Are today's Jewish Israelite's the descendants of original Israelite's

[Francis Drake]

I don't think that's the argument, or at least that's not an argument I've been hearing.

The difficulty in Israel/Palestine is that during the centuries between the Roman destruction of the Temple and the 20th-century creation of the modern state of Israel, various other people were living on that land. I don't think the residents claimed Israelite ancestry (many are Arabs), but they claimed that as of, say, 1900, they were living on the land.

It's a tough situation. Israelis need a homeland; centuries of persecution of Jews has shown us that. And, the homeland already had people in it. The past century of terrible violence has made it all worse. But I don't think it's a question of Palestinians claiming ancient Israelite ancestry.

Before the modern day Aliyah movement drew Jews to the land, it was largely bereft of people. Yes there were Beduin tribes and Arabs (and also Jews occupying certain parts, particularly Jerusalem), but according to various sources there was much land laid to waste or swamp.

Then Jewish migration started after the Balfour declaration. The hard working Jews fought to make the desert bloom, and before long, Syrian and Egyptian arabs were flooding in for employment. It is those people who settled and claim to be Palestinians.
There is plenty of evidence from Arab sources that the Palestinians have their family roots completely outside of Israel, and have little ancient heritage in the land.

Jews from the dispersion were also spread all around the middle east. Despite regular persecution, Jewish communities had survived in Iraq, Iran Saudi Arabia and the other Arab states, Egypt Syria etc. Then when the Jews in Israel proclaimed independence, the Muslims launched countless attacks with slaughter rape and pillage on their Jewish neighbours. The only hope of survival for those Jews was to flee to Israel, which they did in large numbers, leaving behind property and prosperous businesses.



Now add

 

[Francis Drake]

Does it matter? I mean, yes, obviously it matters to the people who are making that argument (though, like others, this is not really an argument that I've been hearing), but should it matter to anyone? I wouldn't rejoice when calamities befall the Arabs in places like Egypt or the rest of North Africa, or Iraq or the rest of the Fertile Crescent, just because they are not the original inhabitants. They have been there for centuries, to the point where expecting them to all 'go back' to Arabia proper (especially when they're all mixed with something or other) would be fantastically insulting and unreasonable.

The same could be said about the Jews in Palestine, insofar as they have always been a population resident in the area, even if any particular Jews may not have been.

Except that the majority of Arabs resident in Gaza or the West Bank came as migrant workers when Israel started to make the desert blossom! I have seen that from many Arab sources stating that fact. Their roots are mostly Syrian or Egyptian, not Palestine/Israel.

 

[RileyG]

Yes.

In the near future, we are going to see 144,000 Jews -- 12,000 from each tribe -- sealed with a mark on their foreheads.

that seems like an awfully small number

(Yes, I know it's from the Book of Revelation)

 

[Hank77]

The only hope of survival for those Jews was to flee to Israel, which they did in large numbers, leaving behind property and prosperous businesses.

Those who didn't want to return to Israel hoped to gain entrance to the Americas, both the US and South America, many did.

As you say "leaving behind" and they did. This novel tells the story.

The Aleppo Codex: A True Story of Obsession, Faith, and the Pursuit of an Ancient Bible
by Matti Friedman 2012

The book tells the story of how the Aleppo codex, one of the world's oldest extant Bibles, was saved from destruction during the 1947 Aleppo pogrom, how it was smuggled into Israel, and what became of the missing pages

The Aleppo Codex - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org