History of Zionism
Zionism – as seen in the history, policies, and practices of the state of Israel – is a secular political ideology that has its origins in late 18th century eastern Europe.
Nationalism was on the rise, and many Jewish intellectuals in eastern Europe were discarding religious dogma in favour of rational and scientific thought. Rather than viewing Judaism as a religion, they envisioned it as a muscular ideology of nationhood based on ancient Jewish history.
They possessed a sense of urgency, as eastern European countries were promoting a strain of nationalism that was anti-Semitic in nature. A Jew could never be a true Pole or a true Russian. Persecution was increasing, and many Jews were looking for a way out. Some tried to immigrate to western Europe and beyond, others cast off their Jewish identity and assimilated, and a third faction dreamed of a Jewish nation-state.
In 1881, a wave of pogroms swept Russia and Poland, and the following year a group of Jewish nationalists, or Zionists as they were becoming known as, emigrated to “Zion,” or historic Palestine, which was part of the Ottoman Empire.
A few years later Theodore Herzl, a Jewish Hungarian journalist, reported on the Dreyfus affair in France. The outpouring of antisemitism convinced Herzl that assimilation into European societies was impossible, and in 1896, he wrote The Jewish State, in which he argued that the Jews possessed a nationality, and all they lacked was a national homeland.
A year later (1897), the first gathering of the World Zionist Congress, decided that the Jewish homeland should be in historic Palestine, the “ancestral” homeland of the Jewish people.
Zionism quickly took shape as a secular political ideology — a form of ethno-nationalism that rejects the assimilation of Jews and supports a Jewish nation-state in Palestine.
UNJPPI does not support Zionism.
Main Tenants of Political Zionism
The main tenets of political Zionism are:
- The Jewish people exist as a distinct people
- Assimilation has not proven to be viable
- Jews have a historical right to Palestine
- A Jewish homeland must have an overwhelming Jewish majority (i.e., little or no indigenous population)
Two points worth noting
- For decades, most Jews rejected political Zionism. Some favoured assimilation; others saw that such an enterprise could wreak havoc in Palestine; and many devout, orthodox Jews believed that Jews could only return to the promised land when the Messiah returns. Today, some of the most vocal critics of Israel and its Zionist policies and practices are Jews. Zionism does not, and never has, equated with Judaism.
- At its inception, Zionism was not a settler-colonial enterprise — it was an ethno-national liberation movement dedicated to establishing a homeland for Jewish people. However, it became one when Zionist leaders decided to create the homeland in Palestine. For Palestine was not a “land without a people” as early Zionist propaganda portrayed it, but home to a flourishing society of over half a million Arab and Bedouin indigenous people who had lived there for centuries and were deeply connected to their land. Creating a Jewish homeland there would require taking their land and dispossessing them.
Several early Zionists, including Herzl, recognized this. Israel Zangwill, a prominent Anglo-Zionist, stated in 1904 that “Palestine already has its inhabitants. We must be prepared either to drive out by the sword the tribes in possession as our forefathers did or grapple with the problem of a large alien population.”
Many historians claim that these views were / are the fatal flaw of Zionism and contained the seeds of its “original sin.” Rather than rejecting them, Zionist leaders embraced and implemented them. They wanted the land without the people. From this point on, the success of the Zionist enterprise depended on the colonization and settlement of Palestinian lands and the oppression, disenfranchisement, and expulsion of the indigenous people.
The influence of Zionism on the history of Israel / Palestine and the broader Middle East in the last 120 years cannot be overstated. Today Zionism remains an integral part of the collective Israeli DNA. Ask Jewish Israelis if they are Zionist, and they will probably say yes. Ask Palestinians if they are anti-Zionist, and they will say yes.
What Can I Do?
~ Consider how an unconscious acceptance of Zionism block people from considering the rights of Palestinians
~ Educate yourself about Zionism and Christian Zionism and share what you learn with others
~ How has this idea of a land promised to a chosen people led to the conquering of much of the world with Indigenous people being dispossessed from their lands and the new people led by God to another place?
~ Think about the implications of supremacy – white supremacy, European supremacy, Israeli supremacy and how that has supported much global injustice
~ Listen to news critically to hear when a “zionist” perspective is being adopted
Learn more about Zionism
From Independent Jewish Voices
IJV Statement on Zionism
From Jewish Voices for Peace
From Palestine Remix