ZIONISM
Zionism simply means Jewish self-determination in their historic homeland.
It is a national liberation movement, born in the late 1800s in response to centuries of persecution, pogroms, and statelessness in Europe and the Middle East.
The idea was formulated politically by Jewish thinkers in the late 19th century, but the concept of Zion, meaning Jerusalem and the land of Israel, has lived in Jewish prayer, liturgy, and longing for over 2,000 years. “Next year in Jerusalem” has been said by Jews at every single Passover since the exile.
Zionism is not a colonial invention. It is a homecoming.
And here is what most people have forgotten today, or never knew.
Zionism was broadly supported by many peoples and faiths. American presidents, British ministers, Christian reformers, Black civil rights leaders, Muslim statesmen, and respected thinkers throughout history have all stood behind the Jewish people’s right to a national home.
Christians, especially evangelicals and Protestants in Britain and the United States, advocated for a Jewish state long before the Zionist movement became politically organized.
It was a Christian England that in 1917 officially recognized the Jewish right to a national home in their historic land. It was an American president who in 1948 recognized the State of Israel just minutes after its declaration, driven by both conscience and biblical conviction.
Black American civil rights leader - Martin Luther King - openly defended Zionism and called anti-Zionism what it truly is, antisemitism.
Muslim leaders have also supported it. As early as 1919, agreements were signed between Arab and Jewish leaders for cooperation and coexistence in the region.
Druze, Bedouins, and later many Iranians, Kurds, and Moroccans have recognized the Jewish people’s right to their land.
Secular liberals, socialists, conservatives, atheists, and believers, all have stood behind the idea that Jews, like any other people, have the right to self-determination and self-defense.
What has happened in recent decades is a deliberate distortion.
“Zionist” has been turned into a slur, often with antisemitic intent, to make Jewish national existence look criminal.
But the word does not mean occupation, oppression, or racism.
It means that Jews may live freely in their own land, just as every other people in the world does, without having to defend their existence every single day.
To be a Zionist is to recognize that right. Nothing more, nothing less.
And yes, by that definition I am a Zionist, and proud of it!❤️🔥🪽✝️