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Answers to Tough Questions about Israel
(Los Angeles Jewish Journal) Gil Troy - Calling Israel "colonialist" negates Jews' indigenous ties to their homeland, while rejecting Christianity too. Jesus emerged in a deeply-Jewish Land of Israel also called Judea. Jews are the original aboriginal people, being tied to the same land, praying to the same God, maintaining the same traditions and culture for millennia. Whether you're religious and believe the Bible, or historically-oriented and trust archaeological evidence - or both! - the Land of Israel has always been central to the Jewish people. The conflict between Israelis and Palestinians is national not racial. There are light-skinned Palestinians, while many Israelis are dark-skinned. Some want to inject America's racial dynamics into the Middle East, simply to make Israel look bad. In a matter of decades, despite few natural resources, using their smarts and their sweat, Israelis built a strong country with a thriving start-up scene. Israelis shouldn't apologize for succeeding. In 1967, under attack, Israel won the Sinai and Gaza from Egypt, the Golan from Syria, and Jordan's "West Bank," what Jews called "Judea and Samaria" since Biblical days. Israel returned the Sinai to Egypt in 1979 - hoping for peace. Israel withdrew from much of the West Bank under Oslo in the 1990s - only to suffer waves of Palestinian terrorism from 2000-2003 that murdered over 1,000 innocents. In 2005, Israel withdrew completely from Gaza, only to see Hamas slaughter over 1,200 people on Oct. 7. Most Israelis wonder why Palestinians remain so preoccupied with trying to kill them. Over 70% of Americans support Israel and like Jews. But a rabid minority hates Jews. Polls show that the overwhelming majority of Jews - young and old - see Zionism and Israel as central to their Jewish identities. True, a few outspoken Jews who attract lots of attention reject Israel. But they are trying to undo the core consensus most Jews have accepted since the Holocaust that ended in 1945 and the State of Israel which began in 1948 - that Judaism, Zionism, and support for Israel are intertwined and mutually reinforcing. Sometimes, I'm not worried - I'm terrified! We've seen Gazans slaughtering our kids, Hizbullah rocketing houses up north, and 320 Iranian missiles trying to eradicate us. Worry, yes - but despair, no. Golda Meir said you can't be a Zionist and a pessimist. I'm a Zionist. Knowing Jewish and Israeli history, I remain an optimist, and blessed by Zionism, today's greatest Jewish renaissance project. The writer, a Distinguished Scholar of North American History at McGill University, is a Senior Fellow in Zionist Thought at the Jewish People Policy Institute.