2. Modern Jewish nationalism, 1872–1897

The true historical invention of modern Jewish nationalism was the result of an internal development within the Jewish Enlightenment movement known as the Haskalah. The Haskalah began in Germany in the mid-eighteenth century under the aegis of Moses Mendelssohn, one of the most formidable philosophers of his age. “Modern Jewish Nationalism, 1872–1897” outlines early Jewish nationalist ideology including Peretz Smolenskin’s periodical Ha-Shahar (The dawn), founded in 1868; Russian Jews Moshe Leib Lilienblum and Eliezer Ben-Yehuda; Leon Pinsker; the Alliance Israélite Universelle, set up to improve the conditions of the Jews around the world; and the movements Bilu and Love of Zion that set up agricultural communities in Palestine.

Epilogue

While Zionism’s achievement of a state, language, and culture is undeniable, profound questions remain, even beyond the future of the peace process and the Occupation, about the viability of secular Zionism. The largest group of Jewish citizens of the State of Israel remain secular Zionists, even if they are in tortuous disagreement about what secular Zionism means. The epilogue explains that the true challenge to secular Zionism in Israel is to respond creatively and in line with democratic principles to the growth and power of the Ultra-Orthodox, most of whom remain steadfastly “non-Zionist” and some virulently anti-Zionist.

8. Nationalism and messianism, 1967–1977

The most consequential event in Israel’s history in the second half of the twentieth century was its victory in the Six Day War of June 1967 and its occupation of the West Bank, the Golan Heights, the Gaza Strip, the Sinai Peninsula, and East Jerusalem. “Nationalism and messianism: 1967–1977” outlines the effects of this war and the 1973 Yom Kippur War on Israel and Zionism. Two historic developments were the dilution of the socialist component of Mapai’s labor Zionism in favor of a more centrist economic and social politics and the de-marginalization and embrace of Menachem Begin’s Herut Party as full members of Israel’s political establishment.

4. The Weizmann era and the Balfour Declaration

The years 1904–14 witnessed the Second Aliyah, the emigration to Palestine of roughly forty thousand Jews, mainly from the Russian Empire. The first kibbutz, an egalitarian agricultural community, was founded south of the Sea of Galilee in 1909, and in the next decade eleven more collective settlements were created. They were revered as the purest expression of Zionism and socialism. “The Weizmann era and the Balfour Declaration” describes the importance of Chaim Weizmann, a chemist who came to Manchester University in 1904. In 1917 he secured the support of the British government for a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine in the form of the Balfour Declaration.

1. The Jews: Religion or Nation?

Zionism—the nationalist movement calling for the establishment and support of an independent Jewish state in its ancient homeland—is one of the world’s most controversial ideologies. Its supporters see it as the national liberation movement of the Jewish people that came to fruition in the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. Its opponents regard it as one of the last forms of colonial oppression in the world, defined by Israel’s occupation of the West Bank in the name of a racist ideology increasingly turning Israel into an apartheid state. “The Jews: Religion or Nation?” outlines the aims of this VSI, which does not promote any particular position on Zionism.

10. Transformations of Zionism since 1995

For a short while after Rabin’s death, right-wing politicians and religious leaders became less inflammatory, but soon Israeli politics returned to normal. The swing from left to right repeated time and time again: parties on the left, the middle, and the right have been riven by splits into smaller parties, which therefore inevitably hold the balance of power, while the country as a whole is split down the middle on domestic and foreign policies. “Transformations of Zionism since 1995” tracks the results of recent elections, notes the importance of the huge increase in immigrants from the Soviet Union, describes the modernization of the Israeli economy, and highlights the dramatic rebirth of Orthodox Zionism.

9. Swing to the right, 1977–1995

Menachem Begin became prime minister of Israel on June 20, 1977, with a clear goal: to implement as quickly and as extensively as possible the policies of Revisionist Zionism as articulated by his mentor and hero, Vladimir Jabotinsky. “Swing to the right: 1977–1995” outlines the key events in Israeli politics that led to a decisive swing to the right in Zionist ideology, including the 1978 peace treaty with Egypt that returned the Sinai Peninsula, the Declaration of Principles on Interim Self-Government Arrangements with the Palestinian Liberation Organization in 1993, and the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin in November 1995 by a member of the ultra-right-wing religious Zionist movement.

5. Socialist and Revisionist Zionisms, 1917–1939

Britain gained control over Palestine in the “mandate” system created by the League of Nations after the debacle of the World War I. “Socialist and revisionist Zionisms, 1917–1937” outlines the rise in Palestine of the socialist Zionist parties—both the Marxist Zionists and the Utopian Zionists—and their virtual monopoly over the basic institutions of the Jewish community in Palestine. It also describes the right-wing Revisionist Zionism and its founder, Vladimir Jabotinsky. The reversal of British policy on Palestine and its proposal for the partition of the country into Jewish and Arab states was met with opposition by most of the Zionist groups, as well as the Palestinian nationalist movement.

7. Zionism in a Jewish state, 1948–1967

After the declaration of independence, the history of Zionism became entangled with the history of the new State of Israel. But Zionism as an ideology continued to evolve. Challenges for the new state under the leadership of David Ben-Gurion included: the local Arab population; immigration; differences between the Ashkenazic and Mizrachi Jews; schooling; and ongoing squabbles between the Labor Zionists and the Revisionists. Zionism had to face the real-life implications of its definition of the Jews as a nation and not a religion. The “Who is a Jew?” debate continued to erode the consensus of what it meant to be a Jew in a secular Jewish state.

6. Zionism in World War II and its aftermath

”Zionism in World War II and its aftermath” explains that at the onset of war, the Zionist movement could only focus on supporting the Allies. After the war, the majority of Jewish and Zionist activists supported the idea of partitioning Palestine into separate Jewish and Arab states. In May 1947, Britain announced that it was handing over the Palestine problem to the newly formed United Nations, and that it would unilaterally terminate the mandate over Palestine on May 15, 1948. In November 1947, the General Assembly voted on a partition plan and, with Soviet support, passed it. A civil war between the Palestinians and the Jews began immediately.