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How Is Zionism Still Relevant

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Is Zionism Still Relevant?

“There is no difference whatever between anti-Semitism and the denial of Israel's statehood. Classical anti-Semitism denies the equal right of Jews as citizens within society. Anti-Zionism denies the equal rights of the Jewish people its lawful sovereignty within the community of nations. The common principle in the two cases is discrimination.” Abba Eban (New York Times, 1975).

Zionism is a Jewish national and political movement that supports the re-establishment of a Jewish homeland in the Land of Israel (the “Holy Land”). The movement was emerged in the end of the 19th century in Europe. Over time, different Zionism ideological movements was raised, but all of them considered Theodor Herzl as the founder of the Zionist movement. The ancient main goal of all the Zionist movements, as Herzl partly imposed in his book, “The Jewish State”, was to create the desired Jewish sovereignty in the state of Israel, ingathering of the exiles, and saw it as a solution of the anti-semitic discrimination and persecution that cured in the …show more content…

The first indication of the Zionism ideology we can find in the bible, when the Jews were exiled to Babylon: “By the waters of Babylon, there we sat down and wept when we remembered Zion” (Psalms, 137:1).

Since 1948, the Zionism goals have changed because of the establishment of Israel. Nowadays, the aims of Zionism based of the “Jerusalem Program”, introduced in the 28th Zionist Congress (1968), and they are: (1) Protection of Jewish rights everywhere; (2) Protection of spiritual and cultural values; (3)Unity of the Jewish People and the centrality of Israel in Jewish life; (4) Ingathering of the Jewish people in its historic homeland, through Aliyah from all countries; (5) Strengthening Israel, based on the prophetic vision of justice and peace; (6) Preservation of the Jewish

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