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Over dinner with an Israeli couple I've been friends with for decades, the woman told me that their daughter, now in her 20s and studying in Europe, did not have a response when her European classmates challenged her to justify the right of Israel to exist as a state.


Furthermore, although many issues in the Middle East are complicated – such as how to cope with huge hostile neighbors and where borders should be – the right of Israel to exist is remarkably simple and straightforward.


-- History: Jewish and non-Jewish sources, abundant archeological findings, a worldwide consensus that until recently included Arab leaders, and even the discovery of Middle Eastern genetic markers in the chromosomes of Diaspora Jews all tell the same story: Jews have lived continuously in the Land of Israel for thousands of years.


-- Law: After centuries of continuous foreign rule by the Ottomans and then the British, the land was supposed to be returned to its indigenous peoples. The plan was partition, which eventually came to mean two Arab states, Transjordan (now Jordan) and an Arab state of Palestine, but also a small Jewish one, Israel.


-- International norms: How does any country justify its right to exist? How many countries are actually asked such a question? If losing your country to foreign invaders means that your people should disappear, then what is the justification for Poland, which has faded in and out of existence, yet sits today in the midst of Europe unchallenged? What right do Anglo-Saxons, Vikings, or Normans have to live in England?

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