How to plan a meeting between Israel and New Zealand
Find a meeting time that works in Israel and New Zealand, account for daylight saving changes, and share the correct local time with everyone.
Scheduling across Israel and New Zealand can be confusing because New Zealand is several hours ahead, and the time difference changes during the year. A time that looks reasonable on one calendar may land in the middle of the night for the other group.
Use a world clock to compare both places for the exact date, then choose a slot that fits the people attending. The World Clock can help you check local times before you send an invitation.
Compare the two time zones
- Open the World Clock and choose Jerusalem for Israel and Auckland or Wellington for New Zealand. These cities use the standard time zones for most people in each country.
- Check the date you are planning to meet, not just the current time. If the tool lets you compare a date or move through time, use the meeting date.
- Look for a period when both locations are awake and available. A useful starting point is early morning in Israel and late afternoon or evening in New Zealand.
- Check the calendar date beside each local time. A New Zealand morning can fall on the previous evening in Israel, so confirm that both people are looking at the same date.
If an attendee is in the Chatham Islands rather than mainland New Zealand, check their local time separately. The islands use a different time zone from Auckland and Wellington.
What the time difference means
New Zealand is usually 9 to 11 hours ahead
Israel uses UTC+2 during standard time and UTC+3 during daylight saving time. Mainland New Zealand uses UTC+12 during standard time and UTC+13 during daylight saving time. Since the two countries change their clocks on different dates, the difference is not fixed: it can be 9, 10, or 11 hours depending on the date.
Do not rely on a remembered conversion such as “New Zealand is 10 hours ahead.” Check the specific date in the World Clock, especially for a meeting in spring or fall, when one country may have changed clocks and the other has not.
The best overlap may be outside normal office hours
When New Zealand is 9 hours ahead, 8 a.m. in Israel is 5 p.m. in New Zealand. With a 10-hour difference, that same Israel time is 6 p.m. in New Zealand. With an 11-hour difference, it is 7 p.m. in New Zealand. That gives you a quick sense of why early Israel mornings and late New Zealand afternoons can be a workable starting point.
There may not be a slot that falls within a normal 9-to-5 workday for everyone. Ask attendees whether they can start early or stay late, rather than assuming that a conversion is convenient. Israel's common workweek runs Sunday through Thursday, while New Zealand's is usually Monday through Friday, so check the weekday as well as the hour.
The local date can differ
A time near the start of the day in New Zealand may correspond to the previous evening in Israel. The reverse can also matter when you are arranging an early Israel meeting. Keep the date visible in the invitation and state both locations' local times so nobody has to work it out again.
Choose a time people can attend
- Ask about each person's working hours. Find out whether anyone can meet before work, after work, or during a lunch break. A short call may allow more flexibility than a long workshop.
- Pick two or three candidate times. Compare them on the actual meeting date. Avoid choosing a time based only on today's offset, since daylight saving transitions can change the conversion later in the year.
- Check both calendars. Confirm that the chosen times do not overlap with local holidays, weekends, or existing commitments. Do not assume that a public holiday is observed identically by every organization.
- Choose one reference time zone for the invitation. If your calendar supports multiple time zones, display Israel and New Zealand together. Otherwise, include both local times and the date in the invite description.
- Ask attendees to confirm. Have someone in each location verify the time shown on their calendar. This catches mistakes caused by a wrong date, a manually selected time zone, or a daylight saving change.
Write the invitation clearly
Include the full date, the time in Israel, and the time in New Zealand. Name the cities or time zones rather than writing only “local time.” For example, use a format like “Tuesday, May 12, 8:00 a.m. Jerusalem time, 5:00 p.m. Auckland time.” Check that the example conversion matches your chosen date before sending it.
If you send a calendar invitation, set its time zone correctly and let the calendar convert it for each attendee. Avoid changing the event time by hand for people in the other country, since a calendar invitation normally represents one moment and displays that moment in each person's local time.
Check again before a seasonal clock change
Daylight saving transitions do not happen on the same dates in Israel and New Zealand. If you are booking a recurring meeting that crosses one of those transitions, review the series after the clocks change. A calendar may keep the same local meeting time, but the other country's displayed time can shift by an hour. For a one-time meeting, checking the date in the World Clock and writing both local times in the invitation is usually enough.
