The assertion was 'if it's colonisation, it's colonisation with about a dozen caveats'. Some of the caveats that come to mind:

- when the colonists began colonizing, there were already a minority of jews in the region

- many of the colonizers believed themselves, with some reason, to be native to the land

- most israelis today, through no fault of their own, were born in israel

- when zionists came to colonize israel, it was already colonized (twice over)

- the initial colonization was carried out 'legally' (though, in hindsight, what that means is questionable)

- many of the colonizers were fleeing persecution and, especially around the holocaust, had no nations willing to accept them as immigrants