Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew

by Emmanuel Acho

Black community between what they believe Jewish people did historically to the Palestinians and what white Americans did to the Native Americans. What do you think about that? NOA: You’re bringing up a lot of important points, and I want to give them all the time and space they need. So let me begin with your point about comparing the creation of Israel to what Americans did to the Native Americans, because that’s the narrative that’s been purposefully programmed into society over the last thirty years or so. But it is not analogous. That narrative does a few things really well: It erases the hard evidence that supports the archaeologically and historically well-attested fact that the Land of Israel dates back to biblical times, that the Jewish people are indigenous to that land, and that they have had a continued presence there. It also erases the accuracy of what historically happened in that region before and around the establishment of Israel. And it certainly erases the fact that Israel was there as an independent nation before anything else.