Zionism: Why All the Controversy? | 5-Minute Videos

what is Zionism it's certainly a word that provokes Deep Emotions both from its supporters and its opponents is it a political movement is it a philosophy is it something new or is it something old actually it's all of these things but to summarize it in one sentence Zionism is the belief that the Jewish people have a right to a Homeland and that that Homeland is the land of Israel where the Jewish people came into being this goes back to the most influential book ever written the Bible the book that brought the Ten Commandments to the world is the same book that brought Zionism to the world and the word Zion by the way appears in the Bible as a synonym or nickname for both Jerusalem and Israel it's not more complicated than that in the Book of Genesis God makes an extraordinary promise to the first Jew Abraham I assign the land in which you sergeon to you and your Offspring to come as an everlasting possession and for 3,000 years Jews have held fast to that possession in fact over those three Millennia there have only been three independent states on that land and they have all been Jewish States but to put it mildly it has not been an easy Road the Romans thought they had finally kicked the Jews out in 70 AD when they destroyed the Great temple and leveled Jerusalem to the ground to finish the job they even change the name of the area to Palestine but it didn't work the Jews connection to their land can not be broken and even as the Jews were scattered all throughout the world their prayers were always directed towards Israel so Central to Jewish identity as Israel that the Bible invokes a curse against a Jew who doesn't acknowledge it if I forget you Jerusalem May my right hand become paralyzed and may my tongue lose its ability to speak despite their long Exile there was always a Jewish presence in the holy land and often desperately poor this community was sustained by the charitable contribution of Jews living outside of Israel this kind of medieval Zionism lasted for hundreds of years Zionism as a modern political movement emerged in the late 19th century under the leadership of a remarkable Hungarian Jew Theodore Herzel a journalist and playright Herzel was shocked to his coure when he witnessed the infamous dfus trial in Paris in 1894 Alfred dfus a Jewish French army officer was framed for the crime of treason a crime he obviously didn't commit the trial which was an international sensation was the tip of an iceberg of Jew hatred that had gripped much of Europe if cultured Europe couldn't provide safety for its Jews Herzel concluded the situation was hopeless Heim whitesman a Protegé of Herzel and later the first president of Israel summed up the situation this way for the Jews the world is divided into places where they cannot live and places where they cannot enter Herzel came to believe that there was only one answer for the Jews to set up their own state where they could control their own destiny they needed to return to Israel slowly but steadily Jews throughout Europe migrated there they started farms and carve cities like Tel Aviv out of the desert landscape Herzel himself though died before he could even see these efforts bear fruit but the momentum was there others continued what he had started it was the rise of Nazism the outbreak of World War II and the Holocaust that made Zionism an ex existential issue on November 29th 1947 the prayers of generations of Jews were finally answered the United Nations voted to make Israel a state again making the Jews the only people in history to have regained their Homeland after having been exiled from it Israel's had to fight three major Wars numerous minor ones and endure endless Terror attacks to hang on to it but hang on to it they have Israel is now a nation of nearly 10 million people 1th of whom are not even Jewish yet many still refused to accept it consider this the same time Israel became a state so did Pakistan but unlike Israel Pakistan was a brand new state carved out of India there was no ancient connection to the land of Pakistan there was no pakistanis that was the equivalent of Zionism Pakistan was simply wrenched out of India because the Muslims in that area demanded it millions of Hindus who live there were forcibly expelled outside of India few objected even at the time and today no one questions Pakistan's right to exist as a nation state so why all the controversy why all the hatred directed toward Israel and the idea that the Jews have a claim to their ancient land the Zionist idea the answer to that question is as old as the Jewish people it's called anti-Semitism and it takes many forms anti-zionism is just one of them at its core it's a hatred of all things Western how else do you explain this coincidence those who most hate Zionism are the same people who most hate the United States I'm CJ Pearson for Prager University thank you for watching this video to keep prageru videos free please consider making a tax deductible 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