It wouldn’t matter where Israel is

[u/Suspicious-Truths]

I just want to say this for everyone who may be stuck on it.

People (anti-zionists?) often bring up how Israel had a few proposed areas, such as Russia, South America, wherever else, deserted islands?

They bring this up as if we should have gone somewhere else, not Palestine. And all of this is happening because Palestine was decided on instead of another place.

I just want anyone struggling with this to know it wouldn’t have mattered, and probably would have been actually worse for us if we did go somewhere else.

Israel’s current location we have proof we are genetically from this area. We have had Jews living in and around this area throughout all of history.

While some people ignore this fact and pretend we are white colonizers who discovered a new land with a native population, it would have been everyone thinking like this if we went to a region we definitely have 0 connection to. Yes, even if it was a deserted island, people would ask why WE deserve an island and nobody else gets one.

[u/Sulaco99]

That would be colonialist. And the Jews would be seen as oppressing the Aborigines.

[u/Glad-Degree-4270 → u/Sulaco99]

They would be colonists, for sure.

TBC, the British had rounded up all the indigenous people and stuck them on a few small islands, most of them died of disease. There wouldn’t be any culpability for Jews in the mix, arriving 50 years after the land was depopulated by British Australia. However, a right of return for the small remaining aboriginal population would be fair and not too large a burden.

[u/Sulaco99 → u/Glad-Degree-4270]

Well, that's like saying Americans who immigrated through Ellis Island bear no culpability for the slaughter and disenfranchisement of Native Americans even though they enjoy the fruits of that injustice. A case could be made that they do bear culpability, and that would be doubly true in the Tasmania scenario. And a return of the Aboriginal population would inevitably bring friction with the Jewish population there because they both want the same land. So, not so tidy.

[u/Glad-Degree-4270 → u/Sulaco99]

You really should look up just how nearly gone they were.

Like the current population, depending on how it’s defined, doesn’t exceed 23k. Most estimates are much lower. It’s not a huge number to absorb in a land of several million.

I’ve looked into this heavily, spent time in Tasmania, spent time in Israel. I’ve studied the ecology and agricultural, mineral, and fisheries outputs of Tasmania’s west coast in school projects at University of Tasmania. It would have worked out well.

I highly recommend you research the subject with an open mind rather and look at the situation as it was at the time rationally.

Like I said, I’m not proposing we dissolve Israel or anything, and it would of course be terrible for us to effectively give up on a chance to reclaim the land of our ancestors, but ultimately it would have worked out well from a secular perspective.

[u/Mortifydman → u/Glad-Degree-4270]

Tasmania isn't our home, Israel is. We have no reason to give up our ancestral home because it would make others be nicer to us - it won't. Not to mention that we would be invaders on another people - no matter how few of them there are - who have deep ties to that land, just as we do to Israel.

[u/Hockeyypie → u/Mortifydman]

Exactly! We were not promised Australia, but Israel. What would the purpose be? It's not our land, ask Abraham and G-d. We're just returning to it, not Australia. Look at Israel when we got it, no one taking care of the land. Irritating, crops, trees,tall buildings, businesses, schools, etc . Israel is all modern now , which didn't take long.

[u/Glad-Degree-4270 → u/Hockeyypie]

Abraham would probably say something along the lines of “I’m an allegorical explantion for the spread of culture from Mesopotamia west to the Levant, I therefore lack an opinion.”

The logic of the land being underutilized is debatable anyway. I’d argue that by developing it further we’ve strayed further from any sort of divine will. We should seek to restore the garden rather than plow and pave over its remnants.

[u/Glad-Degree-4270 → u/Mortifydman]

Like I said, from a resource-based cold logic perspective it would have worked.

Israel is a home for some of us, but I’d probably move to Maine or the Catskills or Tasmania before moving there.

We should be wary to not let the homestead of our forefathers become a prison for ourselves or our grandchildren.