Around sixty representatives of indigenous peoples from around the world met on Monday on the Western Wall esplanade in Jerusalem to shake hands and show their support for Israel and the Jewish people.
This unique delegation paraded through the streets of the Old City between the Jaffa Gate and the Western Wall, dressed in colorful traditional clothing representative of several indigenous cultures – beaded headbands, feathered headdresses, embroidered shawls and other woven textiles. .
In the middle of this crowd crossed with symbols of these indigenous cultures, a number of Israeli flags rose, in support of Israel facing war. This delegation was particularly well placed to convey another message, namely that the Jews originated in the land of Israel.
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This parade is the work of the Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem (IEJ), a non-profit organization created last February with the aim of offering indigenous peoples from around the world representation in the Israeli capital, regardless of their countries of origin.
“We wanted to show our support for the Jews, the indigenous people of this land,” explain Sheree Trotter, co-director of the IEJ, and former member of the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Honorable Alfred Ngaro.
A Maori academic and activist, Trotter is also one of the founders of the Foundation for the Holocaust and Anti-Semitism in her country, New Zealand.
“A lie has gripped the Western world, even the country I live in, that portrays Jews as foreign settlers who dispossessed indigenous Palestinians. We want to reestablish the truth,” she confides to Times of Israel.
Those who seek to delegitimize the State of Israel often advance the argument that Israel is a settler colonial entity that should be dismantled and replaced with a Palestinian state “from the river to the sea.”
The Palestinian narrative is rooted in the postulate of a historical link between the Arabs and this land. Palestinian leaders and scholars believe this connection predates the significant immigration of Jews linked to the Zionist movement of the 19th and 20th centuries – too often omitting the deep connection that has united the Jewish people and the Land of Israel for thousands of years. .
An international delegation of indigenous leaders in front of the Western Wall in Jerusalem, October 28, 2024. (Gianluca Pacchiani/Times of Israel)
Arriving on the Western Wall esplanade, the delegation did not fail to attract the attention of the faithful, intrigued by these exotic outfits, to say the least. Many of the faithful applauded them and approached them to take a photo with them, including these IDF soldiers, enthusiastic about this unexpected encounter. A haredi man acted as choir director to have the delegation sing traditional Jewish songs like “Hava Nagila” or “Yerushalayim shel zahav”.
For many members of this delegation, this trip to Jerusalem is much more than a simple pilgrimage. It is indeed a public testimony to the kinship they feel with the Jewish people and Zionism – something which, for some, would be frowned upon in their country, even within their Aboriginal community.
Asked about the possible polarization of participants in the march regarding the conflict, Trotter explains: “This delegation has a particular orientation: the majority of its members are in fact Christians, which explains their commitment to this place. »
From the start of the conversation, the religious affiliation of the participants is obvious. Many people believe that God promised the Holy Land to the patriarchs of the Jewish people, as it is written in the Bible.
Harvey Yesno, Grand Chief of the Ojibwe Tribe of Canada, during a visit organized by Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem. (Credit: Gianluca Pacchiani/Times of Israel)
Harvey Yesno, Grand Chief of the Ojibwe tribe of Thunder Bay in northwestern Ontario, Canada, says it was his dream to establish permanent representation for indigenous peoples in Jerusalem, and that One of its main goals was to combat misinformation that suggests Israel is not indigenous.
“The same thing happens at
us,” he continues, referring to attempts to delegitimize the rights of his people on their ancestral territory.
“We made treaties with Britain and other colonial powers. Our job now is to correct the narrative that persists. We are convinced that Israel is indigenous to this land,” he emphasizes. “History proves it. Archeology proves it. »
Nicholas Gurub Nawab, leader of the Khoisan people of southern Africa, admits that his home community is often hostile to Israel.
“We are trying to convince our tribe that we need to align ourselves with our older brothers, the Jewish people,” he explains. “As the first colonized and oppressed indigenous peoples, we identify with our Jewish brothers and what they endure on their land. »
Semesi Naciqa, tribal leader of Fiji, during a visit to Jerusalem organized by the Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem, October 28, 2024. (Gianluca Pacchiani/Times of Israel)
Semesi Naciqa, a tribal leader from Fiji, is married to an Inuit woman and lives in Nunavut, in the Canadian Arctic. From the Western Wall esplanade, he explains that he joined this delegation to make a statement.
“We do not agree with what the media and other sources of information are saying that this is occupied territory. We believe that the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, our God too, gave this eternal land to Israel as a sign of covenant with Abraham and his descendants,” explains Naciqa. “The Israeli people have a right to be on this land, and they are indigenous, just like us. »
Combating anti-Zionism with the tools of academia
Trotter had a clear strategy in creating the Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem. As a researcher with a doctorate in the history of Zionism from a New Zealand university, she knows that the anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism found in public discourse comes straight from the world. academic and must therefore be fought with instruments of the same nature.
The Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem has undertaken to generate and publish research intended to refute Israel as a settler colonialist enterprise and reaffirm the Jewish people’s ties to their ancestral homeland.
“The idea is to build an academic corpus capable of opposing these false narratives,” Trotter explains to Times of Israel.
The day after its march to the Western Wall, the Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem organized an academic symposium at the Biblical Lands Museum in Jerusalem, during which a dozen scholars presented the results of their research.
Sheree Trotter, Māori scholar and co-director of the Indigenous Embassy in Jerusalem, during a symposium at the Bible Lands Museum in Jerusalem, October 29, 2024. (Perry Trotter)
It was Natan Sharansky, icon of the struggle for Soviet Jewry, who opened the conference which included anti-Semitism researcher Izabella Tabarovsky, senior researcher at the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities in California, who gave a presentation on late Soviet propaganda aimed at denying the Jewish connection to the Land of Israel and preventing Jews from leaving the Soviet Union.
Wayne Horowitz, professor of archeology at the Hebrew University, gave a fascinating overview of his research on ethno-astronomy and the affinities between the cosmological traditions of ancient Israel and the Gwich’in tribe, in the Canadian Arctic.
Canadian First Nations activist Karen Restoule spoke about the exploitation of the cause of indigenous peoples for nefarious purposes.
During a rally in front of the Canadian Parliament in Ottawa last December, Restoule denounced the use in Canada by anti-Israeli demonstrators of terms such as “colonize” or
“decolonize” to justify terrorism and violence committed against Israeli civilians.
IEJ co-director Trotter also took the stage to discuss the “hijacking of indigeneity” in favor of the Palestinian narrative in Māori discourse on the conflict at home in her native New Zealand.
In the first weeks of the war, videos of Maoris doing the Haka – their traditional dance – during pro-Israeli demonstrations went viral.
Trotter said that while these public expressions of support were largely reflective of Māori sentiment, this was far from the case for his community’s political authorities or New Zealand politicians in general.
“New Zealand has become very anti-Israel. This is part of the progressive and woke movement that has taken over our country and some of our politicians. It’s very complicated. We can’t find a balance, which saddens me. It’s one way,” she admits.
“Part of what we do is educate, advocate and build a historically conscious community of Indigenous peoples. We are organizing this academic conference and this social media campaign to change this culture,” she concludes.
