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Zionism

political movement for the establishment of a Jewish state in the holy land, since 1860
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Zionism is a movement for the creation and development of a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel, the ancestral homeland of the Jews[1] based on the principle of self-determination.[2] The modern movement started in 19th-century Europe as a reaction to the systemic antisemitism and two millennia of brutal persecutions of European Jews.[3]

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 by Theodor Herzl, but it later lost ground to the socialist Labor Zionism. Zionism led to the creation of the State of Israel, with David Ben-Gurion as the founder, whose early citizens were mostly Holocaust survivors.

History

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Herzl and Political Zionism

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The word "Zionism" was first used in 1890.[4] It comes from Zion, meaning Jerusalem, though it can also symbolically mean the Land of Israel as a whole.[5][6] Jewish people at the time lived as minority groups among other nations all across the world, in what was called the diaspora. In the early 19th century, assimilation and legal emancipation were popular ideas among Jews in western Europe. However, in the late 19th century anti-Semitism became a bigger threat, with the 1881 Russian pogroms and the Dreyfus affair in France.[4][7] This caused some Jewish thinkers to lose faith in the idea of ever being accepted in gentile societies. One of these thinkers was Theodor Herzl, who is often considered the father of modern Political Zionism.[7] In his book, the Jewish State, Herzl writes 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 being Argentina and Palestine. Herzl argues in favor of Palestine, thinking it would attract more people because of its status as the historic homeland of the Jews.[8] Political Zionism was a secular movement and it was out of pragmatic considerations, rather than religious beliefs, that Palestine was chosen.[6] In 1897 Herzl led the First Zionist Congress. There the Basel Program was adopted, supporting the reestablishment of Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel. The World Zionist Organization was created at the congress to support this goal.[6][9] 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.[10]

Political Zionism wanted to work with the established powers to get a publicly recognized and legally assured homeland. Palestine at the time was under the control of the Ottoman Empire, but Herzl's attempts to get support from the Ottomans failed, and he had to appeal to the imperial powers of Europe.[6][8] Herzl negotiated with British and Russian officials to use their influence to get official support for a Jewish homeland in Palestine, but this failed as well.[7][8] In 1903 the British offered Herzl a Jewish homeland in Uganda instead, but this was eventually rejected by the Zionist congress.[11] Only during World War I did the Zionist movement get the great power support they had been seeking. In 1917 the British signed the Balfour Declaration, wherein they declared that they "favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".[12] Part of the British motivation in signing was getting support of Jews in Russia and the U.S.A. for the allied cause.[13][14] After the war, the British Empire took control of Palestine and administered it as their own colony, the Mandate of Palestine. During this time the cooperation between the Zionist movement and the British continued, though there were still tensions. The alliance would fall apart just before World War II.[13]

Labor Zionism in Ottoman and British Palestine

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Organized Jewish migration into Palestine began after the pogroms of 1881 with the Hibbat Zion movement. However, even when they later joined forces with the Zionist congress it remained a small movement, as most Jewish migrants went to the United States. Only 3% of the Jews fleeing eastern Europe between 1881 and World War I went to Palestine.[13] In the first wave of migration, known as the first Aliyah, the Jewish immigrants established agricultural colonies called the moshavot. These settlements were poor, and so the immigrants turned to outside sponsors for help, who funded the development of other systems. The farms were turned into wine and citrus plantations based on the model of French Algeria, where they employed mostly cheaper Palestinian labor.[13][15] Jewish workers had to compete with Palestinian workers, which lowered their wages.[15] The immigrants of the second Aliyah of 1905 included many socialists.[16] They thought that they needed higher wages for the Jewish workers in order 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.[15]

This was the beginning of Labor Zionism, which would overtake Political Zionism as the dominant variety after World War I. Labor Zionism was influenced by socialist ideals, and believed that to build a Jewish state a strong Jewish working class had to be created as well. They established farms called kibbutzim where all the workers collectively owned the land. In 1920 they formed the Histadrut, a trade union that eventually gained control of large sectors of the economy, becoming one of the largest employers for Jewish workers. The secretary of the Histadrut, David Ben-Gurion, became the unofficial leader of the Zionist movement in 1935 when he became chairman of the Jewish Agency.[13] In 1948 he declared the establishment of a Jewish State in the Land of Israel and became Israel's first prime minister.[16][17]

