Did Jews steal the land of Palestine to create Israel? - Rabbi Reacts

Rabbi Daniel Rowe responds to the argument that Israel is a colonial occupier of Arab land.

[jonathanbein]

The Palestinians and five Arab countries waged a war of extermination in 1948. They lost badly. Two consequences:
1. Many Arabs were expelled from Israel, some left expecting to come back, some left in terror, and some stayed who are now the Israeli Arabs.
2. The Palestinians lost land that was designated for them in the 1947 partition plan.

Well, war has consequences. You can't start a war of extermination, lose badly, and then complain about losing land and being expelled. You can't start a war of extermination, lose badly and then claim the victim position. That is exactly what the Palestinians have done.

[laurameszaros]

This rabbi is a very eloquent advocate indeed. I cannot understand why he is not far more widely known than is currently the case. He deserves a vast personal following.

[musiqueetmontagne]

It was never a country in the first place, it was a section of the Ottoman Empire which ended in 1918. Britain and France were then asked to split the region into "countries" the first being Jordan. The French "creating" present day Syria and Lebanon. The Arabs didn't want to live with the existing Jews who had lived there too for centuries. They attacked and murdered people in many Jewish towns leading the UN/British to proposing, if they couldn't live together, a two state solution. The Moslems wouldn't accept this, they wanted all the land even where Jews had lived for a long time, especially in Jerusalem. They then rallied many Arab nations and tried to eradicate all Jews and throw them all out, including the ones that had lived there for hundreds of years plus. Unfortunately they lost that war, having attacked the Jews in the first That is called history that has become twisted by many into the stories of today...

[Kendaamguy]

When palestinians dont recognize Israel's right to Exist, there can be no dialoge!! The israeli arab citizens are not palestinian, these are two different people. Israeli arabs recognize !sraels right to exist as a Jewish country!!

[nohandle]

I think the starting point should be that the Arabs invaded the land in 636 AD in order to spread Islam. When they conquered the Levant, it wasn't a land without a people. There were Jews and Christians living there under the Byzantine Empire. Over time, some of the Jews and Christians converted to Islam, some emigrated and others remained in the land as Jews and Christians. My point is Jews have had a constant presence in the land for over 3000 years. It's the Arabs who are the conquerors and colonizers. But the Arabs were the overwhelming majority. With the birth of the modern Zionist movement and increased Jewish immigration, the Arabs got nervous and thus began their more than 100 years of terrorism against Jews.

[froukjematthews]

The Middle East was last ruled by Britain and a smaller part by France.
The United Nations was already established as a league of nations who in the past were at each other's throat.
They, the UN decided to divide the territory and offered the Jews a bit and the Arabs other bits. The Jews accepted whatever was given but the Arabs did not.

The Jews never "stole" the land or "occupied" the land.
Parts of the land called Israel now was literally bought from the Arabs by rich Jews like the Rothchilds They bought it!
There were always Jews and Arabs living in that region. The Jews, after WWII, were given the worst bit that no-one wanted. As soon as they accepted, the Arabs attacked them, because now they wanted that bit as well, though hardly any of them lived in that area.

The area was called 'Palestine'and included Jews as well as Arabs. But every time Arabs attacked the Israelis, because now they were a nation that called itself Israel as of the old days more than 2000 years ago and reognized as such by the UN, had to fight them off and out of necessity control certain areas to protect themselves.

Had those Arabs left them alone and created a nation of their own, all of the Middle East could have prospered. But no, Islamic believes and passed on hatred fed by jealousy, tried to wipe out these Israelis who simply did not lie down and die. And they will not. Never.
And interestingly, Israelis these days, also incude Arabs of all sorts, who have experienced what it means to be part of a nation and no longer be pawns or serfs or subjects ruled by sheiks, warlords or mullahs.

