Jewish groups monitor Arab uni students in Auckland

The Jewish community is monitoring the activities of some Arab students in Auckland.

Jewish leaders have been scrutinising web traffic on www.arabuni.co.nz for months to keep an eye on the level of anti-Semitic sentiment.

Debate on Arabuni's political and religious forums gets particularly heated every time a Hamas leader or Iraqis are killed.

Among the slogans on Arabuni:

* "They say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach ... I say yes you take the knife, make a cut in the stomach and work ur [sic] way up to the heart!!"

* "We are a nation of wimps - We'll never defeat Israel. The israeleyat [sic] has fully grasped our mentality. Beat them? Never a chance in Hell."

* A woman records her three wishes from a genie's bottle as "Kill Sharon. Kill Sharon. Kill Sharon".

* But debate is not one-sided, with one contributor saying anti-Jewish and anti-Christian attitudes were "pure rubbish, just political agenda and nothing about religion".

Auckland rabbi Jeremy Lawrence said Palestinian students "a generation back" might have had an excuse for a call for suicide bombings but certainly this one does not.

"There is an offer of autonomy and statehood on the table," said Rabbi Lawrence, who heads the Auckland Hebrew Congregation.

"Children growing up do not have nothing left to live for - they have everything to hope for."

A spokesman for the Palestine Human Rights Campaign in Auckland, David Wakim, said the rabbi's comments were "nonsense".

"That's propaganda and dogma emanating from the Government of Israel and has nothing to do with reality on the ground."

Jewish leaders say Prime Minister Helen Clark's "uneven" condemnation of the killing of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz al-Rantissi might fuel anti-Jewish feelings.

David Swartz, president of the New Zealand Jewish Council, said "a token mention" was made of how the Government condemned suicide bombing - but its approach did not seem to be as even-handed as the Government claimed.