Andrew L. Urban.
There was “a shocking betrayal and re-traumatisation of Jewish people at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion” say Barbara and Munganbana Norman Miller, co-founders of Indigenous Friends of Israel International.
Writing in The Weekend Australian (Aug.15/16, 2026), Barbara and Munganbana Norman Miller say that “as First Nations people, they support indigenous Israel. In the extracts below, they canvass issues ranging from criticism of the Royal Commission to the Labor party’s “increasingly anti-Israel stance”.
“We had a shocking betrayal and re-traumatisation of Jewish people at the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion recently. The session on the Sydney Opera House protests of October 9 where protesters were baying for Jewish blood was overturned. It ended up being an interrogation of NSW Board of Deputies president David Ossip about Israel’s conduct in the Gaza war by pro-Palestinian lawyers, rather than examining the role of pro-Palestinian groups in inciting antisemitism in Australia. Given the strong link from the Opera House event to the Bondi massacre, this was disturbing.”
They also address the clash of views over who was indigenous to what is now a democratic state of Israel.
“We are aware that there are competing narratives over whether Jews or Palestinian Arabs are indigenous to Israel and there has been a concerted effort by the far left and Islamist forces to co-opt Indigenous Australians to the view that Israelis are settler colonialists or occupiers of Palestinian land and Israel should not exist. This view has had some success in activist Indigenous circles. However, it is not a mainstream view of Indigenous or First Nations peoples in Australia or around the world.”
So who and what is their organisation?
“We formed Indigenous Friends of Israel in 2017, later going international. Our concern was the Australian Labor Party’s increasingly anti-Israel stance. At the recent Labor national conference in Adelaide, the resolution on Israel and Hamas removed the conditions of Hamas’s disarmament, Palestinian Authority reform and guarantees of Israel’s security from Australia’s recognition of the non-existent state of Palestine made in August last year.”
Who are Barbara and Munganbana Norman?
“Munganbana Norman is an Aboriginal artist of the Jirrbal, Bar-Barrum and Wadjanbarra Yidinji tribes of the Atherton Tableland in north Queensland. He made and painted a giant boomerang that he gave to former Israeli ambassador to Australia Amir Maimon. He also made and painted a giant boomerang that we took to Israel and gave to Deputy Foreign Affairs Minister Sharren Haskel as a gift to Israel.
“Recently Munganbana Norman joined Jewish artists to put his painting in the Holding Light art exhibition at the Bondi Pavilion to honour the Bondi victims and their families.
“As well as being a prolific author of books on Australian Indigenous history and biography, Barbara is a co-founder of the North Queensland Land Council (Aboriginal) and will be one of the few elders left to celebrate its 50th anniversary at an event in November this year.
“She was also the secretariat director (chief executive) of the Aboriginal Coordinating Council for many years. It represented land-based local government Aboriginal communities in Queensland and advised governments.”
And why are they speaking out?
“So why are we so committed to the work of supporting Israel and to the task of fighting antisemitism in Australia? For a start, we do not want the media or public to think that all Indigenous Australians fall for the lie that there are similarities between the struggles of First Nations Australians and Palestinians.
“As Indigenous people, we want to support other indigenous people, and by moving back to their ancient homeland from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and so on where they had been in exile, Jews have participated in a miracle of decolonisation.
“We think it is appalling that far left and Islamist forces have called for the eradication of Israel, the only Jewish state in the world, the only democratic state in the Middle East and an ally of Australia that helps many nations in crisis. That is a call for the eradication of all Jews who will not flee Israel. It is a call for ethnic cleansing.
“The demonisation of Israel, the false propaganda and anti-Zionist rhetoric against it is used as a cover or mask for antisemitism against Australian Jews – firebombing of synagogues, torching of cars, graffiti on homes and businesses, cancelling Jewish creatives, assaults on Jews, social media abuse, harassment of Jewish schoolchildren and even cold-blooded murder. We cannot stand by while this happens.
“We want to provide friendship, comfort and support to Jews who are experiencing spiralling antisemitism in Australia and elsewhere, and are concerned at the lack of accountability of perpetrators. We are concerned that Jewish people have lost many friends, feel isolated and anxious and suddenly find they do not belong in Australia, which had once been a haven for Jewish refugees from Nazism. In fact, they can see the hallmarks of 1930s Germany in Australia today.
“The atheist far left promotes many rights that are diametrically opposed to Islam but their common enemy is Israel. The false view of history that Israel is populated by white European Jews who pushed out the indigenous Palestinian Arabs has been weaponised against Australian Jews, leading to the latest variety of antisemitism: antiZionism. We are committed to combating this false view of history.
“Israel is not a white nation. In fact, it is very multicultural. Ashkenazi Jews, whose family migrated from Europe, make up 32 per cent to 45 per cent of Israeli Jews, while Mizrahi Jews, many of whom are descendants from those expelled from Arab lands after 1948 and 1967, and Sephardic Jews, whose lineage is from Spain and Portugal, make up about half of Israeli Jews. There are also two million Christian and Muslim Arab Israelis as well as 150,000 Druze who live in the north of Israel. We believe the Indigenous people of Australia have long had a close relationship with the Australian Jewish community to the great benefit of both communities.”
And in the Sunday Telegraph, columnist Piers Akerman challenges Royal Commissioner Virginia Bell, who he says, “gives every appearance to having surrendered to political blackmail or possessing an appalling naiveté about the fundamentals of anti-Semitism. One wonders why she has blocked from appearing at the commission such authorities as Australia’s most prominent Jewish political figure, former treasurer Josh Frydenberg, Senator Dave Sharma (a former Australian ambassador to Israel), Henry Ergas (who provided three most thoughtful submissions, though only two have been released) and Colin Rubinstein (the executive director of Australia’s largest Jewish organisation, AIJAC).
“Sharri Markson (the foremost Jewish journalist) and Western Sydney University chancellor Jennifer Westacott (who had police evict unauthorised pro-Palestinian demonstrators), should also have been permitted to appear. Radical Islamist terrorism has escalated the national threat level to “probable” – ASIO chief Mike Burgess assesses the likelihood of an onshore attack or plot within the next 12 months as greater than 50 per cent. Commissioner Bell permitted Leftist Palestine Action Group to interrogate a Jewish community leader about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East but has shown no understanding of Islamist terrorism.”