Ein Li Eretz Acheret – I Have No Other Land

“Jews, go home. You do not belong here. You are occupying our country. You stole our land.”

These are phrases often echoed by Palestinian activists, many of whom wear keys around their necks, symbolizing the homes their ancestors allegedly lost. Yet, history tells a different story—one where many of these properties were legally sold, often at high prices, to Jewish buyers. The narrative of dispossession, while emotionally compelling, does not align with the documented facts of land transactions and migration patterns in the region.

This rhetoric is not new. The cry of “Jews, go home” is hauntingly reminiscent of the dark days of World War II when European Jews—who had lived in those lands for generations—were told they did not belong. Expelled, persecuted, and ultimately exterminated by the millions, they were denied refuge even when their very survival depended on it. But where is “home” for the Jewish people? The answer is unequivocal: the Land of Israel, the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, the land of Zion and Jerusalem.

For centuries, Jews lived in exile, scattered across the globe—some in the Middle East, in countries like Iran, Iraq, and Syria; others in Europe and the Americas. Despite their dispersion, Jewish prayers and traditions always centered on their historic homeland. Through expulsions, pogroms, and persecutions, the Jewish connection to the land never wavered. Even under the rule of various empires—the Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, and British—Jews maintained a continuous presence in Israel, particularly in Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed, and Tiberias.

Despite these deep roots, the world often ignores Jewish indigeneity to Israel. Israel, like many nations, was re-established in the 20th century, yet its legitimacy is constantly questioned. The claim that “Palestine” was an independent Arab nation before Israel’s existence is historically inaccurate. The land was a province under successive empires, never an independent Arab state. The vast majority of Arabs living in Israel, Gaza, and Judea & Samaria trace their origins to neighboring Arab states, having migrated in the late 19th and early 20th centuries for economic opportunities. Yet, the world continues to accept the Palestinian narrative without scrutiny, supporting the idea that millions of Palestinians—many of whom have never set foot in Israel—have an unlimited “right of return.”

The hypocrisy is staggering. A Jew born and raised in Israel is labeled an “occupier,” yet a Palestinian from the U.S. with a great-great-grandparent who once lived under the Ottoman Empire is told they have the right to return. How does this make sense? Why is Jewish indigeneity to Israel constantly challenged while Palestinian claims are accepted at face value?

History itself disproves Palestinian claims. The name “Palestine” originates from the Roman Emperor Hadrian, who renamed Judea to “Philistia” in an attempt to erase the Jewish connection to the land following the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The original “Palestinians” were, in fact, the Jewish people, as evidenced by historical records and even pre-20th-century Western references to Jews as “Palestinians.” The modern claim that Arabs are the indigenous people of Israel ignores centuries of Jewish history and presence.

Today, there are 52 Muslim-majority countries, yet only one Jewish homeland. Israel is the only place in the world where Jews can live as Jews without fear of persecution and discrimination. In every generation, Jews have faced exile, from Babylon to Spain to Nazi Europe. But Israel remains the one place where they do not have to fear being treated as outsiders.

And yet, the world insists that they have no right to be there.

Israel is not an occupation—it is a return. A return to sovereignty, a return to security, a return to the only land the Jewish people have ever called home.

Ein Li Eretz Acheret – I Have No Other Land.