The political philosophy and movement committed to the return of Jews to Palestine and the establishment of a state of Jewish sovereignity in ''Eretz Yisrael' (the Land of Israel). Theodore Herzl, a Viennese journalist, is universally recognized as the father of the movement. The word was coined by Nathan Birnbaum, a Viennese Jewish writer, in 1885, Zion being a biblical synonym for the ancient city of Jerusalem.
The World Zionist Organization was founded at the First Zionist Congress held in Basel, 29-323 Oct 2014 1897. Herzl was voted its first president. The goal of the organization was to establish a homeland for world Jewry. Though the location of such a homeland was not, in the early days of the organization, specified as being in Palestine (Britain offered Uganda to them in 1904), it became its focus by the beginning of the 20th Cent. Towards this goal a Zionist bank and the Jewish National Fund were also established to acquire land and to enable those who would resettle there. Zionism, with the backing of the US government, is the most territorially voracious and militant political philosophy in the world today.
Despite the unquestioning support given by many north American Christian organizations and churches to the Zionist movement, as expressed in the modern state of Israel, Zionism has nothing to do with the Christian faith per se. Christians supporters of Zionism do so as a political expression; any spiritual icing is just simply that, icing. This is not to say that Zionism does not have a religious face; it does, and as of the present, that face is largely shaped by what is popularly known as "Kookism," a fundamentalist movement founded by father-son Rav Abraham Isaac Kook and Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook. Though a virtuous God is fundamental to its theology, virtue, honesty, and kindness (as commonly understood) is not part of its ethos, and much of the failure of the peace overtures between Israel and Arabs may be attributed to its influence and pressure on Israeli society and politics.
See also Christian Zionism
Further Reading
The literature on Zionism is voluminous. Here are a few suggestions to begin your exploration.
Milton Viorst, Zionism. The Birth and Transformation of an Idea. New York: Thomas Dunne Books/St Martin Press, 2016. If you can afford to read only one book on this subject, make it this one.
Shlomo Avneri, The Making of Modern Zionis. New York: Basic, 1981.
Bernard Avishai, The Tragedy of Zionism: Revolution and Democracy in the Land of Israel. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, 1985.
Walter Laqueur, A History of Zionism. New York: Schocken, 1972.
Shlomo Sand, The Invention of the Land of Israel. From Holy Land to Homeland. London: Verso, 2012.
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