This is a matter of personal identity entirely, and it doesn’t only apply to Jews. This person’s heart is in the right place but they have to understand that they can’t speak on behalf of other people on this matter without even consulting them first… You know, people who actually belong to the ethnic group they speak of. It becomes a form of Western colonial paternalism, though it also often happens the other way around as well (Westerners thinking West Asia and North Africa is a homogenous macro-region where everyone is identical, which is laughably stupid).

Identity is not as simple as a mere “Arab” label in this case, and it’s important to be aware that the lines of identity politically and culturally shouldn’t be blurred, because anthropology transcends modern politics, and vice versa. Some, outside the Arabian peninsula (the Arab region as far as genetics are concerned), do not identify with the label “Arab” and reject it in its entirety for cultural, historical and even genetic research evidence which to them makes it reductive, misinforming, and may perceive it as causing historical negationism. Others care less for the “indigenous revivalist” aspect or simply don’t care and are neutral about it, and believe in unity against Western imperialism and neocolonialism, meaning political pan-Arabism (even if it originated as a national bourgeois ideology) can have an influence even on cultural identity for an individual or group. It’s just a subject where anyone with no ties to West Asia / North Africa should tread very lightly because of the layered and complex cultural landscape of these regions. This lib seriously contradicted themselves without knowing it.