The core claim that Hamas and its sympathizers have used to justify attacks on Israel is that the Jews are colonialists anywhere they live in Israel, including the communities near Gaza that terrorists attacked this month. That, however, isn’t the only view in the Arab world. A more congenial position was stated in the lead-up to the Abraham Accords, when Khalid bin Ahmed Al Khalifa, Bahrain’s then foreign minister, said that “Israel is part of the heritage of this whole region, historically,” and “the Jewish people have a place amongst us.”
There is ample evidence that view is correct. Jews are indigenous to Israel, as shown by evidence from history, archaeology, linguistics and genetics. Jews are closely related genetically to the Palestinian Arabs, many of whom descend from Jews who converted to Islam, and also to the Saudis. Those of us who work with genetic diseases see evidence of this kinship all the time.
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