Here's the problem with the "homeland" argument. Few people live in their current "homeland". Many people are descended from immigrants and quite far removed from their historical homeland. I've never lived in Argentina, but that is my ancestral homeland. Would it be right for me, if things got dangerous in the U.S., to go there and say "okay, I'm entitled to this land, and I might kill a few people and destroy their homes in the process, but this is where I'm from"? No one would take that seriously. Why should it be any different for Israel?
I fully understand why European Jews left Europe. That does not justify destroying homes, displacing populations, and ethnic cleansing. Saying "Jews should've stayed in Europe" is not a useful argument, but neither is saying that Jews have a right to live in Palestine. The reality is Jews live in Palestine now, and the Israeli state is ethnically cleansing Palestinians. No one is going back to Europe, I don't care what happened decades ago--it explains why the situation is the way it is now, but it doesn't justify any Israeli action. I'm concerned with what is happening now, and Israelis want the Palestinians to disappear so they can have the entirety of the land. And there is no justifying that. no matter what happened historically. In fact, the history should be a lesson to not perpetrate what was done to them on another people.
@WestonTexan No, you can't just move to Argentina and start killing people, but that's not what the first Zionists did. They moved to what was the Ottoman Empire at the time and purchased land from its owners. So if you went to Argentina to escape conditions in Texas, bought a house, and your German or Italian neighbors started throwing rocks at you because they didn't want you to be there, would you defend yourself? How would you react if your attackers then accused you of "stealing their land" when you paid for it, and told you to "go back to Texas" when you had legitimate reasons for leaving? And after starting a fight with you, you end up taking a few of their houses and decide to keep them because your neighbors are still calling for your death and it wouldn't be safe for you to reward them for trying to kill you.
And yes, Jews live in Israel now and Palestinians live in Palestine. Israelis are entitled to defend themselves against people whose stated goal is their exile or death. Hamas is not fighting for an autonomous Gaza, they want everything "from the river to the sea" with no Jews living there.
