Zionism has had many different varieties that all shared the goal of creating a homeland for the Jewish People. The dominant variety at first was political Zionism, led byTheodor Herzl, but it later lost ground to thesocialistLabor Zionism. Zionism resulted in the creation of theState of Israel, withDavid Ben-Gurion as the founder and firstprime minister. The earliest Israeli citizens were mostlyHolocaust survivors.[1]
The wordZionism saw its first use in 1890.[1] It comes fromZion, meaningJerusalem, though it can also symbolically mean the Land of Israel as a whole.[4][5] Jewish people at the time lived as minority groups among other nations all across the world, in what was called thediaspora.
In the early 19th century, assimilation andliberation were popular ideas among Jews in western Europe. However, in the late 19th century anti-Semitism became a bigger threat, with the 1881 Russianpogroms and theDreyfus affair in France.[1][6] This caused some Jewish thinkers to lose faith in the idea of ever being accepted ingentile societies. One of these thinkers was Theodor Herzl, who is often considered the father of modern Political Zionism.[6]
In his bookDer Judenstaat ("The Jewish State"),Theodor Herzl wrote that the distinct status of Jews neither can, nor should, be changed. Instead he believed that antisemitism could be stopped by making the Jewish people a nation like any other, through giving them their own land. At the time there were multiple territories up for consideration, the most important beingArgentina andPalestine. Herzl argues in favor of Palestine, seeing it as more attractive to his fellow Jews due to its status as their ancestral homeland from where they had been expelled repeatedly and struggled to survive under severalempires andcenturies ofArabization.[7]
Political Zionism was a secular movement and it was out of pragmatic considerations, rather than religious beliefs, that Palestine was chosen.[5] Herzl convened the First Zionist Congress in 1897. There theBasel Program was adopted, supporting the reestablishment of Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel. The World Zionist Organization (WZO) was created at the congress to support this goal.[5][8] There were many more congresses after this, and at the fifth Zionist Congress in 1901 the Jewish National Fund was established with the goal of purchasing land in Palestine.[1][9]
Political Zionism wanted to work with the established powers[clarification needed] to get a publicly recognized and legally assured homeland. Palestine wascolonized by theOttoman Empire, but Herzl's attempts to get support from the Ottomans failed, causing him to turn to European powers.[5][7] Herzl negotiated with British and Russian officials to use their influence to get official support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but to no avail.[6][7] In 1903 the British offered Herzl a Jewish homeland in Uganda instead, but this was eventually rejected by the Zionist congress.[10]
Only duringWorld War I did the Zionist movement get the backing they had sought. In 1917, theBritish signed theBalfour Declaration, which declared that "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people [was favored]."[11] Part of the British motivation for signing was consolidatingJewish diaspora's support for theAllied war effort againstNazi Germany, which was carrying outthe Holocaust.[12][13] After the war, the British Empire took control of Palestine and administered it as their own colony, theMandate of Palestine, when thecooperation between the Zionist movement and the British continued, despite the presence of tensions. Thealliance would fall apart right beforeWorld War II.[12]
Jewishmigration into Palestine began after thepogroms of 1881 with theHibbat Zion movement. However, even when they later joined forces with the Zionist congress it remained a small movement as most Jewishmigrants went to theUnited States (US). Merely 3% of the JewsfleeingEastern Europe between 1881 andWorld War I's outbreak went to Palestine.[12] In the first wave of migration, known as the firstaliyah, the Jewishimmigrants foundedagriculturalcolonies called themoshavot. These settlements were poor, the immigrants thus turned to other sponsors for help, who funded the development of other systems.[source?]
