Just about ever country is no populated by invaders, so I don't cite the origin story as evidence of moral entitlement. Rather, I note the particular conquest that created Israel because, unlike most conquered people, the losers have not accepted their fate and gotten on with their lives in diaspora. There have always been Zionists, but revanchism has never been the focus of most Jews' attention.

I don't "respect each country's right to exist" just because it does exist. The "right to exist" is a reification of the rest of the world's wish to live in a place where revanchism is frowned upon because it could happen to any conqueror, i.e., everyone. Hamas is setting a bad example for all of the displaced peoples who have made peace with their loss. So we say Israel has a "right to exist." But the claim is a conclusion, not a premise.