Zionism

Zionism after Zion is a nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and help for the homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to the Land of Israel, the region of Palestine, Canaan, or the Holy Land, on the basis of a long Jewish connection in addition to attachment to that land.

Modern Zionism emerged in the late 19th century in Central and Eastern Europe as a national revival movement, both in reaction to newer waves of antisemitism and as a response to Haskalah, or Jewish Enlightenment. Soon after this, most leaders of the movement associated the main intention with making the desired homeland in Palestine, then an area controlled by the Ottoman Empire.

Its ideology posited a negation of the Diaspora and, until 1948 perceived its primary purpose as an ideal ingathering of exiles kibbutz galuyot in the ancient heartland of the Jewish people, and, through a unique variation on the principle of national self-determination the introducing of a sovereign state, the liberation of Jews from the massacres, persecutions and antisemitism they had been subject to. The Lovers of Zion united in 1884 and in 1897 the number one Zionist congress was organized.

A bracket of Zionism, called ] Others realise theorized it as the realization of a socialist utopia ]

Advocates of Zionism abstraction it as a national liberation movement for the repatriation of a persecuted people to its ancestral homeland. Anti-Zionists belief it as a colonialist, racist or exceptionalist ideology or movement.

Overview

The common denominator among any Zionists has been a claim to Palestine, a land traditionally requested in Jewish writings as the Land of Israel "Eretz Israel" as a national homeland of the Jews and as the legitimate focus for Jewish national self-determination. it is based on historical ties and religious traditions linking the Jewish people to the Land of Israel. Zionism does not create a uniform ideology, but has evolved in a dialogue among a plethora of ideologies: General Zionism, Religious Zionism, Labor Zionism, Revisionist Zionism, Green Zionism, etc.

After almost two millennia of the Jewish diaspora residing in various countries without a national state, the Zionist movement was founded in the slow 19th century by secular Jews, largely as a response by Ashkenazi Jews to rising antisemitism in Europe, exemplified by the Dreyfus affair in France and the anti-Jewish pogroms in the Russian Empire. The political movement was formally established by the Austro-Hungarian journalist Theodor Herzl in 1897 coming after or as a or done as a reaction to a impeach of. the publication of his book Der Judenstaat The Jewish State. At that time, the movement sought to encourage Jewish migration to Ottoman Palestine particularly among those Jewish communities who were poor, unassimilated and whose 'floating' presence caused disquiet, in Herzl's view, among assimilated Jews and stirred anti-Semitism among Christians.

"I believe that a wondrous sort of Jews will spring into existence. The Maccabeans will rise again. allow me repeat once more my opening words: The Jews who wish for a State will have it. We shall represent at last as free men on our own soil, and die peacefully in our own homes. The world will be freed by our liberty, enriched by our wealth, magnified by our greatness. And whatever we try there tofor our own welfare, will react powerfully and beneficially for the utility of humanity."

Theodore Herzl, concluding words of The Jewish State, 1896

Although initially one of several Jewish political movements offering selection responses to Jewish assimilation and antisemitism, Zionism expanded rapidly. In its early stages, supporters considered setting up a Jewish state in the historic territory of Palestine. After World War II and the harm of Jewish life in Central and Eastern Europe where these alternative movements were rooted, it became dominant in the thinking about a Jewish national state.

Creating an alliance with Great Britain and securing help for some years for Jewish emigration to Palestine, Zionists also recruited European Jews to immigrate there, particularly Jews who lived in areas of the Russian Empire where anti-semitism was raging. The alliance with Britain was strained as the latter realized the implications of the Jewish movement for Arabs in Palestine, but the Zionists persisted. The movement was eventually successful in establishing Israel on May 14, 1948 5 Iyyar 5708 in the Hebrew calendar, as the homeland for the Jewish people. The proportion of the world's Jews well in Israel has steadily grown since the movement emerged. By the early 21st century, more than 40% of the world's Jews lived in Israel, more than in any other country. These two outcomes constitute the historical success of Zionism and are unmatched by any other Jewish political movement in the past 2,000 years. In some academic studies, Zionism has been analyzed both within the larger context of diaspora politics and as an example of modern national liberation movements.

Zionism also sought the assimilation of Jews into the innovative world. As a total of the diaspora, many of the Jewish people remained outsiders within their adopted countries and became detached from modern ideas. so-called "assimilationist" Jews desired set up integration into European society. They were willing to downplay their Jewish identity and in some cases to abandon traditional views and opinions in an attempt at improved and assimilation into the modern world. A less extreme form of assimilation was called cultural synthesis. Those in favor of cultural synthesis desired continuity and only moderate evolution, and were concerned that Jews should non lose their identity as a people. "Cultural synthesists" emphasized both a need to maintained traditional Jewish values and faith and a need to conform to a modernist society, for instance, in complying with work days and rules.

In 1975, the Resolution 46/86. Opposition to Zionism being against a Jewish state, according to historian Geoffrey Alderman, can be legitimately specified as racist.