Thefarms were turned intowine andcitrusplantations based on the model ofFrench Algeria, where they employed mostly cheaper Palestinian labor.[12][14] Jewish workers had to compete with Palestinian workers, which lowered their wages.[14] Theimmigrants of the secondaliyah of 1905 included many socialists.[15] They thought that they needed higher wages for the Jewish workers to attract immigrants for the Zionist project. They wanted a "conquest of labor", fighting the landowners for better working conditions, but also trying to exclude Arab workers from these jobs to give them to Jewish workers.[14]
This was the beginning of Labor Zionism, which would overtake Political Zionism as the dominant variety afterWorld War I. Labor Zionism was influenced bysocialistideals, and believed that a strong Jewishworking class was necessary for a Jewish state. They established farms calledkibbutzim where all the workers collectively owned the land. In 1920, they formed theHistadrut, atrade union that eventually gained control of large sectors of theeconomy, becoming one of the largestemployers for Jewishworkers. Thesecretary of theHistadrut,David Ben-Gurion, became the unofficial leader of the Zionist movement in 1935 when he became chairman of theJewish Agency.[12] In 1948 he declared the establishment of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel and became Israel's first prime minister.[15][16]
Under the Working Definition of Antisemitism[21] of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an intergovernmental organization on the history of antisemitism andthe Holocaust,[21] anti-Zionism in the sense of opposing the right of Jews toself-determination in theirancestral homeland is a form of antisemitism.[21][22] IHRA's definition of antisemitism[21] has been adopted by the World Jewish Congress,[21][23] American Jewish Committee,[24] European Commission,[25][26] British Labour Party,[27] British Liberal Democrats etc.[28]
Stern, Sol (2010)."The Nakba Obsession".City Journal. RetrievedFebruary 6, 2025.The Palestinian national narrative is the biggest obstacle to peace in theMiddle East.
Schultz, Matthew (August 22, 2024)."Our Own Altalena Moment".Jewish Journal. RetrievedJanuary 10, 2025.Today as well we are ringed by enemies threatening to wipe us off the map, and yet here we are. Another Altalena is sailing over the horizon.
Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radicalideology or anextremist view ofreligion.
Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed bynon-Jews.
Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
Denying the Jewish people their right toself-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Applyingdouble standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any otherdemocratic nation.
Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of theNazis.
Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state ofIsrael.
"Holocaust inversion is going mainstream".Jewish News Syndicate. August 15, 2024. RetrievedOctober 24, 2024.The point, of course, is to legitimize violence against Jews.
↑"The Working Definition of Antisemitism".American Jewish Committee. RetrievedOctober 23, 2024.[...] American Jewish Committee (AJC) was involved in the original drafting of the definition 14 years ago and continues to urge European governments to adopt it.
↑"Definition of antisemitism".European Commission. RetrievedOctober 23, 2024.The non-legally binding working definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) is an essential tool for the Commission's work on tackling antisemitism. The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) survey among Jewish Europeans shows that the examples in the definition reflect what the vast majority perceives as antisemitic. The Commission considers the victims' perspective as an important starting point in tackling all forms of racism and hatred. The Commission recommends the IHRA definition as a useful tool, in particular for education and training purposes for teachers, NGOs, state authorities and the media in line with the 2022 Council Conclusions on combating racism and antisemitism and the 2018 EU Council declaration on combating antisemitism. To this date, 25 EU Member States have adopted or endorsed the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
↑"Labour's Antisemitism Policy".Labour Party (UK). RetrievedOctober 23, 2024.Labour is an anti-racist party. Antisemitism is racism. It is unacceptable in our Party and in wider society. To assist in understanding what constitutes antisemitism, the NEC has endorsed the definition produced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2016.
↑"Antisemitism".Liberal Democrats (UK). RetrievedOctober 23, 2024. In a meeting of the Federal Board of the Liberal Democrats on 4 September 2018 the Federal Board confirmed by majority:
that the Liberal Democrats would formally adopted, and would continue to use, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (“IHRA”) Working Definition of Antisemitism (the “Antisemitism Definition”) including all its worked examples; and
although not formally adopted, in interpreting theAntisemitism Definition it is helpful to consider the additional clarifications to the Definition set out by the Home Affairs Select Committee in their 2016 Inquiry into Antisemitism Report (the “HASC Report Clarifications”).
