It seems the majority opinion of those on the left is that the primary, original "crime" was Israel taking over "Palestinian" land. I don't think thats a legitimate reason.

The modern State of Israel was created by a UN resolution passed in Nov of 1947. This is not an "illegal" occupation. Land taken over in 1967 was deemed by the UN proper control since it was ruled to have been acquired in a defensive war. The UN passed resolution 242 in 1967 to confirm this. There was no State of Palestine in 1967.

The only time there were no Jews in Judea and Samaria (the names of the land for thousands of years and pre-dating any use of the word Palestine) was from 1948 to 1967 when Jordan unilatterally occupied Judea and Samaria with no objection from the UN or any other country. King Jordan ordered the entire region "cleansed" of Jews and renamed the area "the West Bank." No wonder the Israeli Jews bristle at both the name "West Bank."

The upshot is that UN resoluton 242 gave Israel control of Gaza and the West Bank until a peaceful solution could be negotiated. The Arabs have no interest in peace with Israel, and only 2 of the 23 Arab countries have recognized Israel's right to exist as a Jewish State.

What I dont get is why the leftists don't support Israel's right to exist, and despite your own particular religious views, Israel did vote in a Theocratic democracy which makes Judaism the state religion, but allows religious freedom to those of almost any religion.*

* except Jehovahs witnesses arent allowed to recruit