The Story of Zionism

heodor Herzl was the founder and president of the Zionist Organization, the modern political movement to establish an independent Jewish state. A successful Viennese journalist and playwright, Herzl published his Zionist manifesto The Jewish State (“Der Judenstaat”) in 1896. The following year, he convened the first Zionist Congress with the aim of taking practical steps to establish the Jewish state. Herzl led the Zionist Organization for seven years until his death in 1904 at age 44. Herzl is the only individual mentioned by name in Israel’s Declaration of Independence, which refers to him as the “author of the vision of the Jewish state” (הוגה חזון המדינה היהודית).

Herzl’s efforts on behalf of Jewish restoration in Palestine were many and varied. In addition to the annual Zionist Congresses, he conducted a broad diplomatic effort that involved him in negotiations with the leadership of Britain, Germany, Russia and the Ottoman Emprire over the issuing of a formal charter for a Jwish government in Palestine. He established hundreds of chapters of the Zionist Organization throughout Europe and in America, a Jewish national bank and the Zionist newspaper Die Welt. Herzl’s campaigns paid off in pledges of support from British candidates running for office already during his lifetime. During World War I, a decade after Herzl’s death, his former legal counsel in Britain, David Lloyd George, became Prime Minister and adopted a policy of estalishing aewish national home in territories liberated from Turkey by British forces. This alliance between Britain and the Zionist Organization brought hundreds of thousands of Jews to Palestine and led to the establishment of Israel as an independent Jewish state in 1948, a mere 52 years after the publication of Herzl’s book The Jewish State.

Today, Herzl is remembered principally for his “political Zionism”–a term coined by his principal detractor, Ahad Ha’am, as a term of derision. Herzl realized that the rapid rise of anti-Semitism in France, Germany, Austria and Russia was leading to a catastrophic persecution of the Jews, and saving Jewish lives was a principal motive behind his efforts to establish a territory under Jewish legal and military control that could serve as a place of refuge.

But Herzl’s critique of the Jewish condition ran deeper than this. Even Jews living in physical safety were in an intolerable position, he believed, because they had given up their dignity and honor in leaving the identity and traditions of their fathers. As he wrote in an essay published a few months after The Jewish State:

The atrocities of the Middle Ages were unprecedented, and the people who withstood those tortures must have had some great strength, an inner unity which we have lost. A generation which has grown apart from Judaism does not have this unity. It can neither rely upon our past nor look to our future. That is why we shall once more retreat into Judaism and never again permit ourselves to be thrown out of this fortress… We shall thereby regain our lost inner wholeness and along with it a little character—our own character. Not a Marrano-like, borrowed, untruthful character, but our own. (“Judaism,” November 1896)

Thus for Herzl, Zionism was a means of restoring the inner unity of the Jewish soul. As he told the assembled delegates at the First Zionist Congress, “Zionism is a return to Judaism even before there is a return to the Jewish land.”

In Herzl’s writings he repeatedly emphasized that the creation of a Jewish homeland was merely the external change that he wished to attain. The true aim was the establishment of a firm Jewish consciousness, a unique Jewish “character” and perspective on things that the Jews would contribute to the world, and by means of which they would again be able to play a special role among the nations.

For a little more on Herzl’s idea of a “return to Judaism,” read the following Hanuka story, apparently autobiographical, which Herzl published a few months after the First Zionist Congress under his Hebrew name, Binyamin Ze’ev:

“The Menorah,” by Theodor Herzl

(Published in Die Welt, December 31, 1897)

Once there was a man who deep in his soul felt the need to be a Jew. His material circumstances were satisfactory enough. He was making an adequate living and was fortunate enough to have a vocation in which he could create according to the impulses of his heart. You see, he was an artist. He had long ceased to trouble his head about his Jewish origin or about the faith of his fathers, when the age-old hatred re-asserted itself under a fashionable slogan. Like many others, our man, too, believed that this movement would soon subside. Read more…

CHAIM WEIZMANN (1874-1952)

(1874–1952), first President of the State of Israel, President of the (World) Zionist Organization (1920–31 and 1935–46), and chemist who discovered how to produce acetone in quantity which enabled the British army to fire their guns. He was born on Nov. 27, 1874 (8 Kislev 5635), in the village of Motol near Pinsk, in the Russian Pale of Settlement

