The Jewish connection to Israel or Zion is fundamental. It is part of Jewish identity. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zion

"The Jewish longing for Zion, starting with the deportation and enslavement of Jews during the Babylonian captivity, was adopted as a metaphor by Christian black slaves in the United States.[citation needed][year needed] Thus, Zion symbolizes a longing by wandering peoples for a safe homeland. This could be an actual place such as Ethiopia for Rastafari or Israel for the Jews. Rastafari, while not identifying as "Jews", identify themselves and Africa as Zion. Specifically, Ethiopia is acknowledged as the mountains of Zion. Further, Rastafari ontology views all Africans as God's Chosen People. This differs from Judaic narratives.[22]"

We also shouldn't forget pre 1948 proportions of Arabs vs. Jews was partly a result of ethnic cleansing of Jews from the area. Hebron, Jerusalem, Gaza, Safed and others used to have a lot more Jewish people:

https://www.fondapol.org/en/study/pogroms-in-palestine-befor...

The other thing we shouldn't forget is the ethnic cleansing of Jewish people from the rest of the middle east, Egypt, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Syria all used to have large Jewish communities. Not only were they mostly expelled under violence or the threat of violence, after lives under discrimination for centuries, they were also robbed of their land and possessions. Typical treatment of Jewish people: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_exodus_from_the_Muslim_...