The Liberation of Palestine Represents an Alternative Path for Native Nations

 

Rejecting Anti-Palestinian, Anti-Arab, and Anti-Muslim Opportunism

Palestine is the moral barometer of Indigenous North America. While there is widespread agreement among Native people that European colonialism and Indigenous genocide is criminal and immoral, there are a surprisingly high number of Native politicians, elites, and public figures who don’t extend the same sympathies to Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims. They range from outright Zionists who support Palestinian ethnic cleansing to liberal centrists who don’t support Palestinian rights of protest and resistance.

“Red washing” is a useful academic term used to describe how Zionists recruit Indigenous people to normalize the Israeli settler project. We use the term “anti-Palestinian opportunism” to describe how profitable and career-advancing it is for Indigenous people to align with the Zionist project.

Indigenous leaders frequently and falsely equate aspirations of Indigenous peoples with the Zionist settler project, which requires the displacement, removal, and continued banishment of Native Palestinians from their homelands. 

First Nations Indigenous leaders, such as Wab Kinew, Phil Fontaine, and Ron Evans (all powerful men), have taken pro-Zionist and anti-Palestinian positions by aligning with Israeli settler colonialism. In the United States, Ben Shelly, Myron Lizer, Tom Cole, and Deb Haaland have made anti-Palestinian statements as part of their political platforms. 

Even self-described “progressive” Native leaders make pro-Zionist statements and positions for political gain.  (more...)

The Liberation of Palestine Represents an Alternative Path for Native Nations