Why an honest reckoning with the circumstances of Israel’s birth is critical for Israel’s future

Israel was not born by immaculate conception. Like all nations, it was born in blood, as bodies crossed borders to safety amongst their kind. Some moved to seek security. Others were forced to take long marches with nothing but bundles on their backs. Like tens of millions of Muslims expelled to Pakistan, Hindus to India, Germans forced out of Central Europe, Greeks transferred out of Turkey, Turks pushed out of Greece, Armenians chased from Nagorno-Karabakh, seven hundred and fifty thousand non-Jewish Arabs, whose families lived for centuries in the land of Abraham, marched under fire to the other side of a border that did not exist before May 1948. Real Zionists recognize the pain they felt, and take responsibility for causing it.

Which is why on this Nakba Day, commemorated on May 15, 2026, the Zionist response should be to have empathy for the pain of those who mourn. Who better than us understands the pain of losing one’s home? Of being driven out of the land of our ancestors, of sitting and weeping by the rivers of Babylon? There is a story of Napoleon Bonaparte passing by a synagogue on Tisha b’Av and, upon hearing weeping, asked, “Why are they crying?” His guide told him:........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)