not just to me ...
1. *Zionism as an ideology *- Zionist ideology holds that the Jews are a
people or nation like any other, and should gather together in a single
homeland. Zionism was self-consciously the Jewish analogue of Italian and
German national liberation movements of the nineteenth century. The term
"Zionism" was apparently coined in 1891 (1885 according to some sources) by
the Austrian publicist Nathan Birnbaum, to describe the new ideology, but
it was used retroactively to describe earlier efforts and ideas to return
the Jews to their homeland for whatever reasons, and it is applied to
Evangelical Christians who want people of the Jewish religion to return to
Israel in order to hasten the second coming.
2. *Zionism as a descriptive term *- It is also used to describe the belief
that Jews should return to their ancient homeland, and might be applied not
only to the religious ideas of Evangelical Christians, but to the preaching
of the ancient prophets..
3. *Zionism as a political movement* - The Zionist movement was founded by
Theodore Herzl in 1897, incorporating the ideas of early thinkers as well
as the organization built by Hovevei Tziyon ("lovers of Zion").
What isn't Zionism?
Not everything that the Zionist movement accomplished, or that Zionists do
or say, is a necessary part of Zionism
*Not just about a state* - Zionism was not, historically, officially a
movement to create a "Jewish State." The first Zionist congress in Basle,
Switzerland, in 1897 resolved:
Zionism seeks to establish a home for the Jewish people in Palestine
secured under public law (or International Law).
Zionists therefore sought charters from governments to establish a national
home under their protection. The objectives of the Basle Program were
thought to have been realized with the Balfour Declaration of 1917 and the
Mandate for Palestine granted to the British in 1922. However, the British
eventually reneged on their mandate obligation to support a Jewish
homeland. In 1942 the Biltmore Conference resolved to adopt the goal of
creating a Jewish state in Palestine, in opposition to British policy. This
was not the original official goal of Zionism, but a departure from it
forced by circumstances.
*Not just about religion* - There are many religious Zionists, and early
proponents of return to Zion in the 19th century were rabbis. However, the
founders of the Zionist movement were not religious and the Zionist
movement is not about religion or return to a "promised land."
*Not about borders* - Zionism was never about borders. Some Zionist
programs envisioned a Jewish homeland outside of Palestine, some Zionists
envisioned a bi-national state (the Mapam party) , while others
("Revisionists") insisted that the Jewish state must be established on both
sides of the Jordan river, in the full territory of the British Mandate.
*Not about taking from others or excluding others *- Though the history of
Zionism quickly became entangled with Arab nationalist aspirations, Zionism
was not about taking land from others or excluding others. The Zionist
"colonial" project aimed to* buy* land in Palestine, *not to conquer it by
force*. See The Occupation, Palestinians, Israel and Zionism )
<http://www.zionism-israel.com/occupation_zionism.htm>
*Not about militarism* - Though the history of Israel and Jewish settlement
in Palestine often seems like one long war with interruptions, most
Zionists were not militarists. They believed that their cause would triumph
by moral force alone. An early Zionist argued:
We shall never possess cannons, even if the goyim shall bear arms against
one another for ever. Therefore, we cannot but settle in our land fairly
and justly, to live and let live. "
*(Meir Dizengoff (writing as "Dromi") "The Workers Question," Hatzvi,
September 21, 22, 1909)*
Is Zionism about finding a refuge from Anti-Semitism?
The online reference Answers.com (http://www.answers.com/topic/zionism
<http://www.answers.com/topic/zionism>) has this definition of Zionism:
A Jewish movement that arose in the late 19th century in response to
growing anti-Semitism and sought to reestablish a Jewish homeland in
Palestine. Modern Zionism is concerned with the support and development of
the state of Israel.
The definition seems innocent, but it is loaded with assumptions and
questionable historical assertions. Among Jews, the modern Zionist idea
first began to take shape in the first part of the 19th century among the
Proto-Zionists <http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Proto-Zionists.htm> and
was a response to the challenge of rise of nationalism, the enlightenment
and the emancipation of the Jews, which threatened to make the Jewish
adaptation to Diaspora life obsolete. The Chovevei Tzion
<http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/Chovevei_Tzion.htm> groups who studied
Hebrew and set up Hebrew schools in Russia were not doing so in order to
escape anti-Semitism, but rather to bring about a national revival that
would enable Judaism to adapt to the modern secular nation-state.
Anti-Semitic persecutions provided a motive that helped popularize Zionism,
but they could not, in themselves have been responsible for the Zionist
ideology. The major reaction to anti-Semitic persecutions in Europe was
emigration to the United States, not Zionism. The idea that the ancient
land of Israel might be a refugee shelter for persecuted Jews captivated
many American Jews such as Emma Lazarus. It is interesting that Lazarus and
others did not think of going to the land of Israel themselves, nor, on the
other hand, did it occur to them that the Jews of Europe might be rescued
by bringing them to the United States. The latter idea did occur to Mordecai
Manuel Noah <http://www.zionism-israel.com/bio/Mordecai_Manuel_Noah.htm>,
but he viewed his US project as only a temporary shelter, until the Jews
could return to Zion. Unfortunately, the idea of Zionism as a refugee
salvage operation opens Israel and Zionism to Arab criticism that they are
not at fault for the sins of Europe, which cannot be repaired at the
expense of the Arabs.
Are You a Zionist?
Everyone has to decide for themselves if they are a Zionist. If you
believe that the Jews are a people, and support the right of the Jews to a
national home, and you are willing to stand up for that right when it is
challenged, then you can call yourself a Zionist, whether or not you belong
to any organized Zionist group or accept any "official" definition, and
whether or not you live in Israel or plan to live in Israel - and whether
or not you are Jewish.