Current views

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Some Zionists believe that Israel should control the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Other Zionists support a Two-state solution in which Israel and Palestine are separate countries. The entire region is the subject of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict. Out of the conflict and segregation[source?] in Palestine, the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights of African Union accuses Zionism of "human rights violation, apartheid and colonialism".[18][better source needed]

Under the definition of antisemitism[19] of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an authoritative intergovernmental organization on the history of antisemitism and the Holocaust,[19] anti-Zionism in the sense of opposing the right of Jews to self-determination on their ancestral homeland is a form of antisemitism.[19][20] IHRA's definition of antisemitism[19] has been adopted by the World Jewish Congress,[19][21] American Jewish Committee,[22] European Commission,[23][24] British Labour Party[25], British Liberal Democrats etc.[26]

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References

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  1. ↑ "Zionism". Britannica. October 17, 2024. Retrieved October 23, 2024.
  2. ↑
  3. ↑ Lustick, Ian S. (2003). "Zionist Ideology and Its Discontents: A Research Note". Israel Studies Forum. 19 (1): 98–103. ISSN 1557-2455. JSTOR 41805179.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 de Lange, Nicholas (2009). An Introduction to Judaism (2 ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511801075. ISBN 978-0-511-80107-5.[permanent dead link]
  5. ↑ Dictionary of the Old Testament : wisdom, poetry & writings. Tremper, III Longman, Peter Enns. Downers Grove, Ill.: IVP Academic. 2008. ISBN 978-0-8308-1783-2. OCLC 196302306.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 The first Zionist Congress : an annotated translation of the proceedings. Michael J. Reimer. Albany, New York. 2019. ISBN 978-1-4384-7314-7. OCLC 1088892051.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link) CS1 maint: others (link)
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 7.2 Arthur., Hertzberg. Zionist Idea : a Historical Analysis and Reader. ISBN 978-0-8276-1231-0. OCLC 903689958.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 Herzl, Theodor (1896). The Jewish state. New York: Dover Publications. ISBN 0-486-25849-1. OCLC 18191925.
  9. ↑ Friedman, Mordechai (Motti) (2021-05-20). Theodor Herzl's Zionist Journey – Exodus and Return. doi:10.1515/9783110729283. ISBN 9783110729283. S2CID 236374854.
  10. ↑ "Jewish National Fund (JNF) | Jewish Virtual Library". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  11. ↑ "The Uganda Proposal (1903) | Jewish Virtual Library". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-05-16.
  12. ↑ "Text of the Balfour Declaration". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 13.2 13.3 13.4 Lockman, Zachary (1996). Comrades and enemies : Arab and Jewish workers in Palestine, 1906-1948. Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-91749-1. OCLC 44957427.
  14. ↑ MATHEW, WILLIAM M. (2013). "The Balfour Declaration and the Palestine Mandate, 1917—1923: British Imperialist Imperatives". British Journal of Middle Eastern Studies. 40 (3): 231–250. doi:10.1080/13530194.2013.791133. ISSN 1353-0194. JSTOR 23525764. S2CID 159474306.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 15.2 Shafir, Gershon (1996). Land, labor, and the origins of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, 1882-1914 (Updated ed.). Berkeley: University of California Press. ISBN 978-0-520-91741-5. OCLC 44960490.
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 Frankel, Jonathan (2009). Crisis, revolution, and Russian Jews. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-511-48061-4. OCLC 317401279.
  17. ↑ "Israeli Declaration of Independence". main.knesset.gov.il. Retrieved 2022-05-17.
  18. ↑ African Charter of Human and People's Rights, Preamble
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 19.3 19.4 "Working Definition Of Antisemitism". World Jewish Congress. Retrieved October 22, 2024.
    IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism :
    • Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
    • 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 by non-Jews.
    • Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
    • 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 to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
    • Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic 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 the Nazis.
    • Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
  20. ↑
  21. ↑ "Magnifying glass
    Debunking Misconceptions About the Definition of Antisemitism"    . World Jewish Congress. Retrieved October 23, 2024. Those who hate Jews can no longer hide behind empty rhetoric
  22. ↑ "The Working Definition of Antisemitism". American Jewish Committee. Retrieved October 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.
  23. ↑ Primary executive arm of the European Union (EU).
  24. ↑ "Definition of antisemitism". European Commission. Retrieved October 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.
  25. ↑ "Labour's Antisemitism Policy". Labour Party (UK). Retrieved October 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.
  26. ↑ "Antisemitism". Liberal Democrats (UK). Retrieved October 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 the Antisemitism 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”).
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