Israel is made up of Jews from all around the world, not just the Ashkenazim, as well as a minority of non-Jews. Indeed some Jews in Israel are descended from first century Judeans who never left the Land.
Since the destruction of the temple, and subsequent diaspora, Jews have recited every year at Passover, "Next year in Jerusalem." IOW we never gave up our claim to the land or the hope of returning. So in that regard you can say that all Jews everywhere are Zionists.
The Zionism movement proper did indeed first arise in Europe, as a response to the constant stream of harassment and killings that Jews had to put up with, and the fact that the Emancipation of the Jews in Western Europe (referring to the new movement to make Jews citizens of the countries in which we dwelt) was a complete and utter failure.
Let's talk about Herzl, who is considered the Father of Zionism, although to be honest, many other Jews contributed to the philosophy and each has their own story. Herzl (pronounced Hurts-l) was a Viennese Jew. He was highly assimilated. In fact, he seriously considered converting to Catholicism just to make his assimilation 100%. Then he had a watershed moment at the trial of Dreyfus in France.
The Dreyfus affair was an instance when a Jew was framed for a murder he did not commit. We know this because later in history, the witnesses basically confessed that they had lied. French society rallied against Dreyfus, but it didn't stop there, it rallied against all Jews. A century after Jews were emancipated in France and assimilated, Jews were still the victims of prejudice and hate.
So Herzl was standing outside the courthouse when Dreyfus was convicted, and what he heard chilled him to the bone. The crowd was not shouting "Death to Dreyfus." They were shouting "Death to the Jews."
It became suddenly crystal clear to Herzl that emancipation and assimilation was not the solution. No matter how much Jews had become fellow citizens and embraced the culture of their adopted country, we were always going to be victimized and killed. The ONLY solution to the problem of antisemitism was to have our own land, and be a self-determining autonomous people.
While at first many Jews were resistant to this secular philosophy of Zionism, the holocaust changed everything. There were very few Orthodox Jews in Germany. German Jews were among the most highly assimilated in the world, who thought of themselves as Germans. It is interesting that in Anne Frank's diary, the ONLY time she discussed Judaism with her family was when they were celebrating CHRISTMAS. And yet it was precisely because Jews were so assimilated that Hitler believed them to be a great threat. Assimilation meant intermarriage, and that would, in the eyes of the Nazis, pollute the blood of the German people. As a result, six million were systematically killed.
Zionism is, simply, the secular political philosophy that Jews deserve self determination in order to survive in an antisemitic world. And really, every group has this right, not just Jews. It is a HUMAN right.
