"Religion & statehood do not go hand in hand..."?

Okay. Yeah. Tell that to the Iranians, to the Taliban, to Pakistanis, to the Tibetans, to the Saudis.... Need I go on?

Do Israel & AIPAC misuse the history of the Holocaust? Sure. But it wasn't the Holocaust really that put radical Zionism into the fore as it was the Allies' unwillingness to do anything positive for survivors after the war. They said go home, back to where your neighbors stand ready to murder you, or stay stateless in DP camps, indefinitely.

Jews much safer w/o Israel? How do you figure?

No. There's no inherent right for Israel or any other country to be a state. A nation exists as long as it performs the basic functions a nation must perform. Israel will continue to exist in spite of all the internal & external challenges. So talking about it otherwise is just silly.