On Thursday, June 2, 2016 at 5:54:28 PM UTC-5, KeithInTampa wrote:
>
> So....Zionism is an ideology to you?
>
>
>
> On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 6:18 PM, plainolamerican <[email protected]
> <javascript:>> wrote:
>
>> I am not at all referring to "Religion"; rather, "Ideology".
>> ---
>> ideology, eh ... like zionism?
>>
>> With regard to "Delusion(s)"; I suggest that you read, study and maybe
>> get a bit more familiar with our 3rd President; his philosophy and his
>> writings......
>> --
>> I have read more about Jefferson because of his stance against religious
>> persecution by xians and his views on the US interventionist policy. Two
>> things that your klan advocates.
>>
>> [image: Jefferson Quote]
>> President Thomas Jefferson
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Jefferson> extended Washington's
>> ideas about foreign policy in his March 4, 1801 inaugural address
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_presidential_inauguration>.
>> Jefferson said that one of the "essential principles of our government" is
>> that of "peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations,
>> entangling alliances with none."[5]
>> <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_non-interventionism#cite_note-JeffersonFirstInaugText-5>
>>
>> http://thefederalist.com/2013/09/23/thomas-jefferson-the-original-isolationist/
>>
>> " Puritans expelled dissenters from their colonies, a fate that in 1636
>> befell Roger Williams and in 1638 Anne Hutchinson, America's first major
>> female religious leader. Those who defied the Puritans by persistently
>> returning to their jurisdictions risked capital punishment, a penalty
>> imposed on four Quakers between 1659 and 1661. Reflecting on the
>> seventeenth century's intolerance, Thomas Jefferson was unwilling to
>> concede to Virginians any moral superiority to the Puritans. Beginning in
>> 1659 Virginia enacted anti-Quaker laws, including the death penalty for
>> refractory Quakers. Jefferson surmised that "if no capital execution took
>> place here, as did in New England, it was not owing to the moderation of
>> the church, or the spirit of the legislature."
>> The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution
>>
>> Expelled from Massachusetts in the dead of winter in 1636, former Puritan
>> leader Roger Williams (1603-1683) issued an impassioned plea for freedom of
>> conscience. He wrote, "God requireth not an uniformity of Religion to be
>> inacted and inforced in any civill state; which inforced uniformity (sooner
>> or later) is the greatest occasion of civill Warre, ravishing of
>> conscience, persecution of Christ Jesus in his servants, and of hypocrisy
>> and destruction of millions of souls." Williams later founded Rhode Island
>> on the principle of religious freedom. He welcomed people of every shade of
>> religious belief, even some regarded as dangerously misguided, for nothing
>> could change his view that "forced worship stinks in God's nostrils."
>> <https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006475.jpg>
>>
>> *The Bloudy Tenent of Persecution, for cause of Conscience, discussed in
>> a Conference between Truth and Peace. . . .* Roger Williams, 1644. Rare
>> Book and Special Collections Division <https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/>,
>> Library of Congress (19)
>>
>> Bookmark this item:
>> http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01-2.html#obj019
>> Execution of Quakers
>>
>> Mary Dyer (d. 1660) first ran afoul of Massachusetts authorities for
>> supporting theological dissenter Anne Hutchinson. As a result Dyer and her
>> family were forced to move to Rhode Island in 1638. Converted to Quakerism
>> in England in the 1650s, Dyer returned to New England and was three times
>> arrested and banished from Massachusetts for spreading Quaker principles.
>> Returning to Massachusetts a fourth time, she was hanged on June 1, 1660.
>> <https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006367.jpg>
>>
>> *Mary Dyer led to execution on Boston Common, 1 June 1660*. Color
>> engraving. Copyprint Nineteenth Century. Courtesy of The Granger
>> Collection, New York (20)
>>
>> Bookmark this item:
>> http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01-2.html#obj020
>> Intolerance in Virginia
>>
>> In his Notes on the State of Virginia, Thomas Jefferson reflected on the
>> religious intolerance in seventeenth-century Virginia, specifically on the
>> anti-Quaker laws passed by the Virginia Assembly from 1659 onward.
>> Jefferson apparently believed that it was no more than an historical
>> accident that Quakers had not been physically punished or even executed in
>> Virginia as they had been in Massachusetts.
>> <https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006518.jpg>
>>
>> *Notes on the State of Virginia*. [left page] [right page
>> <https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/images/vc006519.jpg>] Thomas
>> Jefferson. New York: M. L. and W. A. Davis, 1801. Rare Book and Special
>> Collections Division <https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/>, Library of
>> Congress (21)
>>
>> Bookmark this item:
>> http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01-2.html#obj021
>>
>> Back to top
>> <https://www.loc.gov/exhibits/religion/rel01-2.html#skip_menu>
>>
>> On Thursday, June 2, 2016 at 4:20:50 PM UTC-5, KeithInTampa wrote:
>>>
>>> One day, I hope you'll "Get It" and catch on...Just like Jefferson, I am
>>> not at all referring to "Religion"; rather, "Ideology".
>>>
>>> With regard to "Delusion(s)"; I suggest that you read, study and maybe
>>> get a bit more familiar with our 3rd President; his philosophy and his
>>> writings......
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Thu, Jun 2, 2016 at 5:15 PM, plainolamerican <[email protected]>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Opinion and delusion noted ... Not shared ... as he was against
>>>> religious persecution.
>>>>
>>>> --
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>>>
>>> --
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