APTN National News
The grand chief of the organization representing northern First Nations in Manitoba has paid a visit to Israel.
Israeli media reports that Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak Grand Chief David Harper wants to express personal support for the country.
Harper was joined by some Inuit groups as well as representatives from the Indigenous peoples of Australia, Samoa and Greenland.
The delegation visited Israel’s Parliament.
Their visit was organized by an Israeli group that promotes relations with Christian communities around the world.
I am concerned about Grand Chief David Harper’s visit to Israel and his expression of support in the Knesset. The government of Israel is conducting systematic oppression against indigenous communities and peoples in Israel and the Palestinian territories (The Bedouin and the Palestinians). This is a case of an occupying power (even though some of the Jewish people have indigenous claim to part of this land mass) evicting people who have been on the territories, and connected to the land for centuries. I fear that the Christian legacy of colonialism that has so affected First Nations people in Canada is now being exploited to create a false foundation for support of activities that victimize another indigenous community. I hope that Canadian First Nations peoples will exercise caution and analysis as they look at what is at stake in Palestine and Israel. This is a case of two narratives and two ‘rights’ pitted against one another. When one is offered a fully funded trip to view the situation from only one perspective something is awry. I hope David Harper will visit again and expose himself to the stories of Palestinians and Bedouins forced off their land, arbitrarilly arrested, denied freedom of movement and prevented from reunifying with their families.