Herzl, Theodor (1860–1904). Best remembered as the father of
political Zionism. He was an assimilated Jew from Budapest who was educated in
Vienna. He served as a reporter for the trial of Alfred Dreyfus and became convinced
that the only solution for the Jewish problem in Europe was a national home. He
wrote The Jewish State in 1896 and presided over the First Zionist Congress in
Basel, Switzerland, in 1897. There, he said that in 50 years, a Jewish state
would exist in Palestine. His words proved prophetic.
Courtesy: Professor Shai Cherry
