The "Right of Return": A Plot to Destroy the Jewish State

In the lead-up to Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, Jewish leaders in Palestine pleaded with their Arab neighbors to stay and help build a shared future in the new state. Far from encouraging displacement, Israel’s founders extended a hand in peace. But most Arab residents chose a different path—leaving their homes in response to calls from Arab leaders who promised a swift victory and the chance to return once the Jews had been driven into the sea.

Those promises proved empty. Instead of a triumph, the Arab invasion failed, and Israel survived.

Israel’s Declaration of Independence explicitly invited Arab residents to remain and participate fully in society, vowing equal rights for all regardless of religion or ethnicity. That promise was kept: the 150,000 Arabs who remained became Israeli citizens, enjoying democratic rights and freedoms unmatched anywhere in the Arab world.

But for those who fled, a very different fate awaited. They became political hostages in neighboring Arab countries—Lebanon, Syria, Jordan (including the West Bank), and Egypt (including the Gaza Strip)—which refused to integrate them. Billions of dollars in international aid flowed into those countries after the United Nations created a unique agency—the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA)—dedicated solely to the welfare of these Palestinian refugees. Yet, the problem has only grown.

UNRWA doesn’t solve the refugee crisis, it perpetuates it. Unlike every other refugee population in the world, where status ends after resettlement or after one generation, Palestinian refugee status is inherited indefinitely, inflating the number to nearly six million today.

The Arab regimes that launched the war that caused the displacement in the first place have deliberately kept Palestinians in camps, refusing them citizenship, jobs, or homes. Why? Because they see the refugees as weapons in their ongoing war against Israel—symbols of victimhood and tools of political leverage.

Israel, meanwhile, has absorbed nearly 200,000 Palestinian refugees and repeatedly signaled a willingness to discuss humanitarian solutions as part of a peace agreement. But the Arab leadership refuses to budge. The so-called “right of return” is not a negotiating position; it is a demand for Israel’s destruction.

If Israel were to accept this demand, it would mean the end of the world’s only Jewish state. If Israel were to accept this demand, it would mean the end of the world’s only Jewish state. According to 2025 UNRWA data, there are approximately 5,889,721 registered Palestinian refugees: 912,879 in the West Bank, 1,500,000 in Gaza, 2,390,000 in Jordan, 500,000 in Lebanon, and 586,842 in Syria. Of these, 3,476,842 live outside the Palestinian territories. If all were permitted to “return” to Israel, and combined with Israel’s 2,095,000 Arab citizens, the total Arab population would rise to nearly 8 million—surpassing the 7,689,000 Jews. Israel’s overall population would swell to 15,673,721, with Jews comprising only 49%, effectively ending the Jewish majority and the character of Israel as the world’s only Jewish state.

As the accompanying map illustrates, resettling all Palestinian refugees in Israel would swell the population to almost 15.7 million and instantly make Jews a minority. This isn’t about coexistence—it’s about demographic warfare.