Bunkered down in war zone, Indigenous figurehead has sage words for Australian extremists

Olympian Nova Peris has delivered a sharp message to critics of Israel while confined to a bomb shelter in Jerusalem, telling pro-Palestinian activists in Australia: ‘Learn your history.’

Olympian Nova Peris has posted about the ‘extremely terrifying’ situation in Israel after hours spent in a bomb shelter. Picture: X

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Olympian Nova Peris has delivered a sharp message to critics of Israel while confined to a bomb shelter in Jerusalem, telling pro-Palestinian activists in Australia: “Learn your history.”

As missile warfare between Israel and Iran escalated on Sunday, Ms Peris said Israel should be thanked for acting to destroy Iran’s nuclear assets.

She said the Jewish people were indigenous to Israel, as documented by 4000 years of archaeology, and the global rise in anti-Semitism was linked to the lie they “popped up in 1948” in Israel as white colonisers.

Speaking to The Australian as I sheltered in Jerusalem with Ms Peris and a delegation of First Nations men and women, she said Jewish people in Israel had battled hate from neighbouring extremists and terrorists, who wanted them destroyed.

Among Israel’s most threatening enemies was Iran, which had been very close to obtaining nuclear weapons before Friday’s strike by Israel.

Ms Peris said that while terrorist organisations that Israel had taken on were clearly anti-Semitic, “they do not discriminate who they are attacking”.

Iran’s retaliation against Israel at the weekend was confirmed to have killed three people and late on Sunday more deaths of Israeli civilians were expected to be confirmed after an Iranian ballistic missile sheared off the facade of a 32-storey apartment building in Tel Aviv.

In comments recorded at the bomb shelter, Ms Peris urged hard left Indigenous activists and Australia’s pro-Palestinian movement to understand the Jewish story was about an indigenous population that wanted the right to live in peace and defend itself against those who wished to destroy them.

“They don’t want to take over anyone’s life. This is their land,” Ms Peris said

Her delegation of Indigenous Australians in Israel includes Australian eye surgeon Kris Rallah-Baker, Aboriginal education manager Maurice Goolagong and community leaders Renee Fowlestone and Jody Hampton.

The group has learned about Jewish people’s history but also explored more about their connections to Indigenous Australians. At the Kinneret College on the Sea of Galilee they visited the Jewish monument to Indigenous Australian soldiers in World War I.

Ms Fowlestone took the trip partly to further understand her great uncle William Cooper’s connection to the Jewish cause.

In 1938, Cooper led a march in Melbourne for Jews being persecuted in Nazi Germany.

Ms Hampton said she wanted to join the delegation to honour and understand more about the Jewish Australian politician Barry Cohen who, as a member of the Hawke Labor government, handed back Uluru to her people.

Last week, the delegation went with Ms Peris to the Technion Institute in Haifa where she was honoured for her advocacy for Jewish people. There, she said the affinity between Indigenous Australians and Jewish Australians was strong with a proud history. It includes a special place for the late Ron Castan QC, the Jewish Australian lawyer who fought for 10 years to quash terra nullius on the Mabo case.

Paige Taylor travelled to Israel with Ms Peris’s delegation as a guest of the Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council