Indigenous Representatives Visit Israel to Establish Embassy, Honor Jews as 'Original' Indigenous People

JERUSALEM, Israel – Recently, people from many nations came to Jerusalem and opened the first-ever Indigenous Embassy. The event marks what some believe to be an historic and even prophetic beginning.

Jerusalem Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan-Nahoum played a key role in establishing the embassy.

"When I was approached by the indigenous Coalition for Israel about a year ago, about their dream to open an embassy in Jerusalem, I couldn't think of a better expression – and this was before the war.

The coalition chose the Friends of Zion Museum as its home.

The museum's founder, MIke Evans stated, "They're coming from all the different cultures. And just guess who's leading the way? The evangelicals. It's the evangelical indigenous leaders that are coming in from all over the world to represent their groups. And they'll be the ambassadors for this Indigenous Embassy."

Dr. Sheree Trotter, co-founder of New Zealand's Holocaust and Antisemitism Foundation, established the Indigenous Coalition for Israel. 

"I set it up to provide a platform for indigenous peoples to stand in support of Israel," she explained. "Because I recognize that my own country, the anti-Israel voices amongst our indigenous people were very loud, and dominating the narrative. And I just felt that we needed a way to push back on that – to show that there are a lot of Indigenous people (who) stand with Israel."

Trotter says October 7th led to a wave of accusations against Israel.

"Almost immediately, we were hearing it's like a placard, 75 years of (Israeli) colonial oppression, as if that's some sort of a reason for Hamas to attack Israel," she declared. "So, how do we counter that? Well, we have to retell the story. We have to educate. We have to get the truth out there." 

Trotter believes the truth is that the Jews have decolonized the land. That means they have come back to their original homeland,

"Our message tonight was, first of all, we love Israel. Most of the people of South Africa love Israel and the Jews," said Regent Xami Thomas, a member of South Africa's Khoi Messianic tribe.

The tribe signed a covenant with Israel last year.

After their government charged Israel with genocide at the International Court of Justice, tribe members offered an apology.

Thomas confessed, "We are totally disappointed and horrified by the actions of the ANC government with the case against Israel unfounded – it doesn't have any basis in any factual basis. And we say to the people of Israel, we apologize for what our government did."

These groups see the Jews as the original indigenous people.

Pastors Gerard and Tarita Tehoutu, who came from Hawaii, confirmed that, saying, "That's why God is using the indigenous people to come to support the Jews."

They continued, "So we are coming out alongside of them as one new man grafted in and (have) just been amazed what the Lord has done through the people of Israel, the covenant people of the land."

Dr. Ate Moala came to represent the South Pacific Kingdom of Tonga.

"We come, we not only pray, but we come to stand with the indigenous people of Israel, the Jewish people, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob," Moala declared.

As a member of Jerusalem's city government, Hassan-Nahoum appreciates their fervent support, coming from great distances.

"Today, more than ever, after October 7th, and after the persistent delegitimization of Israel and the Jewish people by detractors who want people to think that we are colonizers in our own land instead of the truth – which is that we are the biggest decolonization project in history. This is a way to show the world that indigenous people connect with other indigenous people."

Prayer leader Rick Ridings sees this as more than a ceremony or celebration.

"I feel it was a birthing," he related. "There have been a lot of people for a long time who have realized that the indigenous people had a key role to play in God's purposes for Israel because he said in the Scriptures from the ends of the Earth, they were to proclaim the Lord's sovereignty and care for Israel, and so they're here. They're proclaiming it."

Riding believes God is at work in the movement.

"So, He's birthing something new for the indigenous people – at the same time that He's using them to comfort Israel and to deal with the whole lie that the Jewish people are not the indigenous people of the land," Ridings observed. "As you heard tonight, one after another got up there and so clearly said that we are no one could be more indigenous than the Jewish people are."

The participants here believe the opening of the embassy represents the Bible coming to life.

Moala said, "You know, the word of the Lord says, they're from the ends of the earth. He is singing Glory to the righteous one and from the rising of the sun to its setting, His name will be praised."

Trotter told the gathering, "May this embassy be a forerunner for the day that all tribes and nations will come up to Jerusalem."

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