Is Modern Day Israel Entitled to Exist?

I am getting so sick of the general Israel pseudo-experts running around on Twitter and in the media with their undying love for Israel. The ignorance on the topic is mind-blowing and the statements are absurd. I have been told repeatedly to read a history book. Well I did…a dozen of them…

A major in Religious Studies, focusing on Ancient Near Eastern religions and the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam,) a major in History, focusing on Ancient Near East and the Middle East, and a minor in Jewish Studies does not get one much in life but there is one thing is does do. It gives me the ability to explain basic Middle Eastern history and conflicts to self-proclaimed know-it-alls on the Right and Left. They tell me to read a history book even though I know for a fact they did not do it themselves. To be honest, they did not even look to Wikipedia. I figured I would take the privilege to explain a few of the claims I hear made about the Israel-Palestine conflict using just a couple of 500 page books.

The first claim I want to address is the claim that the Jews have a right or are entitlement to the land of modern day Israel. They argue that this land is rightfully theirs, given to them by God, and that they have lived there for thousands of years.
I will give them the last part, the Jews have lived there since Biblical times. As far as the rest, it is simply laughable. Nowhere else in history does such an irrelevant state receive such a deep sense of entitlement. Yes, you read that correctly, I said irrelevant. I will explain my reasoning.

When I say irrelevant, I am talking about their time as an independent state and an independent state with influence in the region. An example of an irrelevant state would be like the Republic of Texas. Texas existed as an independent nation from 1836 to 1946. If you did not know that, it is not surprising. Unless you enjoy general trivia, the only place one is taught about this is in Texas. As far as the history of the world goes, the Republic of Texas is completely irrelevant. Let’s explore the history of Israel.

Contrary to popular belief, the Bible is not a history book. Some parts are historically significant, or accurate, but much is not. What we do in history is take all of the texts and archaeology and compare them. Based on all the combined evidence we attempt to establish a historically accurate narrative. Doing this, we can determine things such as the emergence of Israel.

The very first mention of Israel, outside of the Bible, is on the Egyptian stele of pharaoh Merneptah, which dates to around 1,200 BCE. Even though we have evidence of people living in these lands dating back to around 10,000 BCE, the first people we can call Israelites do not appear until 1,200 BCE.

Right around 1,000 BCE the largest and only significant national state was established and lasted for nearly a century. During this time it had three rulers, Saul, David, and Solomon. Here is a picture of the Kingdom of Israel.

To put in to perspective how significant this was, I will quote one of those 500 page history books…

“For nearly a century at the beginning of the Iron II period (1025-586 BCE,) most of Palestine was organized as a national state with a dynastic figure…

The formation of a state in Iron Age Palestine…was an extraordinary event. Never before in the millennia of sedentary life in the eastern Mediterranean had a territorial state existed in that land. And following the dissolution that would occur fairly soon, never again until the mid-twentieth century would this narrow stretch of the ancient Fertile Crescent be home to an autonomous cultural entity under local leadership.” –Carol Meyer, chapter 5 Kinship and Kingship: The Early Monarch p.165 found in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, edited by Michael Coogan.

There is your state of Israel. Three kings, one century. After Solomon died in 928 BCE, the kingdom was divided into two political entities, Israel (Samaria) and Judah. They are pictured here…

They were different states with different political agendas. We see the conflict in the literature of the Bible, we see one source that is clearly Judah biased and one that has an Israel bias. They were an autonomous group. The kingdom of Judah is entirely irrelevant. We find few references of Judah outside of the Bible. Samaria was in existence for nearly 200 years and was significant under only Omri and Ahab.

“Other historical sources, however, suggest that with Omri and his son Ahab, Israel entered upon an era of strong leadership and political-even international-prominence.” –Edward Campbell, chapter 6 A Land Divided: Judah and Israel from the Death of Solomon to the fall of Samaria p. 219 found in The Oxford History of the Biblical World, edited by Michael Coogan.

Samaria lasted from 928-720 BCE. In 720 BCE Assyria invaded and conquered Samaria. They exiled people to other areas of Assyria control.

Due to cooperation with the Assyrians, the state of Judah was allowed to exist. It existed until 586 BCE when the Babylonians conquered the Assyrians. The elite of the community were exiled to Babylon.

While in Babylon, a significant portion of the Hebrew Bible was written and edited. In 539 BCE Cyrus the Great of Persia conquered the Babylonians and allowed the exiled Jews to return to their homeland in the Edict of Cyrus.

From this point on, the area of modern day Israel was controlled by a number of different peoples and empires. Here are a few…
Alexander the Great
The Roman Empire
Persians again
Roman Empire
Byzantium Empire
Muslim Caliphate
Crusaders
Ottoman Turks
They then came under the control of the British in the British Mandate. The British Mandate allowed them to create the modern state of Israel after WW2.

If we look at roughly 12,000 years of history, the modern state of Israel existed, as a whole, for one century and the northern part (Samaria) for two, while only being prominent under two rulers. The idea that those who can trace their ancestry back to the ancient Israelites and Judahites are somehow deserving of this land is laughable. Did those people LIVE in that area for thousands of years? Sure, of course they did, and in other places. Other people also lived their also and have just as much claim to the land as Jews do. Is the fact that it is their ancestral homeland good enough of a reason to go in and create a state for them? That could be the case for dozens of peoples. What about the Kurds? Are they not deserving of their own state? They are a minority and persecuted in all of the countries they are in. We could easily make a Kurdish state and the people already live there, so why not? Why not restore nations for other peoples around the world? Why not give our lands in America back to the American Indians? Who makes the decision which fallen states we resurrect?

The fact of the matter is that Israel has no more of a right to exist than a Kurdistan would. Jews want to live in their ancestral homeland? A lot of people do…and they could have, under Muslim rule like they had been since Islam came about. The only reason Israel exists is because of the influence of Christianity in the West and because Britain and the power (through the mandate) to create it. Besides, how great is it for the West to have an ally right there in the Middle East?