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ZIONIST CONGRESS: FIRST TO THIRTY FOURTH,
(1897 - 2003)
Emcyclopedia.com

ZIONIST CONGRESSES , the highest authority in the Zionist Organization; created by Theodor *Herzl. None of the previous attempts to convene general assemblies of the Jewish national movement, some of which were successful and some abortive, succeeded in creating an instrument similar in scope or nature to the Zionist Congresses. Herzl's aim in convening the Congress was "to close the Zionist ranks, bring about an understanding between all Zionists and to unify their endeavors… the Congress will show what Zionism is and wants." His other aim – to establish "the national assembly of the Jewish people" – was realized by many of the Congresses that took place both before and after his death. The problem of the location of the Congress was not confined to the First Zionist Congress alone. Several of the Congresses encountered problems in this sphere until the 23rd Congress, which met in Jerusalem (all subsequent Congresses have been held in Jerusalem). Previous venues were Basle, London, The Hague, Hamburg, Vienna, Carlsbad, Zurich, Prague, Lucerne, and Geneva. During the periods of the Ottoman regime and the British Mandate over Palestine, it proved impossible to hold the Congress in Erez Israel.

THE FIRST CONGRESS

The location of the First Zionist Congress was to have been Munich, Germany, but due to the opposition of the community and the *Protestrabbiner, it was transferred to Basle and held on Aug. 29–31, 1897. The historical importance of the Congress lies in the formulation of the *Basle Program and the foundation of the Zionist Organization, which united West and East European Zionists in both an organizational and programmatic sense. Up until that time the East European Ḥovevei Zion (see *Ḥibbat Zion) engaged in settlement activities in Ereẓ Israel, and they now accepted political Zionism as well. The approach termed political Zionism, an essential problem debated at the Congress, was raised and defined by Herzl himself. The settlements founded to date had indeed proved the ability of the Jews to farm the land. The Jewish problem, however, could only be solved by large-scale migration and settlement of the country, which could be effected only with international assistance and recognition. By the Third Congress this was expressed in the term "charter." The means and goals of political Zionism were formulated in a key sentence, possessing four subclauses, the Basle Program.

The First Congress also devised a schedule that was followed by all subsequent Congresses: reports on the situation of Jewish communities in the Diaspora (at the first Congresses, the famous speeches of Max *Nordau), lectures on Ereẓ Israel and settlement activities, and debates on cultural questions, which were extremely stormy at the first few Congresses. Herzl acted as the chairman of the Congress (as he did at all Congresses until his death) and was also elected president of the Zionist Organization.

The Congress made a tremendous impression on both Jews and non-Jews throughout the world. Herzl himself summarized the importance of the First Congress thus: "I no longer need to write the history of yesterday [the day on which the Congress opened]; it is already written by others…. Were I to sum up the Basle Congress in a word – which I shall guard against pronouncing publicly – it would be this: At Basle I founded the Jewish State" (Herzl's diary, Aug. 30, Sept. 3, 1897, Complete Diaries, ed. by R. Patai, 2, 580–1). Ḥayyim Naḥman *Bialik even published a poem titled "Mikra'ei Ẓiyyon" in honor of the First Congress (for English translations see Goell, Bibliography, 489–90, no. 237). A full list of the participants in the First Congress with biographical and bibliographical details was compiled by H. Orlan in Herzl Year Book, 6 (1964–65), 133–52. There is a vast literature on the First Congress including Warum gingen wir zum ersten Zionistenkongress? (1922), in which 32 participants recount the motives which prompted their participation in the First Congress, and Sefer ha-Congress (1923, 19502), an anthology edited by Leib Yaffe. The official language of the first Congresses was German (the minutes were published in this language until the beginning of the 1930s and after that in English). The language spoken from the rostrum was, for many years, also mostly German, but since many delegates spoke a kind of Yiddishized German it was nicknamed "Kongressdeutsch."

