Indigenous Friends of Israel oppose UN vote on Palestine

Yesterday, I received a press release from the Indigenous Friends of Israel, a Cairns-based lobby group who are passionately advocating for the safety and security of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. I was not aware of this group prior, but having now read through their press release and then their website, I felt compelled to share their message of support and promote their organisation to a wider audience.

According to their website, “the co-founders of the Indigenous Friends of Israel are Norman and Barbara Miller. Norman is Aboriginal and is of the Jirrbal, Bar-Barrum and Tableland Yidinji tribes. While the Indigenous Friends of Israel was founded in 2017, the Millers have been proactive in support of Israel for nearly thirty years. Norman’s wife Barbara is a non-Indigenous sociologist, pastor and former psychologist and mediator. She has been active in Indigenous affairs for fifty years.” 

Amongst their many proactive and positive activities to support the Jewish people and the State of Israel, the Indigenous Friends of Israel are focusing on: (1) Standing with Israel and affirming that the Jews are Indigenous to the land of Israel, (2) Combatting disinformation that Israel is a colonial settler apartheid racist state, (3) Combatting antisemitism and racism, and (4) Providing an Indigenous voice from the (Indigenous) nations regarding Israel.

Here is a summary of the key points (verbatim) arising from the Indigenous Friends of Israel’s press release (dated 13th May 2024): 

• On the eve of the 76th anniversary of the proclamation of the state of Israel on 14 May 1948, Australia has betrayed the only democracy in the Middle East at the recent United Nations vote on Palestine. Now our record is tarnished by Foreign Minister Penny Wong, supported by Prime Minister Albanese to recognise Palestine as a state at the United Nations.
• This is rewarding the terrorism, barbarism, murder, rape, torture and mutilation of children, women, and the elderly on October 7. It is rewarding hostage taking which is a war crime as is the killing of civilians on October 7. This is not surprising since Wong is the poster girl for Hamas and did not visit the areas where the slaughter occurred on October 7 when she visited Israel.
• Albanese has been a supporter of Palestine since his university days. The current Labor government has broken with years of bipartisan policy in Australia re Israel and put our relationship with Israel at risk and made Australia unsafe for Jewish people who have been good citizens.
• The Australian government has failed to deal with the rising tide of antisemitism in Australia and allowed hate speech to prevail on our streets and in our universities. Palestine does not meet the preconditions of statehood e.g. it does not meet the obligations of the UN Charter, is not a peaceful state, does not have internationally recognized borders, and it wants the same capital as Israel – Jerusalem.
• There needs to be a negotiated settlement with Israel, not a unilateral declaration. The real problem is that Palestinians do not want a two-state solution. They want a one-state solution – all of Israel from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea plus the territories they currently live in and they will use terrorism to get it. They are willing to turn their people into martyrs, using them as human shields, also a war crime, to win the propaganda war against Israel falsely accusing it of genocide when they are the ones committing genocide Nations are failing to call Hamas to account.

This message of unequivocal pro-Israel support, positivity, hope and advocacy by Norman and Barbara Miller is in stark contrast to the venom being spat out by the likes of hardline Indigenous politicians such as Senator Lydia Thorpe. Sadly, Thorpe has been coflating Indigenous and Palestinian issues, urging the federal government to “cut ties with and impose sanctions on colonial, apartheid Israel until Palestine is free.”

Furthermore, Senator Thorpe is on record espousing that “we share a reality of ongoing genocide and are both yet to ­experience liberation and the ­acknowledgment of our sovereignty. Our struggle under settler-colonialism is one struggle. Together we’re fighting for our humanity, for freedom, for land back and for lasting peace.”

It is therefore refreshing and appreciated to learn about the Indigenous Friends of Israel and their vocal support for the Australian Jewish Community. They provide a badly needed counterbalance from an Indigenous perspective to the current moral and ethical debate.

Unfortunately, friends and allies are few and far between in Australia right now. The accepted norm is to stand alongside the Australian Greens and preach pro-Palestinian venom.  Kol HaKavod to Norman and Barbara Miller for all their efforts to date. It’s much appreciated.