Israel doesn’t fit the definitions: Imperialism is a policy of extending a country’s power and influence through diplomacy or military force. Colonialism is the policy or practice of one country acquiring full or partial political control over another, occupying it with settlers and exploiting it economically.
Throughout history there have been many colonizers and imperial powers, and they all had a host country while conquering other parts of the world—abusing the locals, exploiting their assets and imposing their own foreign cultures.
Israel, however, has no other country under its control and has never shown any interest in conquering the lands of others. The Jewish people have only had one land to which they are indigenous, and that is their national homeland. If Israel is an imperial or colonizing power, it would be the first case in history of an indigenous people colonizing their own country.
The Jewish homeland has only ever been colonized by others: Romans, Arabs, Crusaders, Ottomans, British and many other imperialist forces have subjugated the Land of Israel and its indigenous Jews. No other people in human history—except the Jews—sought to give this land independence.
Indeed, the Jewish people had sovereign nations in the Land of Israel from 1405–586 BCE and 530 BCE–70 CE. They also had other smaller independent states during the intervening years, such as in the Tiberias area between 1558 and 1564.
For centuries, the Jewish population in the Holy Land—many of whom managed to survive persecution, forced conversion and exile—spoke the same language and held the same customs as their scattered brethren around the world, until the exiles returned to resume sovereignty in their ancestral homeland.
(full article online)
Rather than condemning Israel, progressives in the West who recoil at 'settler colonial projects' should embrace the Jewish state as an example of decolonization.
unitedwithisrael.org