I am a patriotic Kiwi, born and raised in West Auckland. I am an indigenous person with cultural and ethnic roots flowing from New Zealand Māori, Sāmoa, Italy, and England. I am proud to be a mixture of all these backgrounds—it makes me who I am and is an integral part of my identity. Because of this, I feel close to my ancestors and respect them, for they are the reason I am here. I am proud to be a Kiwi, proud to be of indigenous descent, and proud to be a Zionist.

Why would a Māori-Sāmoan from the other side of the world identify as a Zionist, as someone who supports the Jewish people in the Land of Israel?

For a number of reasons. Like many of my people, I recognize the Jewish people as the indigenous people of Israel. The Jewish connection to their ancestral land is undeniable—proven by archaeology, history, literature, and engineering. The Jews are the tangata whenua of Israel.

I can recite my Sāmoan genealogy from memory back to the 1800s and have the documents to trace my ancestry back to the 1400s. My ancestors’ connection to Sāmoa is indisputable. Yet the Jewish people can prove their connection to the Land of Israel going back thousands of years. Everyone has heard of King David, who reigned over the Kingdom of Israel 3,000 years ago. The ruins, scriptures, and artifacts all confirm that Israel is the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.

After centuries in exile, millions of Jews have now returned to their land. I stand here in the Jaffa Flea Market, a bustling, colorful place filled with racial diversity and multiculturalism. People from different racial and social backgrounds come together, participate in daily life, and live without persecution.

Likewise, but on a far greater and more complex scale, the State of Israel, as the only democratic beacon in the Middle East, fosters this beautiful ideal of diversity within unity. Jews and Arabs, Muslims, Christians, and atheists all live together in a free and democratic Israel.

There are those who falsely label Israel an apartheid state, but what could be further from the truth? Arab citizens of Israel have greater rights and protections than Arabs in any of the surrounding nations. Arabs serve as professors, members of parliament, police officers, and even judges. Israel may not be perfect, but apartheid? That is not Israel.

Israel, as a nation, personifies inclusion, not exclusion. Surely such a reality is worth cherishing, protecting, encouraging, and supporting. No one questions the right of Sāmoans to live in Sāmoa or Māori to live freely in New Zealand. And yet, the right of Jews to a Jewish state is constantly challenged.

As the indigenous people of Israel, the Jews have every right to flourish in their ancestral homeland. It is because I am a proud Kiwi and an indigenous person that I am also a Zionist. I acknowledge and respect the ancestors of present-day Jews, and I believe their hopes and dreams of self-determination and diverse unity should not be in vain.

Kia ora, talofa lava—I am a Zionist.