In “The case for Israel is rooted in more than security” (Opinion, June 7), Jeff Jacoby seems to be arguing that those individuals, organizations, and nations that are critical of Israel’s occupation of the West Bank might, or even would, change their tune if only the message that “Jews have a God-given right to the land of Israel” were sounded forcefully, regularly, and unabashedly.

Evidently Jacoby, joined by some, but certainly not all, Christian evangelicals, believes that Jews have a claim to the land grounded in “biblical legitimacy,” which, once trumpeted, should prove persuasive to those who condemn Israel’s continued settlement expansion in areas east of its 1967 borders.

Given centuries of oppression culminating in the Holocaust, and historical connections lasting for millennia, Israel today is cherished as a homeland for Jews around the world. But in the 21st century, it can’t expect to rest its claim on biblical entitlement. That just won’t fly in Europe, on US college campuses, or frankly, most anywhere else.