Thank you again for your moral clarity, Alexander. I agree with most of what you say, as always. And I fully understand the centuries-old yearning of the Jewish people, after all the oppression, hatred, and brutality they have endured, for reclaiming their sacred ancestral homeland and setting up a state of their own, where they can live in peace and hard-won prosperity—especially after the primordial horrors of the Holocaust made them want to flee Europe forever.
BUT—this does not negate the fact that there were people already there for generations with their own historical claims to the land, and rather than set up a secular democracy where everyone had the same legal, religious, and political rights, they opted instead to drive the pre-existing inhabitants off their own lands and simply (and violently) displace them, rendering them “untermenchen” and permanent refugees on the margins of their own ancestral homeland.

This does not justify, but certainly explains, the rooted hatreds that have exploded into unspeakable atrocities against Jewish men, women, and children. This grim state of affairs seems intractable, given the chronic fear and loathing on both sides. Blaming one side or the other does no good at all, but only exacerbates the hatred. And unfortunately, hatred rooted in religious identity politics seems impossible to extirpate. Alas…