"God gave this land to the Jewish people — the Bible is the deed."
Their strongest version
For religious Jews and many Christians, the biblical promise is not rhetoric but covenant, and dismissing it dismisses the deepest layer of their identity.
The response
Engage it respectfully, because mockery loses everyone: scripture is a profound source of meaning and connection — and it cannot function as a property registry in a world of multiple faiths, because the moment it does, every faith's scripture claims the same power and no dispute on earth can ever be adjudicated. Palestinian Christians and Muslims read scripture too, and it doesn't award them anyone's house. That's why every state including Israel formally rests its claims on law — declarations, recognitions, resolutions — not revelation, and why many devout Jews, from Orthodox thinkers to entire religious movements, reject the idea that the covenant licenses ruling over another people; some of the fiercest critics of the occupation argue from Torah, not against it. The question 'who does God favor' has no earthly referee. The question 'do the people living there have equal rights' does.