If You Hate Israel, You're No Friend of the Jews

Zionism is the name of the movement that advocates for the return of Jews to their historic homeland. As defined by the Anti-Defamation League, Anti-Zionism is “a prejudice against the Jewish movement for self-determination and the right of the Jewish people to a homeland in the State of Israel.”

There have been only three autonomous nations that have ever governed the land of Israel. The First Kingdom of Israel, the Second Kingdom of Israel, and the modern state of Israel. The modern state of Israel was legally founded in 1948 after the U.N. General Assembly officially approved its creation in 1947 with Resolution 181. Prior to Israel’s legal founding, the region was already home to 80,000-90,000 Jews.

When the British Mandate expired in Palestine, Israel declared independence and was accepted as a member state in the UN in 1949.

Related reading: “Criticism Of Israel Isn’t Anti-Semitism; Anti-Zionism Is” – Dennis Prager

Anti-Zionists single out Israel as an illegitimate country, failing to apply the same standard for legitimacy to the rest of the more than 200 countries in the world, no matter how controversial or bloody its origins.

For example, anti-Zionists do not level the same “illegitimate” claim against Pakistan, which was formed in 1947 when India was partitioned into a Muslim state, Pakistan, and a Hindu state, India. Unlike Israel, Pakistan had never existed before. The creation of Pakistan created some 7 million Muslim refugees and another 7 million Hindu refugees and resulted in around a million Arab deaths.

Related video: “The Middle East Problem” – Dennis Prager

As underscored by Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Zionism has been a crucial element of the Jewish faith for over two millennia: “The aspiration of returning to their homeland was first held by Jews exiled to Babylon some 2,500 years ago… Thus political Zionism, which coalesced in the 19th century, invented neither the concept nor the practice of return. Rather, it appropriated an ancient idea and an ongoing active movement, and adapted them to meet the needs and spirit of the times.”

The religious and cultural origins of Zionism is emphasized in Israel's Declaration of Independence (1948): "The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained to statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books. After being forcible exiled from their land, the people kept faith with it throughout their dispersion and never ceased to pray and hope for their return to it and for the restoration in it of their political freedom."

Anti-Zionists claim Israel is illegitimate because it is supposedly “racist,” yet Israel has an extremely diverse racial population, and anyone of any race or ethnicity can become a Jew.

Israel includes many non-Jewish citizens—who make up about a fifth of the population. A vast majority of the non-Jewish citizens are Arab.

There are over 1.5 million Arabs who are Israeli citizens. They have the same exact rights as all Israeli citizens. The Israeli Declaration of Independence states that Israel will "ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex” and “guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture."

The Jews are called a “nation” more than a hundred times in the Bible. There can be irreligious, secular and even atheist Jews because Jews are not only a religion—they are also a people, or a nation.

Related video: “Does Israel Discriminate Against Arabs?” – Olga Meshoe, PragerU

The West Bank cannot be “given back” to the Palestinians, as it was never their land. Jordan lost the land in 1967 when it invaded Israel. Jordan, Israel’s neighbor to the east, attacked Israel in 1967, despite Israel’s repeated efforts to keep Jordan at bay. In defending itself against Jordan, Israel captured the West Bank, where it has since built settlements.

Related reading: “The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved” – Alan Dershowitz

Palestinian leaders have rejected offers of statehood contingent upon promises of peace in 1938, 1948, 1993, 2001, and 2007. Instead of embracing peace, they have repeatedly sanctioned and participated in terrorism and violence.

In 1972, Yasser Arafat, leader of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, ordered the capture and murder of Israeli Olympic athletes. In 1973, Arafat arranged for the capture and eventual torture of three American diplomats.

After the 1993 Israeli-Palestinian Oslo Peace Accords, the Palestinian Authority escalated terror attacks on Israelis, resulting in the murder of 1,496 Israelis by Palestinian terrorists between 1993 and 2012—nearly three times the number of Israelis murdered by terrorists in the five decades prior.

Related reading: “The Case for Peace: How the Arab-Israeli Conflict Can Be Resolved” – Alan Dershowitz

Palestinians left Israel for a variety of reasons, some due to the calls by Arab leaders to leave Israel, but many more simply to avoid the crossfire of the war surrounding Arab states waged against Israel.

For a timeline of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, read: “Palestinians Must Come to the Table for Peace” – Alan Dershowitz, Jerusalem Post

Related video: “Why Isn’t There a Palestinian State?” – David Brog, PragerU

Israel is the only nation in the Middle East considered “free” by the 2017 Freedom House Freedom of the World Report.

The call for Israel’s destruction by its neighbors in the Middle East began in 1948 when Arab armies invaded the newly founded state of Israel.

Palestinian leadership and Hamas continue to call for Israel’s destruction.

Some Arab countries, like Iran, claim to be friendly to Jews, but still seek the destruction of Israel.

Related reading: “American and Israeli Jews: Twin Portraits From Pew Research Center Surveys” – Pew Research Center

The first of two waves of terror, so-called intifadas, occurred in the late 1980s.

In the early 2000s, Palestinian terrorist organization Hamas refused to accept the Oslo agreement and started a second intifada against Israel.

Israel has faced repeated incursions from terror groups like Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Hamas has launched thousands of rocket attacks on Israel from the Gaza Strip — even after Israel completely withdrew from that territory in 2005.

Despite the wars and terrorism, Israel has sought peace with its neighbors. And it did achieve a peace treaty with Egypt on March 26, 1979.

Israel signed a peace treaty with Jordan on October 26, 1994.

Nearly one-fifth of Israel’s citizens are Muslim.

Muslims enjoy the same rights as Jewish citizens in Israel and occupy key positions in the nation’s courts, press and government.

Muslims have their own parties representing them in the Knesset, Israel’s parliament.

Israel is the only country in the region devoted to democracy.

Prisoners in Israel, be they Jewish or Arab, are well-treated. Israel has one of the lowest recidivism rates in the world.

Israel is a liberal democracy that extends full rights to all, including women, the LGBT community and Arab citizens. In its Declaration of Independence Israel pledges to protect the rights of all citizens regardless of race or religion.

Arabs, even leaders of Hamas, go to Israel for medical treatment and are not discriminated against.

A 2013 study by a U.S.-based freedom watchdog found that Israel was the only country in the Middle East that didn’t segregate and oppress its minority population.

Related reading: “No, Israel isn’t a country of privileged and powerful white Europeans” – Hen Mazzig, Los Angeles Times