Is Israel a Colony?
First to the colony question: according to the Oxford online dictionary a colony is a ''country or area under the full or partial political control of another country and occupied by settlers from that country". The word comes from the "Latin colonia ‘settlement, farm’, from colonus ‘settler, farmer", describing a "settlement formed mainly of retired soldiers, acting as a garrison in newly conquered territory in the Roman Empire". The Merriam-Webster online dictionary says that a colony is "a body of people living in a new territory but retaining ties with the parent state".
Most colonies you can think of were established by people tied and supported by a parent state. The colonists probably sought a better life by gaining access to resources they couldn't easily gain access to in their original country, such as land, natural resources found in the new country or labor hands in the form of the indigenous people. The original country also often gains from having a colony and exploiting the resources of the new land.
Now – let's take a look at Israel. First it's important to note that for well over 3,300 years there have been Jews in the land of Israel. Indeed, the land known as Judea to the Romans was called that because of the Jews who lived there. If an exiled people return to their homeland, where part of the people had always lived despite foreign occupiers and their oppressive policies – it's impossible to call them colonizers or colonialists.