Former Labor senator and Olympian Nova Peris has criticised pro-Palestine campaigners for their use of the Aboriginal flag at protests.
In a new social media video campaign, Peris questioned whether such people had received the approval of any Aboriginal groups to use the flag.
“Who gave free, outright, prior and informed consent to use our flag for your cause?” she asks in the video.
She also declared the use of the term 'settler-colonialists' for Jewish people in Israel a "lie".
and said it was now being misappropriated.
“I’m saddened to see our sacred Aboriginal flag, a flag which I fought so hard to be returned to the Aboriginal community, be misappropriated by Palestinian, anti-Israel and anti-Jewish groups in Australia,” said Peris.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported the video was ‘to be boosted by paid advertisements and influencers', and said Peris criticised some activists saying they have “relied too heavily” on information from social media platforms such as TikTok.
Senator Lidia Thorpe, a Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman, rejected Peris’ views.
“It’s not up to one individual to decide what we do with our flag - it’s up to the people. The people have spoken,” Thorpe told the SMH.
Professor Chelsea Watego, a Mununjali and South Sea Island woman told the Nine paper, “solidarity between movements was not a new phenomenon.”
“I would highly recommend that those critiquing Blackfulla-Palestinian solidarities engage with the intellectual work of mob who have a most intimate and sophisticated understanding of settler-colonialism,” she said.
Speaking to NITV last month, Palawa man and activist Michael Mansell described the demonstrations of solidarity as "natural".
"The whole sense of relevance [between] what's happening in Gaza to the Aboriginal struggle here in Australia is that Indigenous people whose lands have been taken over around the world seek solidarity in the common cause," he said.
"It would be stupid for us to say, 'Oh well, what's happening to the American Indians in North America has got nothing to do with us, or what's happening with the behaviour of Israel toward the Palestinians has nothing to do with us.'
The war between Hamas and Israel is the latest escalation in a long-standing regional conflict.
An estimated 27,000 people in Gaza, including more than 11,000 children, have died since these latest hostilities began on October 7 last year, when Hamas militants killed more than 1200 Israeli citizens, and took more than 220 hostages.
On 26 January, the International Court of Justice ordered that Israel take all measures within its power to prevent committing any acts that constitute genocide against Palestinians.
