A recent Māori delegation to Israel has generated considerable controversy amongst Māori communities in New Zealand. Questions have been raised about who funded the visit, why Māori leaders would travel to Israel given reporting on the situation in Gaza, and whether participants were exposed exclusively to an Israeli perspective. These may be legitimate questions for journalists to ask. But is it really journalism when a contested issue is approached with a presupposed conclusion, one that is impervious to falsification?

The international community’s attempts within United Nations’ fora to reduce Israel’s legal claims to “Judea and Samaria” also known as the “West Bank” – to illegality are basically failures to adequately consider the prevailing law and historical facts. 

From Sweden to the Pacific, North America to Australia, India to Aotearoa New Zealand, a growing body of Indigenous peoples support Israel and understand her position as the Indigenous people of the land of Israel. 

Indigeneity speaks of emergence of a distinct people in a particular land from which a unique language and culture develops. For the Jewish people, that land is historically known as Israel and Judea. Jerusalem became the political and spiritual centre of Jewish life.

AlKhoury applies settler colonial theory to the history of Palestinian Christians, which assigns guilt to Israel and casts Palestinians as hapless victims. However, AlKoury fails to meet the most basic standards of academic rigour and historical accuracy.

The recent visit to Israel of a Māori delegation has caused a furore amongst many who have uncritically embraced an anti-Israel narrative. Most who take the time to visit Israel quickly realise the accusations they’ve been exposed to - that Israel is guilty of apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide -  do not stand up to scrutiny. The Israel portrayed in much of mainstream media is largely fictional. There’s no better way to gain an accurate picture than to go and see for oneself.

It is heartening to see that the awareness of the Indigeneity of the Jewish people is growing. According to Google Trends, there has been a steadily rising interest in search combinations such as Israel indigenous, Jewish indigeneity, Palestinian indigeneity, Zionism indigenous, and indigenous Israel. 

I stand before you on the land of my ancestors to say what the prime minister should have said: “Anti-Zionism is a libel-driven hate movement that incites violence and the targeting, exclusion, and marginalization of Jews in the diaspora and has as its ultimate goal wiping Israel off the face of Mother Earth and the death of all beings within it.”