A great deal of criticism leveled against Israel surpasses debates on specific policies, striking at its core legitimacy. It questions whether a people long scattered across the world can reestablish a sovereign nation in their historic homeland. This underlying doubt casts a shadow over all discussions, isolating Israel in global discourse.

Although Zionism stands out as distinctive, it has a clear counterpart right nearby in Greece. Contemporary Greece mirrors Israel in more than just its blue-and-white flag: both sprang from a European cultural renaissance, were propped up by robust diaspora networks, and secured freedom through brutal wars marked by widespread population displacements.

Furthermore, the historical footprints of Greeks and Jews extend further back than many surrounding groups in key regional hubs. Greek and Jewish settlements existed in Odessa prior to Slavic arrival, in Constantinople before the Turks, and in Alexandria before the Arabs. In certain instances, they were the indigenous populations, only to become minorities after prolonged exiles.

The modern Kingdom of Greece took shape in 1830 after the triumphant Greek War of Independence against Ottoman rule, starting with just 750,000 inhabitants - while the majority of ethnic Greeks resided elsewhere, mainly in Constantinople, Smyrna, and along the Black Sea.

Countless Muslims - chiefly Turks alongside Albanian Muslims - perished, were driven out, or escaped from lands that joined Greece. By the 1830s outset, Muslim communities in the new state's heartland had mostly vanished. Today's campuses see no mass protests decrying these events.

Israel's Birth Echoes Greece's Origins

Israel's formation in 1948 traced a comparable path: a nascent state with a modest initial populace, encircled by a vast diaspora, molded by warfare and migrations. Upon declaring independence, Israel counted around 800,000 residents, comprising roughly 650,000 Jews and 150,000 Arabs who stayed post-conflict. Notably, those Arabs did not identify as Palestinians then.

The 1948-49 war triggered a profound refugee situation. Approximately 700,000 Palestinian Arabs departed or were ousted from what became Israel, even as nearly one million Jews were uprooted or expelled from Arab nations in the Middle East and North Africa, largely finding refuge in Israel soon after.

Like Greece in the 1830s, the fledgling Israel embodied just a fraction of its wider national community. Despite the Nazi annihilation of European Jewry, the bulk of Jews worldwide dwelled outside Israel - primarily in Europe and the Americas - akin to Greeks beyond the early Greek realm.

Curiously, at the Greek Revolution's launch, Athens hosted about 5,000 people, mirroring Jerusalem's Jewish count then. Greek cultural hubs lay in Constantinople and Smyrna. Athens earned capital status symbolically, not numerically, much like Israel's bond with Jerusalem.

As the Greek Revolution began, an Ottoman mosque occupied the Parthenon site. Post-independence, Muslims vacated Athens, and the mosque fell. In 1948, a mosque and shrine dominated the Temple Mount; Jewish dwellers were banished from Jerusalem's Old City, scores of synagogues razed, and Islamic sites endured - remaining contentious today.

In each scenario, the nation progressively centered demographically on its primary ethnic group, influenced by combat, relocations, and integrating refugees from linked strife.

Subsequent developments accelerated these shifts. The Pontic genocide from 1914 to 1923 claimed around 300,000 Greek lives and funneled survivors to Greece, swelling refugee numbers from prior clashes. The Holocaust mirrored this in Jewish annals. Zionism predated it, with Herzl's Der Judenstaat in 1896 and pre-World War I settlements. Losing six million Jews turned statehood backing into an urgent reality, leading to the UN partition resolution.

These likenesses reach the ideologies fueling both endeavors, propelled by diaspora ties pivotal to success. The Greek secret society Filiki Eteria, launched in Odessa in 1814, garnered leaders and funds from European and Mediterranean outposts.

Hovevei Zion, started in Odessa in 1881, mirrored this by coordinating initial Jewish footholds in Palestine. Philhellenism and Zionism tapped primordial heritage: Greek fighters hailed Themistocles and Leonidas, while Zionists evoked Judah Maccabee and Bar-Kochba.

Outrages galvanized backing too. The 1822 Chios island slaughter of tens of thousands of Greeks horrified Europe, spurring aid. Russian pogroms in Kishinev and Odessa in 1903 and 1905 similarly boosted Zionism.

Both quests harbored expansionist visions. Post-1830, Greece's Megali Idea - or Greater Greece - steered growth through wars. Greece solidified lands over the 19th and 20th centuries, gaining the Dodecanese in 1948. Its statehood enjoys steady global acceptance. Israel, too, pursued modest border gains.

Religion anchored identity centrally. Ottoman millet categorized Greeks via Orthodox Christianity and Jews religiously. This informed citizenship: Greece offered ethnic Greeks repatriation routes; Israel passed the 1950 Law of Return for Jewish immigration.

Yet despite vast overlaps, their global receptions split sharply.

This stems partly from war conduct and resolution. Greece drew active aid beyond words. In 1827's Battle of Navarino, British, French, and Russian fleets crushed Ottoman-Egyptian forces, clinching Greek victory.

Israel in 1948 withstood assaults from adjacent states amid a global arms ban, improvising arms buys like from Czechoslovakia.

Greece's standing integrates seamlessly internationally; Zionism stays disputed. Sadly, post-Hamas's October 7 assault killing over 1,200 Israelis, Western skepticism has surged.

This prompts: Why? More pointedly: Does it solely concern Israel's response?

The key difference, I argue, lies in Muslim responses to each emergence. Turkey integrated Muslims fleeing Greece; Greece took in Greek exiles.

Israel welcomed regional Jewish refugees fully - but Arab countries isolated Palestinian ones, often withholding rights and citizenship persistently.

This enduring refugee pool - spanning generations in dire straits - amplifies attacks on Israel.

Arab motives for this were self-serving, amid ongoing shifts. Yet why do extremes on Left and Right worldwide echo it, framing Israel in primal guilt? Deep reflection is urgent.