1. There is a mitzva to live in EY and a mitzva to conquer EY. Obviously the latter pushes off pikuach nefesh of an individual. Of course, if someone will have to live on tzedaka here because he does not have a transferable skill he is temporarily exempt as that is the opposite of yishuv EY (as Rav Schachter said).
2, The contention that Jews lived in harmony with Arabs before the advent of Zionism is as nonsensical as the “nostalgic” Yiddish song about Romania. I direcxt you to the Jewish Virtual Library’s article “Treatment of Jews in the Arab World”.
3. When Rav Tzvi Yehuda was told of the “maaseh Satan” contention he replied that he was not acquainted with the Satan. BTW, I heard an opposite contention – from a Chareidi rabbi. He said that using anti-religious Jews to bring us back may have been Hashem’s way to trick the Satan into not trying (we do not believe in two reshuyot c”v – in the end the Satan cannot act without Hashem’s permission as we see in Sefer Iyov but it is better if he is quiet) to make trouble.
4. Why do certain people continue to denigrate EY and even refer to it as “Arabia”?