CLICK HER FOR DETAILS OOF 2ND TO 34TH CONGRESS

CRITICIZING ISRAEL IS FINE,
BUT ANTI-ZIONISM IS ANTI-SEMITIC
New York Post, Dennis Prager August 20, 2019

Imagine a group of people who work to destroy Italy because, they claim, Italy’s origins are illegitimate. Imagine further that these people maintain that of all the countries in the world, only Italy is illegitimate. And then imagine that these people vigorously deny they are in any way anti-Italian. Would you believe them?

Substitute “Israel” for “Italy,” and you’ll understand the dishonesty and absurdity of the argument that one can be anti-Zionist but not anti-Semitic.

But that is precisely what anti-Zionists say. They argue that the existence of a Jewish state in the geographic area known as Palestine — there was never an independent country known as Palestine — is illegitimate. They don’t believe any other country in the world is illegitimate, no matter how bloody its origins. And then they get offended when they’re accused of being anti-Semitic.

How can they make this argument?

First, they change the topic. They say it is unfair to charge those who merely “criticize” Israel with being anti-Semitic. But that’s a phony argument. Criticism of Israel is fine. Denying Israel’s right to exist isn’t. Anti-Zionism isn’t criticism of Israel. Anti-Zionism is opposition to Israel’s existence.

Zionism is the movement for the return of Jews to their homeland. Over the past 3,000 years, there were two independent Jewish states located in what is called Israel. Invaders destroyed both, and no Arab or Muslim or any other independent country ever existed in that land, which was only named Palestine by the Romans in an attempt to remove all memory of the Jewish state they destroyed in the year 70 AD.

Second, anti-Zionists claim they can’t be anti-Jewish because Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism. That’s equally false. It is the same as saying that Italy has nothing to do with being Italian. Judaism has always consisted of three components: God, Torah and Israel. If Israel isn’t part of Judaism, neither is the Bible or God.

Third, anti-Zionists claim that Judaism is only a religion; therefore, Jews are only members of a religion, not a nation. But the Jews are called the “nation of Israel” repeatedly in the Bible. That is why there are irreligious, secular and even atheist Jews — because Jews are not only a religion. There are no atheist Christians because Christianity is only a religion.

Fourth, the anti-Zionists claim that Israel is illegitimate because it is racist. This is the fraudulent charge Israel- and America-haters make against two of the least racist societies in the world. Fact is, half of Israel’s Jews are not white, and anyone, of any race or ethnicity, can become a Jew.

Plus, 1 of 5 Israelis isn’t a Jew. And these Israeli citizens, mostly Arab Muslims, have the same rights as Jewish Israelis.

As for Israel’s control of the West Bank, that has nothing to do with race. Israel doesn’t control the West Bank because Palestinians are of another race — but because Palestinians tried to destroy Israel in 1967, and they lost the war.

Palestinians have rejected offers to found their own state on five separate occasions since 1948. That’s the only reason they don’t have their own state. They have always rejected building a Palestinian state because they have always been more interested in destroying Israel.

Finally, the anti-Zionists claim that Israel’s origins are illegitimate.

Of all the world’s 200-plus countries, the only country anti-Zionists declare illegitimate is also the only Jewish one. That’s pretty much all you need to know about their motives. Why, for example, don’t they make this claim about Pakistan? In 1947, nine months before the establishment of Israel, India was partitioned into a Muslim state, Pakistan, and a Hindu state, India.

Unlike Israel, Pakistan had never existed before.

Unlike Israel’s founding, which created about 700,000 Jewish refugees from Arab lands and 700,000 Arab refugees from what became Israel, the founding of Pakistan created about 7 million Muslim refugees from India and about 7 million Hindu refugees from Pakistan. And while the highest estimate of Arab deaths in the fighting that took place when Israel announced its establishment is 10,000, the number of deaths as a result of Pakistan’s creation is around 1 million.

So why is Israel’s legitimacy challenged while Pakistan’s isn’t? There’s only one answer: Israel is the one Jewish state. Of course, not all anti-Zionists hate all Jews. But if you seek to destroy Italy, you don’t have to hate every Italian to be anti-Italian. If you seek to destroy the one Jewish state, you don’t have to hate every Jew to be an anti-Semite.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN
ANTI-SEMITISM AND ANTI-ZIONISM?
BBC News 2016

The UK Labour Party has been at the centre of a row over anti-Semitism, including its relationship to anti-Zionism. What do these terms actually mean?
Anti-Semitism is "hostility and prejudice directed against Jewish people" (OED).
Zionism refers to the movement to create a Jewish state in the Middle East, roughly corresponding to the historical land of Israel, and thus support for the modern state of Israel. Anti-Zionism opposes that.
But some say "Zionist" can be used as a coded attack on Jews, while others say the Israeli government and its supporters are deliberately confusing anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism to avoid criticism.

