Thomas Herzl, the figure oft mistakenly attributed by antisemites as the founder of Zionism, is also credited to have said it didn’t matter where Jews got a homeland. Antizionists especially like pointing to Herzl’s contemplation of a Jewish homeland in Africa as evidence that land is just a commodity for Jews to take. They use Herzl’s statement out of context to make it seem like Jews felt no particular connection to the original land and would have taken anything. This was pre-WWII when antisemitism was a widespread problem throughout the world, and none of the world powers wanted to give the exiled ex-slave Jews anything — let alone land. Herzl was willing to settle for anything because the worldwide Jewish diaspora were desperate to find a home where they would no longer be hassled, segregated, and massacred. There has never been a doubt that this move would have had profound negative effects for Jewish identity, whose every meditation refers in some way to their connection to the homeland as their spiritual source. But it’s easier to say Jews formed a white supremacist ideology in the 1800s to steal land.

A reminder: Deligitimizing Jewish or Palestinian connections to the homeland is a bad look. Peace is the right look. Let’s focus on that.