface six graves in Karori Cemetery with antisemitic vitriol. “Hitler RIP�, “Rot you filth� and “Juden swine� are just some of the hate-filled phrases that were emblazoned in stencil and free-hand onto the graves of Wellington Jewish community’s loved ones.

The desecration was reported to Wellington Hebrew Congregation Chevra Kadisha on October 7. It refrained from publicising the incident, for fear of prompting copycat incidents. And the following day, the Wellington City Council’s anti-graffiti response team removed almost all evidence of the attack.

But in a discussion several weeks later, the Wellington Regional Jewish Council overturned the Chevra’s decision and acknowledged the incident in the wider community. The vandalism is believed to be clearly linked to a front-page article published in Wellington’s Dominion Post two days prior to the incident.

The article was based on an interview with Israeli Ambassador Yuval Rotem where he said he would like to employ a Maori in his Canberra office to improve relations and understanding. Journalist Hank Schouten focused on this indiscretion and used the headline: “I need a Maori�.

In the article, Rotem was criticised for being unaware of New Zealand law relating to discrimination. Schouten asked NZ Race Relations Commissioner Joris de Bres for his impartial opinion, and the commissioner said it was laudable that the ambassador was looking for somebody knowledgeable about indigenous people and culture, “but I would have thought he would need to look for a competency rather than an ethnicity�.

Together with the usual antisemitic phrases, the vandals included Rotem, Schouten and de Bres as targets in their painting spree. “In my mind, there is no doubt about the connection [between the article and the desecration],� said Wellington Regional Jewish Council chair David Zwartz.

“I was disappointed that Hank Schouten picked up on a throwaway line at the end of a one-and-a-half hour interview and made it the focus of his article. But to my mind, there is no doubt that someone read it with malicious interest and acted.�

Zwartz added that it was ironic the vandals vilified Schouten himself, along with de Bres, who supported the focus of the article. “It shows a low level of understanding by the desecrators, that they apparently associated Joris de Bres with Jews and the Israeli ambassador, when in fact, his comments criticised the ambassador,� said Zwartz.

“It is symptomatic of a general negative New Zealand media attitude towards Israel, that what was an unwittingly inappropriate suggestion by the ambassador, became a calculatedly critical article from The Dominion Post,� he added.

Israeli Embassy spokesman Dor Shapira concurred: “The article took the idea in the wrong direction. It was antisemitism. The ambassador’s idea to hire someone who could give an insight into the culture and history was a good idea. Of course, he would be hiring someone for his skills and not his family.�

He said the ambassador had suggested this idea to many of the ministers that he met while in New Zealand, all of who had loved the idea. “We’ve received a lot of CVs from people wanting to work here since then,� Shapira added.

Three years ago, Jewish graves at the Bolton Street and Makara cemeteries were desecrated with more than 80 graves overturned and vandalised. The attack took place over a period of two weeks. The damage to both sites has since been repaired.

Police have not found the perpetrator(s) but have kept the file open.