‘Promised land’ and ‘God’s chosen people’

Israel's rulers constantly repeat their notions of the 'promised land' and 'God's chosen people'. This belief in a 'divine decree' is taught to children and adults.

The argument here is that if the Israelites are God's chosen people and God promised them a land where other people live, then by definition, other people are not God's chosen ones. And when a group considers itself superior to others, it implies that its achievements are more important and that, consequently, it should be favoured in accessing resources and, particularly, other people's lands without any moral impediment.

This notion of the 'chosen people' and Israel seeing itself as the privileged proprietor of history and religion challenges the bond of interconnectedness and common humanity that most humans share.

In April 2024, Dimitri Dilani, head of the National Christian Coalition in the Holy Land, remarked on the origin of the Palestinians:

"The Philistines inhabited Palestine much before Judaism. They intermixed with the indigenous Canaanites. These same people later converted to Judaism, and then to Christianity. Eventually, the majority of these people converted to Islam, with a significant minority remaining Christian and a small minority remaining Jewish. This is how it happens. Now, claiming that the Palestinians came with the Arab invasion is nonsense. While there was indeed an Arab invasion 1400 years ago, Palestine was not empty at the time. The Arab invasion extended to China, but that does not make the Chinese Arabs.”

He commented on Jewish belief that God promised the Holy Land to them:

"Is there an entity that no one has seen, without any scientific proof, and that through a book (the Bible) we don't know who wrote it and how many changes have been made to it over the years, that in this book, according to Jewish interpretation, which differs from many others, this entity promised you this land and made me not belong to or own my own house. Are we serious? I don't know what car my neighbour drives, but my God told me it's mine, and I'm coming to get it (Note: Many of the Bible's tales and metaphors are derived from Mesopotamian myths).” He went on:

“Israeli law states that all Jews have a right to my house. When discussing politics and issues that affect people's lives, it's important to communicate rationally and support our claims with evidence. Quoting interpretations of religion is not sufficient. White supremacist Christians and atheists of Jewish descent created Zionism. They decided to bring the Jews to Palestine and replace the Palestinians with a piece of paper that says you are Jewish and that you can buy from a rabbi for $2,000. It is God who decides when the second coming will take place for us Christians and the first coming of the Messiah for the Jews, not Theodore Herzl or Benjamin Netanyahu. Zionism is a political ideology based on supremacy and control."