Messianic Zionism: The Ass and the Red Heifer

The relation between Zionism and Judaism (the Jewish religion) is paradoxical and complex. In its early days, Zionism was apparently a thoroughly secular political movement. In reality, while its ego was secular, its ideology has always been religious. And in recent times, the latter has emerged from its hidden recess and is parading in full view. A form of religious Zionism has gained influence in Israel, which shares with militant Christian evangelism and Islamic jihadism the character of political movement with fundamentalist religious ideology. From its very beginning in 1897, political Zionism regarded itself as a national movement of political self-determination. Here, Machover discusses the central tenets of its ideology.