The “Canaanist” approach aimed at the creation of the Hebrew people as a blend of the inhabitants of Canaan territory, and considered those living in the Diaspora to be “Jews” who do not belong to this people.
First of all, unlike the national appurtenance, the ethnic appurtenance is biologically inborn and does not depend on residence in a certain national territory or on the citizenship of a certain state. The Hebrew ethnic appurtenance is no exception to this rule, i.e. our people here or in the Diaspora comprises ethnic Hebrews. For those who need references: Firstly, just remember that Moses and the slave he saved were considered and named Hebrews while living in Egypt.. Secondly, there is no need to create the Hebrew people from nothing: The Hebrew people never ceased to exist, it existed, exists, and will continue to exist, in its national state and in the Diaspora, just as other normal peoples have a national existence in their national state and an ethnic existence in their own Diasporas.
Some members of the Hebrew people have returned to the Hebrew national territory, their homeland, in order to be masters of their fate, and for this they have constituted their national Hebrew state, which is the source of the Hebrew nationality and the Hebrew national institutions. The vast majority of the Hebrew people lives in the Diaspora, and the gates of the state will remain open to any ethnic Hebrew, who may decide to “come home”. The Hebrew State was constituted as a democratic state, and as such should be the state of all its citizens, should project its national identity onto all its citizens, like any normal democratic state, and should assure them equal civil rights and duties. All its citizens, regardless of race, ethnicity, and religion etc., will integrate into the Hebrew State, as written in the book of Ezekiel (Chapter 47, Verse 22):
And it shall come to pass, that ye shall divide it by lot for an inheritance unto you, and to the strangers that sojourn among you, which shall beget children among you: and they shall be unto you as born in the country among the children of Israel; they shall have inheritance with you among the tribes of Israel.
More and more ethnic Hebrews living in the Diaspora also undergo a process of return to Hebrew names, to the Hebrew language and culture, and thus indeed the affinity to the Hebrew language, to the Hebrew culture, to the Hebrew State and to the Hebrew congregation in the world should be their main expression of being ethnic Hebrews. The Hebrew State should bear the banner of the Hebrew identity, and on this banner should be inscribed the above desired basic aspects in which Hebrews all over the world may express their ethnic identity. However, it should be mentioned that as well as the popular Mosaic traditions, the Hebrew culture also includes the Yiddish and Ladino cultures – because they are the creation of the Hebrew people.
Next Chapter – Hebrew Identity versus Humanistic Jewish Identity
Previous Chapter – Prof. Edward Said’s “End to the Ethnic Conflict”