One of the most tenuous arguments in favour for The Voice was recently made by Mark Leibler. Speaking at an event in Sydney which included Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Marcia Langton, and Mr Pearson, The Australian reported that Mr Leibler said:
My sense of the ties between my Jewish heritage, the centrality of the state of Israel, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander traditions and cultures grew even stronger through my former articled clerk and great friend, Noel Pearson.
Noel has often described our two peoples as sharing a ‘land-based identity’ – historical and spiritual.
Noel also says that Indigenous Australians can and must resist victimhood, as the Jewish people have done, even in the face of persistent racism and victimisation. This is where the Voice comes in.
Comparing Indigenous Australians with the State of Israel is a strange comparison to make. As The Australian once again reports, Anthony Albanese has hardened Labor’s position on Israel, declaring the West Bank and Gaza as ‘Occupied Palestinian Territories’ and Israeli settlements as ‘illegal’.
Following on from that though, the religious worldviews of the two people groups couldn’t be more different. For instance, the Jews believe in a monotheistic, transcendent, and personal creator God. Whereas the Aboriginal peoples of Australia have traditionally held to a pantheistic worship of numerous spiritual entities immanently associated with the Land.
Read the article by Mark Powell in The Spectator.