Israel in the Middle East
The state of Israel is a mere 8% of the size of New Zealand, yet it has twice the population, 20% of it Arabic. Israel
is a legitimate state in the Middle East but neighboring states make it plain that they wish it were otherwise. The
situation in the Middle East is, in part, the product of the two World Wars in the first half of the 20th century.
World War One – the centenary of which we mark next year – broke the Ottoman Empire, freeing territory to be re-assigned
among the peoples living there. The anti-Jewish holocaust of World War Two cried out for the solution that is
present-day Israel. An increasing number of voices are saying that if World War Three were to break out it would be in
the gunpowder barrel that we know as the Middle East.
Yet, among the neighborhood tensions there are positives which we will hear from the guest this week In Conversation
with Noel Cheer on Face Television: His Excellency the Ambassador for Israel in New Zealand, Yosef Livne.
'In Conversation with Noel Cheer', Face Television, Monday December 2nd at 7:00pm, repeated on Tuesday December 3rd at
12 noon.
Face Television, the home of public broadcasting, is found on Sky Television Channel 083. As a result of the Digital
Switch Over it will not be available in the Auckland region on UHF Channels 41, 42 and 52 after December 1st, nor will
it be live-streamed.
The website www.facetv.co.nz carries programme schedules of broadcasts on Sky. Some past episodes of In Conversation can be viewed at www.youtube.com/user/NoelCheer
We acknowledge with gratitude that "In Conversation with Noel Cheer" received funding from New Zealand on Air. This
enabled us to introduce viewers to more than 280 New Zealanders on Air (as well as a few visitors to New Zealand) during
nearly seven years of unique unbroken weekly public-interest broadcasting. Owing to ongoing funding and spectrum
allocation issues, the last "Conversation" will be screened on December 9th.
ENDS