Thread by @_ZachFoster

A brief history of Zionism (@harari_yuval style) 🧵

Zionism is about 500 years old. To tell a history of Zionism Harari style, we thus need to spend 2/3rds of the story on the pre-1850s period.

2/3rds of our story is before there were very many (any?) Jewish Zionists.

There was a return to scripture in the 16th century. the attitude was, to hell with the catholic church. go straight to the texts. the bible. translate it. learn the stories by heart. know the old testament inside out.

And because the bible has passages like --God gives the land to Abraham & his offspring (Genesis 12:7) -- the Christians start to believe the land really does belong to those Israelites -- and they also believe the modern day Jews are the heirs of those people.

Interest in the Bible drove interest in the Jews. In the 16th Century, the ‘Jewish Question’ was not about Jewish emancipation, but about Jewish role at the end of days.

Today we debate about equal rights & genocide, back then, they debated who was going to burn in hell.

A group of Christian theologians began to advocate for a Jewish "restoration" to Palestine as part of an end of days prophecy. "Restorationists." they believed the Jewish ingathering of the exiles was a prerequisite for the coming of the Kingdom of Christ & human redemption.

In 1660, the Puritan Commonwealth in England collapsed & the Church of England expelled the clergy & so Christian Zionism dissipated in England.

But it was then championed by Napoleon, who in 1799, invited the Jews of Asia & Africa to join him & re-establish ancient Jerusalem.

By 1831, The Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali conquered Palestine & ruled it until 1840.

During this period, Christian Zionism flourished. Many Brits demanded Jewish colonies / Jewish state under British protection. Zionism was booming.

Still, there were barely any Jewish Zionists.

rest of the story -> palestinenexus.com/courses-all