[Petal]

Before Israel there was
1. British Mandated Palestine (1917-1948-) not a Palestinian state
2. Before the British Mandate, was the Ottoman Empire (1517-1917) - not a Palestinian state.
3. Before the Ottoman Empire was the Islamic State of the Mamluks of Egypt (1250 – 1517) - not a Palestinian state.
4. Before the Islamic State of the Mamluks of Egypt, was the Ayyubid Empire (1169 -1250) - not a Palestinian state.
5. Before the Ayyubid Empire was the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem (1099-1169) - not a Palestinian state.
6. Before the Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem, was the Umayyad and Fatimid Empires (750-1099) - not a Palestinian state.
7. Before the Umayyad and Fatimid Empires, were the Sassanid Empire (616-750) - not a Palestinian state.
9. Before the Sassanid Empire, was the Byzantine Empire (309-616) - not a Palestinian state.
10. Before the Byzantine Empire, was the Roman Empire (63- 309) - not a Palestinian state.
11. Before the Roman Empire, was the Hasmonean dynasty, not a Palestinian state.
12. Before the Hasmonean dynasty was the Seleucid Empire, not a Palestinian state.
13. Before the Seleucid Empire, was the Kingdom of Alexander the Great, not a Palestinian state.
14. Before the Kingdom of Alexander the Great, was the Persian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
15. Before the Persian Empire, was the Babylonian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
16. Before the Babylonian Empire was the Assyrian Empire, not a Palestinian state.
17. Before the Assyrian Empire was Kingdoms of Israel & Judah, not a Palestinian state.
18. Before the Kingdoms of Israel & Judah, was the ‘ Theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel’, not a Palestinian state.
19. Before the ‘Theocracy of the twelve tribes of Israel’, was an accumulation of independent Jewish Canaanite City Kingdoms, not a Palestinian state.

[rachelerynkalish]

Excellent. He’s quoting my favorite historian too, Benny Morris. Thank you rabbi.

[emmajane]

No the Jewish people did not steal the land because they were their first . It was theirs first and their entire Jewish history is there. 🇮🇱💙🙏

[valerieprice-wnqb]

Thank you for this it is so important that we share the truth history should never be erased

[JustMe]

The Arabs need to accept that Israel isn't going anywhere. They can have, and could have had, a state in the West Bank and Gaza.

[listerutube]

Plus it seems that if we take your advice and listen carefully to the Palestinians we would hear them telling us they want all Jews out of Israel otherwise we can expect many more Oct 7th type massacres. What is the point in any more dialogue??

[davidapfel]

I've never heard anyone say this, but if the Jews never existed, or if they never returned, I don't think there would be a people called Palestinians today. The inhabitants of the Levant would be either Jordanian, Syrian, Lebanese or Egyptian today.

[razabadass]

I especially appreciated the rabbi brother trying to recognise that a lot of people including Jewish Israelis and Palestinian Muslims have been in pain, Raza :)

[edwardhill]

THAT DEPENDS ON WHO OWNS THE LAND God or the Paliestinians or the Romans who gave it to the Palestinians . I THINK GOD IS THE RIGHTFUL OWNER OF LAND HE CREATED and can give it to whoever He wants RESIST ALL YOU WANT BUT YOU WILL FAIL TO EVICT THE RIGHTFUL OWNERS ISRAEL

[brianrmc]

If more people understood this to be historical fact, their opinions would change drastically.

[killpop]

I've been wanting to hear a good explanation of the background of this. I feel this is the best so far.

[soltantio]

This is totally ignorant. The Jews immigrated their legally and purchase land. All the land they had before 1948, they purchased. Before 1948, they owned about 6% of the land and the Palestinian Arabs owned about 6% of the land. The rest was either public land or not really owned by anybody, like the desert. Jordan was also created as a Palestinian Homeland and from the outset Jews were excluded from jordan. So the Palestinian Arabs actually got the overwhelming majority of this land which had previously been part of the Ottoman empire. After the Israelis kicked the asses of the invading Arab armies, they typically did not allow the Arabs who had been on part of the land to return. Given that the goal of the Arabs who invaded was to completely wipe out the jews, it's clear that had they won, they would not have allowed any jews to continue living there. If the Arabs living there had accepted the opportunity for Statehood just as the Jews had, they would have had this state all along in addition to all of jordan. So this is a bunch of ignorant gas lighting. Unfortunately a lot of Jews who should know better do not research this very well and don't ask too many questions but just accept the pro Palestinian propaganda at face value

[listerutube]

But Daniel, Hamas leaders are now worth a collective $20 billion, most of which they're sutting on at the exoense of the Palestinians. I would suggest most of the Palestinian suffering should have been avoided if their aid had been spent for their benefit. Israel is not to blame for most of their suffering. They could and should have been leading good lives like Israeli arabs do.

[littlebrookreader]

No. Absolutely not. The land of Israel was given to them by GOD. The land was NOT stolen. The land was given to