Overnight, a highly propagandistic video surfaced that appeared to show two Lebanese women claiming they wanted to “kill the Jews” and “kill Netanyahu.” However, when you look closer at the actual conversation, they were expressing that they believe the people who were in the land first should have it back. They either didn’t want to specify what should happen to the Jewish population, or they simply didn’t know, yet the video was clearly edited to steer them toward the most extreme statements possible.

This brings me to what I believe is the real core of the concern many people have regarding the Palestinian issue: the feeling that indigenous people should have their land returned to them. While this logic sounds appealing—the idea of removing “colonialists”—it falls apart when you realize that the actual first inhabitants of the area were the Canaanites. Throughout history, the land changed hands regularly.

With the exception of the Jewish people—who settled and fought for the land based on a divine command—it is historically inaccurate to claim the land originally “belonged” to the Palestinians. Once people grasp that fact, the rest of the “indigenous rights” argument loses its foundation.

This leaves us with the debate between secular and religious viewpoints. The secular argument—which makes sense to me—is that since we are not yet living in Messianic times, we should prioritize national self-determination, coexistence, and peace. For Jews, Israel is the Holy Land for countless reasons; it makes logical sense for them to have a state, just as it makes sense for Palestinians to have a space of their own. From a strictly religious standpoint, the argument is different, but since most of us are not fully religious and the Messiah has not yet come, we are essentially operating in a “holding space.”

Ultimately, the argument that the land should be returned to the Palestinians as the “original owners” is historically false.