I always enjoy researching stories like this, because I learn things - and almost invariably, what I learn is that there is a far deeper Jewish connection to everywhere in Israel than an Arab one.
The most impressive evidence is at the Kfar Saba Museum, where a mosaic floor found in a Talmudic-era synagogue there show the name of the city in easily-readable Hebrew.
There is an irony in Kfar Saba: The Muslims built a shrine a few hundred years ago they say was the Tomb of Benjamin based on an earlier Jewish tradition. Some Jews converted it into a synagogue after the Arabs abandoned the village in 1948. But any tomb of Benjamin, the son of Jacob (Israel), would obviously have more meaning for Jews than for Muslims - yet they claim that this tomb is a Muslim site that the Jews are stealing!
And if it is really a Muslim holy site - why did Muslims burn the shrine in 2022?
The modern Kfar Saba was created when Jews legally purchased land from the Arabs of Kafr Saba nearby in the late 19th century. There were attacks against Jews from the town in 1936 as well as 1948 even though the Arab village signed a truce with the Jewish village in December. Benny Morris writes how the Arab Liberation Army extorted fleeing residents:
The fleeing Arabs left some of their own behind:
So the Jews were there before the Arabs, the Jews purchased the land from the Arabs, the Arabs broke a truce agreement with the Jews, and the Arabs fled the heavy fighting while the Jews stayed.
And now the Arabs claim the Jews stole it from them!
