Zionism is the belief that the Jews should have political self-sovereignty and is the patriotic sentiment behind the Establishment of the State of Israel. A Zionist is anyone who supports that belief and therefore the Existence of Israel. There are numerous Zionists, typically called "left-wing Zionists", who are more than willing to negotiate with Palestinians and give up a portion of Mandatory Palestine for an Arab State. There are also numerous Zionists, typically called "right-wing Zionists" or "Greater Israel Zionists", who believe that all of Israel is Jewish land and united Jerusalem is its capital and that the the Jewish Temple to God will be rebuilt someday, most likely on top of the Temple Mount.
Answer
Zionism was (and is) the movement to establish and preserve a Jewish homeland.
It is the ideology that Jewish people should have their own state. The Land of Israel was promised to the Jewish people by God, according to The Bible. Jews lived in the Land of Israel from the time of Joshua until the Roman destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. Almost all Jews were exiled to other countries, known to Jews as the Diaspora. For centuries, Jews prayed for a return to Zion. In the nineteenth century, the Zionist movement, led by Theodor Herzl and Chaim Weizmann, encouraged Jews to turn the dream into reality, and lobbied the international community to understand that a "Jewish national home" was the only solution to anti-Semitism and the "Jewish problem."
In 1947, the dream was realized when the UN voted to partition Palestine between the Jews and the Arabs. The Arabs immediately attacked the Jews and in the middle of the war, on May 14, 1948, the State of Israel declared its independence. Today, about half of the world's Jewry lives in Israel. Most Jews living in and out of Israel are supporters of Israel and the Zionist ideology, although a small percent believe only divine intervention should bring about a Jewish state.
It is worth noting that many Anti-Semites claim that Zionism is a code word for some unclear international cabal of evil Jews trying to control the world. Such a cabal does not exist and insinuations without evidence or with evidence that has proven to be a hoax that it does exist are Anti-Semitic. Aside from this, since such a cabal would not be concerned with Jewish Nationalism, it, therefore, could not be Zionism.
Additional Definitions
These are several other people's different descriptions:
Zionists believe that the Jews are a people and deserve a country of their own. Zionists believe in Zionism, the national liberation movement of the Jewish people. The Zionist Movement led to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
When Zionism was first debated, it was debated outside of the Jewish religious circles. It came exclusively from members of the Haskalah (Jewish Enlightenment) and it was created to mirror the various nationalisms of Europe, such as German and Italian nationalism. Zionism described the Jews as a nation or people, with the particular work Judensvolk - Jewish people. Herzl, Ahad Ha'am, Jabotinsky, Trumpeldor, and Weizmann and other leading Zionists were all (1) Atheist or Agnostic, (2) never used scriptural references when discussing the Jewish State - except as evidence that Jews used to live in the Holy Land and their longing for it, (3) never sought rabbinical or community approval, and (4) wished to create a democratic state in violation of Halakha (which provides for the theocratic monarchy). Zionism only used Judaism in the most general sense, such as using Jewish symbols such as the blue and white from the tallit to form a flag or using the Jewish star as a national symbol.
In fact, only a small minority of religious Jews accepted Zionism before Israeli independence, led by Rav. Avraham Kook in the 1930s. He claimed that Zionism was supportable as an intermediate stepping stone to an eventual Jewish religious state. However, Rav Kook and the Religious Zionist movement did have increasing sway in Israel after 1967 when it became tied with Israeli government initiatives to populate the West Bank and Judaize East Jerusalem (in response to the Jewish depopulation during the Jordanian Occupation). The Religious Zionists use the religious narrative from Rav Kook, but take it one step further. In many cases, any Israeli national policy which would controvert the rise of the theocratic Jewish state in all of Mandatory Palestine should be opposed.
Most Orthodox Jews do not consider Israel to be a Jewish State, but rather a non-religious state run by Jews. It is worth noting that religious Judaism has also critiqued Zionism and sees the state apparatus as something designed to remove the uniqueness of the Jewish mission. Some take this to its farthest extreme and declare Israel to be a blasphemy without having a Messiah.
Liberal Judaism also has mixed opinions on Zionism. Some Jews have replaced devotion to God and religion with a strong patriotism to Israel and Zionism as its founding ideology and history. Other Liberal Jews take a view that Judaism supports liberal thought and development and so supporting a democracy like Israel is worth doing. Still others reject Zionism as a valid political avenue for Jewish self-realization and development.
International Zionism is a conspiracy theory that those opposed to Israel (and often Judaism as well) use to describe how, in their view, Israel and Jews manipulate world politics, engage in fearmongering, and systematically murder people around the world.
Like all conspiracy theories, those who advocate International Zionism are thin on actual evidence and use "logical argument" to fill in the gaps where their evidence is less than satisfactory. While there is certainly a strong Israeli lobby in the United States, they do not maintain a strangehold on international policy nor do they have anywhere near the manipulative power suggested by those who support International Zionism.
Zionism is a nationalist Jewish movement to create a state for the Jewish people, preferably in Palestine. It disregards Judaism, so it conflicts with Israeli Jews and other Jews today.
Zionism is a movement within Judaism.
Me
Theodore Herzl is considered the father of Zionism.
Zionism is the call for Jews to freely live in their ancient homeland.
The phrase "Zionism in Europe" does not mean anything different than the individual words "Zionism", "in", and "Europe" mean when put in sequence. There is no distinctly European form of Zionism, even though Zionism really developed in Europe, the concept was understood relatively uniformly in almost every country where it was discussed regardless of whether the Jewish community embraced it or rejected it.
There is both religious and secular zionism. Both concern the Jewish desire to live in our ancestral land.
Zionism is the belief that the Jews should have political self-sovereignty and is the patriotic sentiment behind the Establishment of the State of Israel. The existence and preservation of the State of Israel is probably the clearest example of Zionism.
International Zionism
That depends on whether it's religious or secular Zionism. Religious Zionism is found in the Tanach (Jewish Bible). Theodor Herzl is considered the father of modern political Zionism.
Zionism originated in Austria with Theodor Herzl.
Theodore Herzl is considered the father of Zionism.
Zionism is a movement to protect the Jews. It is also a movement in the country of China.
Zionism started with the creation of Judaism over 3000 years ago.
Zionism was founded in the 1880s with the first Zionist Congresses in the 1890s.
Jews Against Zionism - book - was created in 1990.
The ISBN of Jews Against Zionism - book - is 0877226946.
Zionism is the nationalist movement of the Jewish people that espouses the re-establishment of ... Zionism does not have a uniform ideology, but has evolved in a dialogue among a plethora of ideologies: General Zionism, Religious Zionism, Labor ... I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence.
Zionism is the nationalist movement of the Jewish people that espouses the re-establishment of ... Zionism does not have a uniform ideology, but has evolved in a dialogue among a plethora of ideologies: General Zionism, Religious Zionism, Labor ... I believe that a wondrous generation of Jews will spring into existence.
Zionism is the call for Jews to freely live in their ancient homeland.