Former London Mayor Ken Livingstone was suspended from Labour following a series of remarks about Israel, including the suggestion that Hitler supported Zionism before the Holocaust.

It follows the suspension of Bradford West MP Naz Shah after it emerged she had once suggested, among other things, that Israel should be moved to the United States. The new president of the National Union of Students, Malia Bouattia, has also been heavily criticised for remarks she made about Zionists.

Many in the Jewish community say the use of "Zionist" as a term of abuse reflects a rising tide of bigotry and racism directed at Jews.

The Labour peer Lord Levy told the BBC's Newsnight: "There can be criticism of the state of Israel, but anti-Semitism - using the word 'Zionist' as another form of anti-Semitism - frankly can no longer be tolerated."

Others - including Livingstone - argue anti-Zionism is not the same as anti-Semitism, and that it's wrong to mix up anti-Jewish prejudice with legitimate disagreement with the actions of the Israeli state.

However, critics of anti-Zionists point out that sometimes particularly harsh criticism of Israel goes further than disagreement with policies, but rather denies the right of the Jewish state to exist.

Speaking on The Daily Politics, the former London Mayor said: "Don't confuse anti-Semitism with criticism of the Israeli government policy and treatment of the Palestinians."

It's a debate around which emotions run high. It's also obviously true that being a Zionist and being Jewish are not the same thing.

There are Zionist critics of Israeli government policies, such as the occupation of the West Bank, the route of the separation barrier (which Israel is building in and around the West Bank and which it says is for security against Palestinian attackers, though Palestinian supporters see it as a device to grab land) and the building of settlements.

Equally, there was Jewish opposition to the Zionist movement, which sought to establish a Jewish homeland, long before the state of Israel was declared in 1948. Today fringe ultra-Orthodox groups such as Neturei Karta oppose the state of Israel because they believe the true Jewish state will only be established with the coming of the Messiah.

Likewise, some make the point that Zionism is a political project supported by plenty of non-Jews, including Western governments and many US evangelical Christians.

But it's been widely argued that the term "Zionist" has, in some circles, become a code word for "Jew" and that bigotry against Jewish people has been expressed using the language of anti-Zionism.

WHAT IS ZIONISM?

Political movement which emerged in 19th Century Europe aimed at countering anti-Semitism, and establishing a Jewish homeland
In the Hebrew Bible the word "Zion" refers to Jerusalem, hence the movement's identification with the city and the land that surrounds it
Balfour Declaration of 1917 gave British support to the establishment of a Jewish national home in Palestine
Chaim Weizmann, the president of the Zionist Organisation, was elected the first president of Israel in 1949

Khadim Hussain, a former Lord Mayor of Bradford, was suspended from Labour after he shared a Facebook post that referred to "the six million Zionists that were killed by Hitler". Alex Chalmers, a former co-chair of Oxford University Labour Club, said some members regularly used the word "zio" - despite it being regarded as an ethnic slur.

Bouattia was attacked after it emerged that in 2011, she co-wrote a blog for a Friends of Palestine campaign group saying that "the University of Birmingham is something of a Zionist outpost in British Higher Education". She has also attacked "Zionist-led media outlets" - which critics said reflects anti-Semitic myths about Jewish conspiracies to control the media.

On the other hand, it's regularly claimed that accusations of anti-Semitism are deployed to silence criticism of the Israeli government or to further other political ends.

Pia Feig, of Manchester Jews for Justice for Palestinians, told BBC Radio 2's Jeremy Vine programme that "anti-Semitism has been used to quieten down and suppress my concern and the concern of other people for Palestinians".

In a statement after Livingstone's suspension, the Jewish Socialists' Group said accusations of anti-Semitism were being "weaponised" to attack the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn.

On the other hand, supporters of Israel ask why it's the Jewish state that is so widely singled out for criticism and not Iran, Russia, China or any other state attacked for their human rights record.

