Very interesting article, highlighting a part of our history that is often neglected. I hadn't known, for example, about the Byzantine revolt & recapture of Jerusalem myself.

Of course, there are some troubling aspects as well. As Hillel Fuentes points out the Maccabean War was also fratricidal & did lead to eventual Roman control of Judea. And that led to the eventual expulsion of Jews from the land & many of the problems Israel faces today.

British forces under Allenby drove the Ottomans out of Palestine during the Great War, so I wouldn't call their presence as "invasion" in the usual sense. During the interwar Mandate period the Jewish population of Palestine rose from approximately 90,000 to 450,000, much of it obviously spurred by antisemitism in Europe.

Recalling the British also had wartime commitments to the Arabs, at that point they regarded the terms of the Balfour Declaration met. Many thought Chamberlain's government had reneged because the Declaration implied Jewish dominion, which of course they didn't have.

But in fairness to the British, they had had three years of Arab riots to contend with during which they were also the only power at war with Germany. Although the majority of Jews fought alongside Britain, as commandos & the Jewish Brigade, Lehi (aka Stern Gang) continued to view the British as the greater enemy. This is just tragic. How are the British, after all, to respond to the killing of Lord Moyne, the High Commissioner of Palestine, in '44, but as an act of war? Lehi, in short, fought for the Nazis.

Combine that with the Lehi-Irgun assassination of Count Folke-Bernadotte (who had rescued many Jews in Europe during the war) & it's hard to see how different these incidents were to the British than Hamas's rocket attacks today. A minority makes war on behalf of the majority.

Oh, & incidentally, I think it was Jewish gangsters who created the drive-by shooting once cars got fast & reliable enough.

Always the innovators, us.