149: Patriotism is too important to leave to extremists, with Prof. Alex Yakobson

Yakobson argues liberal democracies must embrace patriotism or cede it to extremists, using Weimar Germany, 1947 partition, and Israel's Nation-State Law as evidence.

• 1947 partition rejection: Yakobson argues Palestinian Arab leadership under Haj Amin al-Husseini rejected both the UN majority partition plan and a minority federation proposal (backed by Iran, India, Yugoslavia), insisting on a unitary Arab state over all of Palestine.
• Comparative cases: He contrasts this with India's 1947 partition and Sweden's 1905 acceptance of Norwegian secession—cases where leaders avoided war despite expecting to win, unlike the Palestinian Arab leadership.

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