The Israel Institute of New Zealand (IINZ) has lodged a formal complaint to the ombudsman over funding of hate.
IINZ co-director Dr David Cumin said it was outrageous that more than one million dollars each year went to an organisation that used racist teaching material in schools.
The organisation was the United Nations Works and Relief Agency (UNRWA) which operated schools around the Middle East. Textbooks used in some of their schools had, for decades, been shown to include material that glorified terror and included egregious antisemitism.
Dr Cumin said Ministry of Foreign Affairs officials first tried to downplay the textbooks that incite violence, then they briefed the Minister that they were waiting on an EU-funded report.
“However, the report was only published in June and the payment was made in April.”
The EU-funded report confirmed decades of evidence that the curriculum was filled with hate and antisemitism. It said there were clear examples of egregious antisemitism, glorification of terror, rejection of peace, delegitimization of Israel, and incitement to violence.
New Zealand’s Chief Human Rights Commissioner, Paul Hunt, had noted the findings of ‘problematic content’ and conveyed to MFAT that funding such curriculum might place New Zealand in breach of international human rights obligations.
Read the IINZ letter of complaint in full here.
