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02 NOV 2024

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Uri Pilichowski

What Is Zionism? The Movement Everyone Is Talking About


Theodor Herzl, father of modern political Zionism.
Theodor Herzl leaning over the balcony of the Hotel Les Trois Rois in Basel, Switzerland, possibly during the Sixth Zionist conference there. (Wikimedia Commons)

What is Zionism?

Zionism stands for the Jewish people’s right to self-determination in their historic homeland, the land of Israel.


That being said, Zionism does not have an “official definition.” 

For an ideology that is the foundation of one of the world’s most watched nations, not only is Zionism lacking an official definition, but its start date and founders are sources of dispute among Zionists. 

How could such a well-recognized movement not have its most basic elements established by its adherents?

For a movement to have followers, for an ideology to have axioms, and for a state to be established based on a philosophy, there must be some consensus on what defines it. 


Zionism doesn’t have a definition that all can agree on, but it does have foundational points that can be identified. And while Zionists disagree about certain aspects of its values, they all agree to Zionism’s core principles. As most movements go, its supporters are the ones to define it.  


Zionism and Judaism 


The first element of Zionism recognizes Judaism as more than a religion. It understands Judaism as both a religion and its people as a nation. This is different from Christianity, Islam, and Buddhism which identify as a religion. 

While there are nations that have adopted official religions, the religions do not identify as nations. A Jew does not need to adopt the Jewish religion’s values, principles, or beliefs or follow its rules. Jews recognize a Jew as someone born of a Jewish parent or having converted into its nation. The State of Israel recognizes a Jew as someone with only one Jewish grandparent. 

Zionism claims that as a nation, the Jewish people enjoy the rights granted to all nations. The rights nations differ from human rights granted to all individual people and the rights granted to religions. These include the right to a homeland, self-defense, and self-determination. The right of self-determination allows Zionists to set their own laws, borders or their nation, and foreign policy. 

Finally, Zionists assert that the land of Israel – a land whose borders are a source of debate themselves, but whose general location is east of the Mediterranean Sea and South of Lebanon – is the historic homeland of the Jewish people. 

Israel’s Declaration of Independence opens with the statement, “The Land of Israel was the birthplace of the Jewish people. Here their spiritual, religious and political identity was shaped. Here they first attained statehood, created cultural values of national and universal significance and gave to the world the eternal Book of Books.” [1]

That same declaration included, “On the 29th of November 1947, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a Jewish State in the land of Israel; the General Assembly required the inhabitants of the land of Israel to take such steps as were necessary on their part for the implementation of that resolution. This recognition by the United Nations of the right of the Jewish people to establish their State is irrevocable.” [1]


Where did Zionism come from?

Zionism has many people who Zionists claim are the founders of the movement. The modern political movement’s founding is generally attributed to Theodor Herzl. A journalist in the late 1800’s, Herzl was an advocate for a Jewish state and encouraged Jews to return to the land of Israel to establish a state. 

Herzl also lobbied governments and leaders around the world to pressure the Ottoman Empire, then the rulers over the region of Palestine, to establish a Jewish State. He published a landmark work titled, “The Jewish State,” which outlined the vision of a modern Jewish nation in the land of Israel. 

Herzl was the founder of the Zionist Organization, and convened the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland in 1897. He is the only individual mentioned by name in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which refers to him as the “Author of the vision of a Jewish State.” [2]

However, many Zionists attribute Zionism to having started thousands of years before Herzl wrote “The Jewish State” and founded the Zionist Organization. They point back to Abraham of the Bible as the first Zionist. They see God’s promise to Abraham that the land of Israel would belong to his descendants, and God’s subsequent promises to Abraham’s children and descendants of the land of Israel being their heritage as the seminal moments of Zionist ideology, if not the Zionist movement itself. [3] 

These Zionists claim that without the Biblical Divine call of Jews to settle and govern the land of Israel the modern political movement of Zionism could never have been founded. 

Between Abraham and Herzl many Jewish and non-Jewish scholars, writers, and leaders have called for a return of the Jewish people to settle and govern the land of Israel. 

In a meeting with US President Abraham Lincoln in 1863, the leading Canadian clergyman, Henry Wentworth Monk, protested the fact that Jews, unlike black Americans, had yet to be emancipated. “There can be no permanent peace in the world,” the reverend prophetically maintained, “until the civilized nations . . . atone . . . for their two thousand years of persecution [of the Jews] by restoring them to their national home in Palestine.” 

Lincoln readily agreed. “Restoring the Jews to their national home in Palestine . . . is a noble dream and one shared by many Americans,” Lincoln replied, adding that once the war was won, Americans would again be able to “see visions and dreams” and lead the world in realizing them.” [4]

Between Herzl’s founding of the Zionist Organization at the turn of the 19th Century and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, the modern political movement of Zionism became more popular and gained adherents. 

The British government issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917 that stated, “His Majesty's Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object..." 


Zionism achieved its first global success with the United Nations 1947 vote to establish a Jewish state in the British Mandate region of Palestine, and the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948.


Different types of Zionism


Zionism is not a monolithic movement and ideology. Zionism followers and supporters are both Jews and non-Jews. For example, conservative, libertarian, progressives, and liberals are found among Zionists. 


Zionism is not considered a religious movement as many secular Jews are Zionists, and it’s not considered secular by religious members. 


Many early Zionists were socialists and communists. Many of the founding principles of the State of Israel were socialist in nature, and many early Zionists had pictures of Joseph Stalin hanging in their homes. Although modern Israel has transformed from a socialist to a capitalist state, Zionism’s early values were more socialist in nature. 

