Peris praises Jews
"I've had Jewish friends for the past three decades. And when October 7 happened, I saw my Jewish friends hurt," says Nova Peris.
Indigenous Olympian Nova Peris says she was happy to record her recent social media video supporting Jewish Australians.
The former hockey player and sprinter, who served as a Northern Territory Senator from 2013 to 2016, said she has always been grateful for the way Jewish lawyers such as Ron Castan fought for Aboriginal land rights.
“I’ve had Jewish friends for the past three decades. And when October 7 happened, I saw my Jewish friends hurt,” she said.
A personal tipping point was when she saw the president of the Australia Palestine Advocacy Network, Nasser Mashni, wearing the Aboriginal flag on the ABC’s Q&A program.
“I gave two and a half years of my life to free the flag from copyright. That … does not then give anyone, in particular a non-Aboriginal person, the right to misappropriate the meaning of our flag and identity,” she said.
“We as Aboriginal people have never ceded sovereignty and neither have the Jewish people … you’re the most exiled people on the planet, but you’ve never lost your identity and you’ve never ceded sovereignty.”
She said the response to her video was overwhelmingly positive, attracting thousands of emails from Jewish people all over the world.
“I see the Jewish people, you build things up. You don’t tear things down,” she said.
A practical way Jewish Australians can help Indigenous people is via Peris’s charitable foundation.
“We can create jobs and bring in essential infrastructure. We’re combating diabetes, which is a silent killer for Aboriginal people – chronic diseases are rife in Aboriginal communities, and they’re all curable and preventable,” she said.
She believes Jews and Indigenous Australians share a deep bond.
“You felt your own pain of being exiled and you saw that happening to us as Aboriginal people and I think that’s why the Jewish people have so much love and care.”
Donate to the foundation: novaperis.com.au/foundation
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