Many people these days tend to conflate two terms
Judaism and Zionism
so I thought it's about time to clarify things
While Judaism is an ancient Abrahamic religion
dating back thousands of years
as well as a national and cultural identity
Zionism is a much newer phenomenon
In its basic form
Zionism means support for a Jewish state
in the ancient homeland of the Jews, the Land of Israel
Like many other national movements
Zionism emerged in Europe
towards the end of the 19th century
It was led by Jewish Austro-Hungarian journalist
Theodore Herzl
who responded to a sharp rise in Antisemitism
in Eastern and Central Europe
Herzl argued that Jews can only be safe and prosperous
in their own nation-state, on their historic land
which was controlled at the time by the Ottoman Empire
In "Altneuland", a novel he penned in 1902
Herzl described a modern, secular Jewish state
in which Arabs and Jews would enjoy full equal rights
and even women would be allowed to vote
a pretty novel idea for the time
In his book, a nationalist Jewish character
named Dr. Geyer
tries to abolish voting rights for Arabs
but he loses the elections
and leaves the country in shame
Some Zionists saw Palestinian Arabs
as almost transparent
In 1901, British Zionist activist Israel Zangwill
described Palestine as
"a country without a people
The Jews are a people without a country"
But others, like Russian Zionist Aharon David Gordon
empathized with their Palestinian neighbors
"How do we treat the Arabs, who whether we like it
or not, are our political and social partners?
What do we know about them?"
Gordon wrote in 1918
Early Zionists could hardly agree about what it meant
and what the Jewish state should look like
Some saw it as a political movement
while others as a cultural one
Some wanted it religious and others secular
Some preferred a socialist economic system
while others were real capitalists
So, are all the Jews also Zionists?
Well, Zionism means very different things
to different people
Broadly speaking, most Jews support the existence
of a Jewish state in one form or another
Today, almost half of the world's Jewish population
lives in Israel
But Ultra-Orthodox communities are uncomfortable
with Israel's secular character
so their members avoid serving in high government
positions or in the army
Meanwhile, millions of Jews choose to live abroad
but still support Israel politically or financially
in their countries
Small groups of Jews
like the fringe Ultra-Orthodox group Neturei Karta
actively oppose Israel
Radical activism also exists on the Jewish far left
in Europe and the United States
We all have different layers of identity
For example
A person can be religiously Muslim
Ethnically Arab
and nationally Iraqi
Similarly
One can identify as Jewish by faith or ethnicity
and Zionist or Israeli by political conviction
Identity, in short, is a complex thing...
