Op-ed: In Defense of Zionism

THE WALL STREET JOURNAL
By Michael Oren

The founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl

They come from every corner of the country—investment bankers, farmers, computer geeks, jazz drummers, botany professors, car mechanics—leaving their jobs and their families. They risk their lives for an idea. The idea is Zionism. It is the belief that the Jewish people should have their own sovereign state in the Land of Israel. They believe their idea is worth fighting for. Yet Zionism, arguably more than any other contemporary ideology, is demonized. In a region reeling with ethnic strife and religious bloodshed, Zionism has engendered a multiethnic, multiracial and religiously diverse society. Arabs serve in the Israel Defense Forces, in the Knesset and on the Supreme Court. To live in peace and security with our Palestinian neighbors remains the Zionist dream. [link]

Mr. Oren was Israel's ambassador to the U.S. from 2009 to 2013. He holds the chair in international diplomacy at IDC Herzliya in Israel and is a fellow at the Atlantic Council. His books include "Six Days of War: June 1967 and the Making of the Modern Middle East" and "Power, Faith, and Fantasy: America in the Middle East, 1776 to the Present."