Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people

Some people gets it wrong sometimes in  stating that "Zionism is a response to anti-Semitism" which totally  inaccurate and plays right into the hands of those the Jewish community our outside it. It allows them to characterise the creation of Israel as European guilt over the Holocaust and lends credence to delegitimisation.

Zionism has existed ever since G-d told Abraham to pack his bags in the Fertile Crescent and move to Canaan to set up shop. Zionism was a source of consolation during 2,000 years in the Diaspora after the Roman expulsion scattered the Jews to the four corners of the Earth. A promise to return to ancestral lands in Israel provided the hope needed to withstand repeated pogroms and denial of equal rights in all parts of the world.

Political Zionism arose in the late-19th century not because of European anti-Semitism, but as a nationalist movement consistent with other nationalist movements sweeping Europe at the time. Anti-Semitism was no worse in the 19th century as any other time in the Middle Ages. The new Zionism merely expressed, in a political manner, a belief held by Jews for thousands of years.

It is the use of Zionism as a cover for anti-Semitism that is the issue.

Zionism is the national liberation movement of the Jewish people, which holds that Jews, like any other nation, are entitled to a homeland.

History has demonstrated the need to ensure Jewish security through a national homeland. Zionism recognizes that Jewishness is defined by shared origin, religion, culture and history.

The realization of the Zionist dream is exemplified by more than four million Jews, from more than 100 countries, including dark-skinnedJews from Ethiopia, Yemen and India, who are Israeli citizens. Approximately 1,000,000 Muslim and Christian Arabs, Druze, Baha'is,Circassians and other ethnic groups also are represented in Israel's population.

Many Christians have traditionally supported the goals and ideals of Zionism. Israel's open and democratic character and its scrupulous protection of the religious and political rights of Christians and Muslims rebut the charge of exclusivity.

The Arab states define citizenship strictly by native parentage. It is almost impossible to become a naturalized citizen in many Arab states, especially Algeria, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. Several Arab nations have laws that facilitate the naturalization of foreign Arabs, with the specific exception of Palestinians. Jordan, on the other hand, instituted its own "law of return" in 1954, according citizenship to all former residents of Palestine, except for Jews.

The presence of thousands of black Jews in Israel is the best refutation of the calumny against Zionism. In a series of historic airlifts, labeled Moses (1984), Joshua (1985) and Solomon (1991), Israel rescued almost 42,000 members of the ancient Ethiopian Jewish community.

To single out Jewish self-determination for condemnation is itself a form of racism. "A world that closed its doors to Jews who sought escape from Hitler's ovens lacks the moral standing to complain about Israel's giving preference to Jews," wrote noted civil rights lawyer Alan Dershowitz.

When approached by a student who attacked Zionism, Martin Luther King responded: "When people criticize Zionists, they mean Jews. You're talking anti-Semitism."

The 1975 UN resolution was part of the Soviet-Arab Cold War anti-Israel campaign. Almost all the former non-Arab supporters of the resolution have apologized and changed their positions. When the General Assembly voted to repeal the resolution in 1991, only some Arab and Muslim states, as well as Cuba, North Korea and Vietnam were opposed.