Defenders of the Zionist ideology seem to just say this, without ever explaining how or why it is a 'right', and why this 'right' should trump those of others.

I think that this is in fact the fundamental problem - a misguided and problematic quest that perpetuates conflict by imposing theocracies and national identities based on religion and tribal rivalries, rather than common values in a spirit of cooperation and brotherhood.

I think the quest for a country based on 'Jewish' identity backed by zealots willing to kill for it is just as flawed as that for one based on an 'Islamic' or 'Christian' identity.

If an Islamic caliphate is a bad idea, then I posit that so too is Jewish Zion - not out of 'antisemitism', but out of the belief that forming countries based on religion is inherently problematic (as we're seeing play out in violent detail).

I don't think the right solution to fighting Islamic extremism or 'nation building' is to back the same impulse, but merely rooted in a different religion.

This is my fundamental problem with the entire concept of a 'Jewish homeland' and similar concepts. I don't think its any less problematic than an Islamic homeland, or a Christian homeland (which many in the US are pushing for, and is a movement fundamentally destructive to civil rights, liberties and religious freedom).

How can a country promote true freedom of religion if its very national identity is enshrined in one 'chosen' religion? Fundamentally, anyone not of that faith will inherently be a 2nd class citizen, even if laws are made to notionally claim that they have the same basic rights. This leads to an inevitable apartheid or caste system along religious lines.

As far as 'ancestral claims' to the land, if everyone operated with this mindset, it would be absurd. I have no right to fly to Scotland and force a modern-day Scottish farmer off his land merely because Scottish folklore claims that his clan pushed my ancestors out of the country in 1420. I'm not sure why some fanatics of the Jewish faith get a 'free pass' when it comes to using Bronze-aged folklore to justify the violent 're-claiming' of land, or to justify creating refugees in 2024 because of something that happened in 600 B.C.

Yet again, another troublesome aspect of forming modern countries and 'identities' around a religion.

And yes, fanatical Muslims and Christians are guilty of this too, with each religion having various sects and movements determined to carve out some sort of modern ethno-state on religious lines.

I think we should resist this trend of creating religion-based nations in all of its forms, as opposed to giving 1 religion our 'blessing' over another to do so.