The notion that the Jewish people have an indigenous connection to the land of Israel stretching thousands of years which continues today seems self-evident, and yet it is widely refuted.
That is why Ben M Freeman has painstakingly laboured in his new book, The Jews: An Indigenous People, to provide a comprehensive, researched, educational tool to explain why Jews are indigenous to the land of Israel, and how the evidence supports the criteria outlined by the UN’s framework on recognising indigenous peoples.
Freeman is a leading Jewish educator and considered to be the founder of the modern Jewish Pride movement, which encourages Jews to embrace “pride” in their identity, in the same way that the LGBTQI movement has celebrated their pride.
The Jews: An Indigenous People is the last book in Freeman’s trilogy, which seek to inspire and empower Jewish people to understand their story, and to educate non-Jewish audiences about Jewish indigeneity. His first book was Jewish Pride: Rebuilding a People, which was followed by Reclaiming our Story: The Pursuit of Jewish Pride.
Discussing the intentions behind the trilogy, Freeman told The AJN, “The first book is focused on the need for a Jewish pride movement, giving people the permission and the inspiration to feel proud. And then the second book, Reclaiming our Story, was one of the first books in a century on the topic of internalised anti-Jewishness or antisemitism … It was about empowering Jews to look inside themselves and really engage in introspection and dialogue about their Jewish identities without shame and with empathy … the last book was to educate, this should have been the first book … I worked backwards.”
Freeman believes his latest book is his best yet and it was derived from a desire to empower Jews with education. Freeman remarked, “I needed to leave Jews in a better position to define our identities, because one of the main tenets of Jewish pride is that Jews get to define Jewishness, non-Jewish definitions are illegitimate. We do not need to be told what it means to be Jewish by the non-Jewish world, but to actualise that, we need to know who we are ourselves.”
Freeman writes in the prologue, “The Jews are indigenous to the Land of Israel. This means we originated and are rooted there, and for thousands of years, up to this very day, we maintain a deep and emotional connection with the land itself and the cities built upon it.”
As to why his latest book is important at this time, Freeman said, “The conversation about indigeneity has been bubbling, and by no means am I the first person to write about it, but this is the first book on the topic.”
While it seems obvious that Jewish people are indigenous to Israel given our history and culture, when asked why he believes we are only using the term ‘indigeneity’ now, Freeman said, “I think it’s about reframing our identities and using the specific language … so that they’re able to describe their experiences.
“Of course we’re indigenous, when you start to create those connections and use the United Nations Framework, but that isn’t language that we have utilised. I think that does us a disservice, because it leaves out a layer of meaning … it’s not just that we’re an ‘am’ (nation), we are a people, but we have a deep connection to the land, and that has sustained us, even if you live in Australia or Hong Kong, Scotland, wherever,” he said.
Noting that ‘indigenous’ is not a term the Jewish world has often used, Freeman writes in his book, “While notions like indigeneity aren’t inherently Jewish concepts, they can describe our story just as they describe that of others. When Jews speak of our connection to the Land of Israel, we call it our ‘homeland’ or ‘ancestral land’. We refer to it as ‘the promised land’ and even ‘the land of milk and honey’.
“But what do they represent for our relationship with Israel today, and how does it define us? Although the Jewish people still belong to an active, evolving civilisation, to truly understand Jewish identity, we must go back to the beginning of our story. One of the most powerful realisations any young Jew will have is that we are part of an unbroken chain that stretches back thousands of years. When I heard the stories of Pesach, the tribes of Israel, or the Second Temple, I knew they were the history of my people. This continuity is the essence of indigeneity.”
The first part of the book is dedicated to outlining the ancient connection of the Jewish people/Israelite people to land of Israel going back thousands of years, using both biblical texts as well as historical and archaeological evidence.
“The book is not about replacing biblical ideas or religious ideas. It sits in addition to them … Part of our indigeneity is the belief in God and the belief that God promised us the land. That’s all part of it,” he explained.
“I feel very comfortable saying that this book proves Jewish indigeneity, if you recognise the United Nations criteria, then it’s impossible to argue that we’re not,” Freeman said.
In this book Freeman does not look at whether Palestinians can also claim to be indigenous to the land of Israel. Asked whether he considers Palestinians to be indigenous to the land he said, “There are Palestinians with a deep connection to the land, so I have no objection to the notion that they could be indigenous, but I can’t say for certain, because I’ve not carried out the research.”
Discussing the main critiques against Jewish indigeneity to Israel, Freeman observed, “The main critiques are that we are not the same as our ancestors. Those are the people who will recognise that there were Israelites in the land, but they will claim modern Jews were European converts, as an example the Khazars. They claim we’re not their descendants. Other will say there were never Jews in the land, that it is completely fiction … Ultimately, they’re all rooted in ignorance and some may be more bad faith actors than others.”
He noted that another key issue is a misunderstanding of indigeneity. “It’s a highly politicised term and that leads to two issues. The idea of being first, we don’t claim to be first. You don’t have to be first to be indigenous. But also this idea that the indigenous experience is inherently tied to oppression, that’s really problematic,” he said.
“There are Jews who say the indigenous struggle does not relate to the Jewish people.
“Firstly, why does it need to be a struggle … Zionism is our indigenous rights movement, and we decolonised the land with the rebirth of Israel in 1948.”
In this way, Freeman is also reclaiming the meaning of Zionism, which has been branded as a horrible word in left wing circles.
“Zionism has been stolen from us. It’s one of the most shocking developments in Jew hatred in the last 100 years that this idea that is not only deeply rooted in our peoplehood, in our history … in the book I quote the Maccabees, it says we’ve not taken other people’s land, that we’ve reclaimed our own land; but that this idea then was politicised in the 19th century and resulted in the rebirth of a state 2000 years after the people were expelled, has been turned into something awful and terrible, that is intolerable. We as a people should be outraged by that humiliation … that they think that they can tell us what Zionism is. No, we will tell you,” he said.
Freeman said that having pride in Jewish identity requires two elements – one is “knowing who you are” while the other is countering untrue narratives such as the notion that Jews are a white colonial people, that Israel is an imperialist white supremacist settler, colonial entity. He contends once you know your story, countering false narratives is a “byproduct”.
Freeman believes that Jewish people need to empower themselves with education about the Jewish story including indigeneity to Israel, which will place them “on the offensive”. He remarked, “So often the Jewish community is on the back foot, like we’re not prepared for everything that’s done to us. It’s not about having a war mentality, but we should know who we are. We should be literate in the Jewish experience.”
Jews: An Indigenous People is published by No Pasaran Media and is available for purchase at https://benmfreeman.com
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