Israel is the only country in the world that has the same name, same location and same language as it had 3,000 years ago.
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The Zionist movement is the largest indigenous return of people to their land in history.
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The Jewish aspiration to return to Zion is part of Jewish religious thought that dates back to the destruction of the First Temple, in 70 B.C. However, the modern movement for the creation of a secular homeland within the confines of modern international law was perceived as a solution to the widespread persecution of Jews within Europe. This became the centerpiece of secular political Zionism.
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The Zionist movement was preceded by several Jewish groups that had already popularized the move to Israel. For example, Israel Ben Perez of Polotsk, and hundreds of other Jewish groups settled in Israel from Europe, developing communities in Jerusalem, Hebron and around much of the country. This was in addition to the already existing communities of Sephardi and Ashkenazim in Tiberias, Tsfat and across the rest of the Jewish "Holy Land". Zionists, however, worked within the existing international legal framework, obtaining international legal rights in 1922. They also armed and defended themselves.
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