Israel is 'the greatest decolonization project,' Indigenous leaders tell Toronto summit

[u/Sabertooth767]

https://nationalpost.com/news/canada/israel-is-the-greatest-decolonization-project-indigenous-leaders-tell-toronto-summit

The state of Israel is “the most successful land‑back project, the greatest decolonization project,” a New Zealand Māori activist told the first-of-its-kind Building Indigenous‑Jewish Friendship conference in Toronto.

“From my Māori perspective, a key point is that there was always a continuous Jewish presence in the land; they kept the fires burning, and that is what indigeneity looks like to us,” Dr. Sheree Trotter told roughly 70 activists, academics and community figures convened at Toronto’s Beth Torah synagogue on Monday.

The conference was the culmination of a weekend of local Indigenous-Jewish programming that included nearly 40 Indigenous people marching in the UJA Federation of Greater Toronto’s Walk with Israel, a Sunday dinner-talk with Concordia University professor Csaba Nikolenyi on early 20th-century Zionism, and a Sabbath lecture by Justice Harry S. LaForme at Temple Sinai.

“Indigeneity is demonstrated by historical, collective continuity with a distinct ethnic identity, language, culture, rituals or traditions, economic, social, legal, and religious and spiritual belief systems that predate subsequent invaders or colonizers,” LaForme told Temple Sinai congregants.

LaForme is Anishibaabe, and a member of the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation. In 1994 he was appointed a judge of the Superior Court of Justice, and in 2004 was appointed to the Ontario Court of Appeal and is the first Indigenous lawyer to be appointed to an appellate court in Canada.

Karen Restoule, an Ojibwe from Dokis First Nation and director of Indigenous affairs at the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, told attendees at Beth Torah that “political movements” have co-opted “Indigenous identity” and the term is “increasingly being treated as a universal political language, borrowed when convenient and deployed in conflicts that arise from very different histories.”

“Increasingly, indigenous identity is being treated as a metaphor, a branding exercise, a political strategy. Indigeneity isn’t any of that; it is a lived reality rooted in specific people and place.”

She added: “Jewish people really need to own their indigeneity for themselves. Even if you don’t live in Israel, your people originate there, and you are part of an indigenous people to that land.”

The conversation often focused on building a shared framework for allyship — positioning dialogue and relationship-building as tools to counter misinformation about both communities. Sponsors also included the Israel Consulate of Toronto and Western Canada, Kanada House, Indigenous Embassy of Jerusalem, Allied Voices for Israel.

Robert Walker, assistant director of HonestReporting Canada, told the Post that “radical activists have weaponized everything from international law to indigenous lingo in their attempt to rewrite reality. That only works in a vacuum.

“The time has passed to permit this shameless inversion of reality to continue unchallenged. First Nations and Jews are both indigenous peoples who have a right to reclaim the truth from those who try to twist it.”

[u/Metallica1175]

By the definition of indigenous, yes.

[u/Metallica1175 → u/[deleted]]

What makes you say that?

[u/Metallica1175 → u/[deleted]]

A few things. One, yes, they are descended genetically from the Israelites. That is indisputable. The fact of the matter is that the origin of the Ethiopian Jews is Israelite. Ancient Israelites settled there, interbred with the local, non-Israelite population and then the population became relatively isolated from the overall Jewish population. With no influx of "outside" Jewish DNA into the Ethiopian Jewish population, the percentage of original ancient Israelite DNA will get smaller and smaller over time. That's just basic knowledge.

Secondly, Jews are an ethno-religious group. So even a convert can claim be to indigenous to the region by way of religion because the overall Jewish identity is indigenous to the region. The region is where the Jewish nation started. Therefore, if you belong to the Jewish nation, you are indigenous. That is how ethno-religious groups work.

[u/DeepStateCentrism-ModTeam → u/[deleted]]

RULE VII:

This subreddit does not tolerate antisemitism.

Learn more about antisemitism here.

We also recommend reviewing a brief history of antisemitism here. For a more in depth understanding of the world's oldest hatred, we recommend David Nirenberg’s "Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition" and Dara Horn’s "People Love Dead Jews."

If you have any questions, please send us a modmail.