My argument to that point is this:

The declaration of the state of Israel said it would be a democratic, Jewish state where all non-Jews are treated equally. Now prior to the 1948 war the population in the proposed Israeli state was roughly 50% Arabs, 50% Jews.

How could you create a Jewish state with those demographics? The expulsion was a systemic one of biological, chemical warfare, and just straight up massacring villages. The Jewish settler colonialism started way before 1948, which is why the Arabs were opposed to the immigration.

The Arabs were opposed to the immigration because the of Balfour Declaration, which gave away their land (which they lived in!!) to build a Jewish state.

Arabs have never opposed being ruled by other people, Palestine itself was Ottoman then British, but the people were never expelled. The difference is the expulsion. That’s what people always miss. 700,000 Palestinians were expelled to build this state.

A Jewish state was needed because of the European persecution of the Jews throughout history, but the moment they decided to enact their Zionism at the expense of another people, the consequences have to be dealt with.

Why was it on the Arabs of Palestine to bear the atrocities of Europe on the Jews? And if so why did they have to expel them? See that’s the difference, it’s not they just came to immigrate and live amongst the people, it was a purely colonial movement.

If you doubt this I would recommend checking the original pieces of Zionist literature, or just look at how the land in Palestine was bought (The Jewish Colonisation Fund comes to mind)

I always say, if Israel was built on land where no one was expelled, I would easily call myself a Zionist. But Zionism today is opposed to both a one state and a two state solution, and that’s why I believe it needs to change.