After Arafat died in 2005, leaving his family in Switzerland richer by the ~$2 billion he embezzled from the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas became head of the PA. He seemed to be a man interested in peace, so the Israelis returned Gaza to the PA--in the process ousting some 9,000 Jewish settlers, so the Gazans wouldn't be troubled by any Jews in their midst. The Gazans immediately ousted the PA and installed Hamas, an Islamic terrorist organization whose charter quotes the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," and is dedicated to Israel's destruction. What did Israel get? 7,000 rockets rained on Israel, and scores of injuries and deaths.


Does that invalidate the Islamic Republics of Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran and Mauritius? Or is it only a Jewish state that's impossible to recognize? By that measure, why would any "self-respecting" American recognize a Communist state like China? Or, during the Cold War, the USSR and all its Communist satellites?

The reality is that Israel has formal relations with Mauritius. And, at various times, Israel has provided military and economic aid to Iran (during the Iraq/Iran war), Pakistan and Afghanistan.

BTW: Israelis are not an "invented people." Israel's history long precedes Christianity and Islam. Ca. 1000BCE, King David unified the kingdoms of Judea and Israel into a strong nation that endured for 400 years, was conquered and then restored. Jews remained in the Holy Land even after the Romans destroyed the Second Temple in 70 CE. As far back as 200 years ago, Jews were an absolute majority in Jerusalem. And, until the late Seventies, Jews from Middle Eastern countries (who were expelled from Egypt, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and other Muslim nations following the '48 and '56 wars) were an absolute majority of Israeli citizens.