Zionism: Why All the Controversy?

@realcjpearson

What is Zionism? And why does it generate so much controversy, even hatred? CJ Pearson explains the history and philosophy of this ancient promise.

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Script:

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 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.

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 sojourn 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 changed the name of the area to Palestine.

But it didn’t work.

The Jews’ connection to their land could not be broken.

Even as the Jews were scattered throughout the world, their prayers were always directed toward Israel. So central to Jewish identity is 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.”

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#middleeast #israel #palestine