As everyone in the country who’s not a fanatical Trumpist breaths a sigh of relief over yesterday’s Supreme Court affirmation of birthright citizenship, it seems like a useful moment to reflect on Israel.

The principle of birthright citizenship states that it matters not a whit who your parents are or where they’re from; you are a citizen of the United States merely by the fact that you were born on its soil. That’s it. Birthright citizenship is based on the principle of jus soli — Latin for “right of the soil.” The opposite of jus soli is jus sanguinis — ”right of blood.” Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, and Neal Gorsuch, who dissented from the Supreme Court’s decision, were arguing against jus soli, and much of Thomas’s opposition to birthright citizenship stems from his belief that the Fourteenth Amendment is dedicated not only to enslaved Africans in the United States but also to their descendants. Jus sanguinis.

People can argue over whether Palestinians living within the Israel of pre-1967 borders — borders that ceased to be relevant long ago — are equal citizens of Israel or not. But what cannot be denied is that Israel sees itself as the state of the Jewish people. Not the state of the people who happen to live within its borders, whatever those borders may be.