We at Indigenous Bridges want to make an official statement about the current Arab-Israeli conflict. We stand with Indigenous peoples worldwide, and support Indigenous rights, autonomy, sovereignty, and dignity. We reject genocidal colonialism and oppression. And for that reason, we support Jewish and Israeli self-defense against Arab colonialist aggression and terrorism.
There is a new narrative which has gained popularity within our own circles over the last 15 years which falsely claims Arabs are Indigenous to the Palestinian Territories, and Jews are European colonists. This is a lie. And an easy one to disprove at that.
Jews are Indigenous to the land of Israel (also known as Judea); whereas Arabs are obviously Indigenous to the Arabian Peninsula, and arrived as colonialist settlers. Somehow this truth has been flipped on it’s head and the resulting deceptive narrative has been fed to our peoples as a piece of propaganda, relying on our lack of knowledge about the basic facts of the conflict. We will not participate in the perpetuation of antisemitism, as a tool of a colonial enterprise.
We understand that this may be an unpopular stance- but sometimes doing the right thing is unpopular. Genocides like the Holocaust and the ethnic cleansing of Native Americans were able to happen because too many people were either swayed by propaganda and hate speech or were too afraid to stand up for what is right and just. We are seeing this happen to our Jewish friends and family now once again. And we will not be part of it.
In the coming weeks, we will try to provide more history and information about the conflict for anyone who is interested.