Ascher Ginsburg, known as Ahad Ha’am, was one of the founders of Zionism and one of Zionism’s early scholars. His brand of Zionism demonstrates Zionism's expansiveness of thought. Ginsburg’s Zionism was cultural not nationalist. He advocated for a rebirth of Jewish culture more than a physical Jewish State. While his vision of Zionism was never fully realized, he had many followers and his philosophy had a great influence on the modern Zionist state of Israel. 


Why is Zionism important?


The Zionist movement is solely responsible for the creation of the modern State of Israel. Among its many benefits, the State of Israel is an essential place of refuge for persecuted Jews. From Holocaust survivors in Displaced Persons camps and Iraqi Jews and Jews from Arab countries who were expelled from their countries shortly after the establishment of Israel, to refugees from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union, Jews have always found a home in Israel. 


The State of Israel has also begun the rejuvenation of the Jewish people among nationalist, cultural, and religious lines. The Jewish people have experienced growth, success, and development at levels they haven’t experienced since their exile from their homeland over 2,000 years ago. The importance of Zionism to the survival and triumph of the Jewish people is undeniable and demonstrates its importance. 


In a letter penned in 1947 to Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Noble Prize Laureate Albert Einstein wrote, "Long before the emergence of Hitler I made the cause of Zionism mine because through it I saw a means of correcting a flagrant wrong ... The Jewish people alone has for centuries been in the anomalous position of being victimized and hounded as a people, though bereft of all the rights and protections which even the smallest people normally has ... Zionism offered the means of ending this discrimination. Through the return to the land to which they were bound by close historic ties ... Jews sought to abolish their pariah status among peoples ... Can Jewish need, no matter how acute, be met without the infringement of the vital rights of others? My answer is in the affirmative. One of the most extraordinary features of the Jewish rebuilding of Palestine is that the influx of Jewish pioneers has resulted not in the displacement and impoverishment of the local Arab population, but in its phenomenal increase and greater prosperity." [5]


What is the ‘Zionism is racism’ UN resolution?


The 3379 United Nations resolution (1975) is known for declaring Zionism to be racism, which was revoked in 1991. There’s been UN bias against Israel since. 

On November 10, 1975 the United Nations General Assembly adopted resolution 3379 [6] which declared, “Recalling its resolution [affirming] that "any doctrine of racial differentiation or superiority is scientifically false, morally condemnable, socially unjust and dangerous" and its expression of alarm at "the manifestations of racial discrimination still in evidence in some areas in the world, some of which are imposed by certain Governments by means of legislative, administrative or other measures."

Recalling also that, in its resolution [condemning] the unholy alliance between South African racism and Zionism…Taking note…the principle that "international cooperation and peace require the achievement of national liberation and independence, the elimination of colonialism and neo-colonialism, foreign occupation, Zionism, apartheid and racial discrimination in all its forms, as well as the recognition of the dignity of peoples and their right to self-determination"…Taking note…"that the racist regime in occupied Palestine and the racist regime in Zimbabwe and South Africa have a common imperialist origin, forming a whole and having the same racist structure and being organically linked in their policy aimed at repression of the dignity and integrity of the human being"…Taking note also [the condemnation of] Zionism as a threat to world peace and security and called upon all countries to oppose this racist and imperialist ideology, Determines that Zionism is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”

In 1991 United States President George H.W. Bush introduced a motion to the United Nations General Assembly to revoke the resolution, stating, “UNGA Resolution 3379, the so-called Zionism is racism resolution, mocks this pledge and the principles upon which the United Nations was founded. And I call now for its repeal. Zionism is not a policy; it is the idea that led to the creation of a home for the Jewish people, to the State of Israel. And to equate Zionism with the intolerable sin of racism is to twist history and forget the terrible plight of Jews in World War II and, indeed, throughout history. To equate Zionism with racism is to reject Israel itself, a member of good standing of the United Nations. This body cannot claim to seek peace and at the same time challenge Israel's right to exist. By repealing this resolution unconditionally, the United Nations will enhance its credibility and serve the cause of peace.” [7] 

On that same day the United Nations voted Resolution 46/86 which simply stated, “The General Assembly decides to revoke the determination contained in its resolution 3379 of 10 November 1975." [8]


Critics of Zionism maintain Zionism to be a racist movement that stands for Jewish supremacy and denigrates all other inhabitants of the land that Zionists claim as their homeland to a secondary status. [9] In recent times, there's been a rise in Pro-Palestinian protests that support a one-state solution, calling for a single Palestinian state "from the river to the sea." Zionists see their movement as standing for the rights of the Jewish people and is just as honorable as any other national rights movement.  

Sources:

[1] Israel’s Declaration of Independence, May 14, 1948

[2] “Theodor Herzl (1860-1904)” The Herzl Institute 

[3] Rabbi Uri Pilichowski, “When Did Zionism Begin?” The Jewish Press, August 23, 2022

[4] Jason H. Silverman, “A Noble Dream: Abraham Lincoln and the Middle East” President Lincoln’s Cottage July 30, 2018  

[5]Myron Kaplan, “History Channel: Yes, Einstein was a Zionist” The Jewish Star, July 28, 2016

[6]  Text of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 3379

[7] Text of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 46/86

[8] Text of United States President George H.W. Bush’s motion to the United Nations General Assembly, September 23, 1991

[9]  Susan Abulhawa, “In defence of Alice Walker” Al-Jazeera, January 4, 2019


 

Uri Pilichowski is an author, speaker, and senior educator at institutions around the world.


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