Klimsu on Nostr: Canada's Day of Truth and Reconciliation recently passed; Indigenous People's Day is ...

Canada's Day of Truth and Reconciliation recently passed; Indigenous People's Day is coming soon for the states. I was thinking about these days and the war in Gaza, and it brought to mind that the Jews of Israel are as a much the indigenous population of the land encompassing Jerusalem as any other indigenous population in the entire world.

The Arabs, who came into the Holy Land seven centuries AFTER the destruction of the second Temple by the Romans in 70 CE, are the colonialists. People who harp on colonialism and identify the Palestinians as the indigenous people and the Jews as colonials have it backward. If you’re going to go on and on about colonialism, get your knowledge of colonialism correct!

When Israel was created by the UN in 1948, the original proposal was essentially what is called (today) the two-state solution – but the Arabs rejected it. Hence the war of independence. The aftermath was an exchange of refugees: Jews fleeing Arab countries, and Arabs moving from Israel to the surrounding countries. The Jewish refugees were absorbed into the new state; the Arab refugees were put in camps, where they remain today.

Much of the present anti-Israel rhetoric implies that the Israelis are “white” and the Palestinians of “people of colour.” So the Zionism is another form of “white supremacy” so the rhetoric goes. As you may know, a parallel with South Africa is a common trope.
But nothing could be farther from the truth. In fact, Israel is one of the world’s most multiethnic countries on the planet. About half of the Jews descended or immigrated directly from the Arab countries, from which they fled or were expelled. Far more Jews have immigrated to Israel from Morocco, Iran, and Iraq (the Sephardim) than from Germany, France, and Hungary (the Ashkenazi.) I note that Palestinians are also diverse and exhibit a range of skin colour.