It seems a bit of a Hobson's choice to me.
Q: which do you prefer - this:
ReactDOM.render(<div><p>Hello World</p></div>)
ReactDOM.render(React.createElement("div", null,
React.createElement("p", null, "Hello World")
));
You can replace JSX by hand-coding with React classes - take a look at the compiled jsx and mimic that. I find it as easy to work with, and less cognitive dissonance [ a personal preference ]
I actually am looking seriously at Mithril in preference to React for my next chunk of work.
I might swing the other way if React native became stellar [ and viably crossplatform ]