Baroness Julia Neuberger told the BBC's Jeremy Vine show that anti-Zionism implies "Jews have no right to self-determination, unlike other people". Mark Wallace, writing for Conservative Home, said in practice it would mean either allowing Israel to be wiped out by its enemies or "denying millions of Israeli Jews their home and deporting them".

Some anti-Zionists say Zionism itself is a racist ideology, because of how, in their view, the Palestinian people have been treated by the Israeli state. The Palestine Solidarity Campaign says it opposes all racism, including anti-Jewish prejudice and the "the apartheid and Zionist nature of the Israeli state" - although the PSC has itself been accused of racism for its anti-Zionist stance.

Bouattia said she rejected claims of prejudice, adding that "for me to take issue with Zionist politics is not me taking issue with being Jewish" and that "Zionist politics are held by people from a variety of different faiths, as are anti-Zionist politics".

Accusations of anti-Semitism continue to dog Labour. Vicki Kirby was forced to stand down as a parliamentary candidate after tweeting that Hitler was a "Zionist God". She was re-instated and then suspended again. Gerry Downing, who was expelled from the party, described "Zionist politicians within the ruling classes of America and Europe".

Livingstone was accused of "rewriting history" over his remarks about Hitler supporting Zionism by Labour MP John Mann, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group against Anti-Semitism.

Few would deny there are anti-Semites who call themselves anti-Zionists, or that it's possible to criticise Israel without being a racist or a bigot. But agreement on how exactly the two relate appears elusive.

WORLD ZIONIST ORGANISATION
Wikipedia

The World Zionist Organization (Hebrew: הַהִסְתַּדְּרוּת הַצִּיּוֹנִית הָעוֹלָמִית; HaHistadrut HaTzionit Ha'Olamit), or WZO, is a non-governmental organization that promotes Zionism. It was founded as the Zionist Organization (ZO; 1897–1960) at the initiative of Theodor Herzl at the First World Zionist Congress, which took place in August 1897 in Basel, Switzerland. When it was founded, the goals of the Zionist movement were stated in a resolution that came of that Congress and came to be known as the Basel Program.

"Zionism aims at establishing for the Jewish people a legally assured home in Palestine. For the attainment of this purpose, the Congress considers the following means serviceable:
the promotion of the settlement of Jewish agriculturists [farmers], artisans, and tradesmen in Palestine;
the federation [unified organisation] of all Jews into local or general groups, according to the laws of the various countries;
the strengthening of the Jewish feeling and consciousness [national sentiment and national consciousness];
preparatory steps for the attainment of those governmental grants which are necessary to the achievement of the Zionist purpose."
(Basel Program, 1897).

Operating under the aegis of the WZO are organizations that define themselves as Zionist, such as WIZO, Hadassah, B'nai B'rith, Maccabi, the International Sephardic Federation, the World Union of Jewish Students (WUJS), and more.

The Jewish Agency is a parallel organisation, with goals, attributes and leadership closely intertwined with those of the Zionist Organization during the years before the establishment of the State of Israel, and to varying degrees after that. Significant changes to the statutes of both organisations occurred in 1952, 1970 and 1979.

LINKS

Zionist Organisations Wikipedia

Theodor Herzl and the trajectory of Zionism

Open Democracy An interview with Professor Derek Penslar, former professor of Israel Studies at Oxford University, offers one possible explanation for why Jewish nationalism is so divisive and garners such controversy.

Theodore Herzl | Israel State Archives

Zionism: the history of a contested word Open Democracy, 2018

We Asked 9 Historians: What Would Theodor Herzl Say About The Israel Of Today?,
Forward 2918

Origin and Evolution of Zionism, Foreign Policy Research Institute, 2015

Chaim Weizmann Of Israel Is Dead, On This Day, NY Times, November 9, 1952

Churchill and Dr. Chaim Weizmann: Scientist, Zionist, and Israeli Statesman International Churchill Society

Short Lfe History: Chaim Weizmann Albert Einstein in the World Wide Web

Chaim Weizmann Neww World Encyclopedia

Weizmann, Chaim, Encyclopedia.com

World
Zionist Organisation

Links

THE STORY OF ZIONISM