What Is Zionism?

Answer:

Three young Jewish DPs look out of the window of their train holding a homemade Zionist flag. They are on their way to Palestine after having been released from the Buchenwald concentration camp.

The name of "Zionism" comes from the hill Zion, the hill on which the Temple of Jerusalem was situated.

Zionism was founded by Theodor Herzl in 1896 whose goal is the return of Jews to Eretz Yisrael, or Zion, the Jewish synonym for Jerusalem and the Land of Israel. The movement emerged in the late 19th century in response to the violent persecution of Jews in Eastern Europe, anti-Semitism in Western Europe, and the rise of both radical socialist and liberal nationalist movements throughout Europe.

Zionism supports the existence of the state of Israel and helps to inspire a revival of Jewish national life, culture and language. Zionism holds that the Jews have the right to self-determination in their own national home, and the right to develop their national culture.