New Zealand was among the nations to vote in favour of a Jewish State at the United Nations in 1947. Since that time there has never been a New Zealand Embassy in Israel. We believe it is important that in the only Jewish State in the world (which happens to be the only true democracy in the Middle East), that our country should be represented properly. We have embassies in seven Arab/Muslim countries which have been historically hostile toward Israel, and to keep to our foreign policy of being “even-handed” and “balanced” it seems fair and logical that this should also mean an embassy in Israel.