Subject: Re: Harris’ VP pick is…
Just as I could make a claim that my ancestors were indigenous to Germany (or Wales, or Scotland, or a few others...several hyphens). Does that mean I have a right to return? That was my point. The present masters in Germany would have that say-so.

So, again, the only difference I see is a religious tome.

I understand your point, but nobody ever really made the "religious tome" argument.

Nearly all Jews that went to Israel from other nations did so legally, with the permission of the government in charge at the time. None of them argued that they had some right that trumped the ruling government's power to exclude them. I mean, sure - some Jews were personally motivated by a religious reason. But the various governments involved made their choices based entirely on secular considerations.

Emigration by Jews to the area began in earnest in the late 1880's with the full permission of the Ottoman empire. It was allowed by the Sultan was delighted to admit the Jews - he felt that they were a valuable addition to the area. The Ottomans were perfectly happy to have people willing to move there. That continued for several decades until 1914 (when the Jewish population was around 12-13% of what would become the Mandate area) - this part of the world was an active theater of the conflict, and Jewish emigration dried up.

After the elimination of the empire and the League of Nations mandate began in 1917, the British were in charge of the area. They also authorized Jewish immigration to the Mandate, not because of some holy book, but because they was the promise they made with the Balfour Declaration as a way of getting Jewish (read: American) support in WWI. Immigration continued, with the support of the Mandatory Government. The Jewish population rose to about 17% of the overall Mandate population by around 1931. At that time in the early 1930's, when the Jews and Arabs started really fighting against the Brits and against each other - the Brits shut down legal immigration by Jews to the area. Immigration continued, though, as Jews escaped the ravages of the pogroms in Russia/Poland and the rise of Nazism in Germany (coupled with American shutting out immigration). But they were fleeing to that area because it was one of the few boltholes in the world where a Jew could escape to, not because of any biblical command.

None of that involved Jews showing up and saying, "We are allowed to live here because the Bible says so." Up until the 1930's, all Jewish immigration to the area was authorized by the in-power government based on purely secular considerations.