Longing for Israel is a central tenet of Judaism. Read any Jewish prayer service.

An elementary distinction is needed here. There is a big difference between longing for and loving Israel (see Psalm 137), on one hand, and advocating the use of force if necessary to establish a state there with all the trappings prior to the coming of the Messiah. I’m not taking a view here on which represents the more authentic Jewish stance in our era of Exile, but they are different attitudes and different stances.

David,
Thank you for teaching me this. I think it is worth pointing out, although you don’t make such a claim, that there is little possibility that the early Jewish Zionists were influenced in any way by the Christian Zionists who preceded them. All you have proved, and all you have set out to prove, is that Christian Zionists preceded Jewish Zionists. I find that fascinating.

Tere is a diference between abstract ideas that no Jew heard about them, and those thousands of the disciples of the Gaon of Vilna who belived in redemption through return,facilitate it, and build Jerusalem as the first stage towards a Jewish entity.

I chimed in on this conversation on my blog. Here’s what I had to say:
The disagreement between Klinghoffer and Student seems to hinge entirely on the idea that Zionism was invented in modern times and that the connection between the Jews and the Land of Israel was of a passive nature until that point. It may be more correct to view Zionism as an evolving process which began in biblical times and developed over the years. During the long exile from Israel, Jews prayed for return and even occasionally moved to the Land of Israel but the conditions under which they lived in Christian and Arab lands did not allow them to take any practical steps toward establishing a state. When the Jewish situation improved and political changes took place which allowed the dream to become closer to reality, Jews took full advantage. Even then, it was a long process until the dream was fulfilled.
But Zionism is not some modern invention dreamed up by some Christian theologian or philosopher.

To say that xians invented modern zionism is like saying that the Incas perfected heart surgery. It’s stupid, ignorant and downright patronizing. Read any Traditional Prayer Book and you’ll see the affirmations of Israel’s connection to G-d AND TO THE LAND OF ISRAEL and hope of return. If you would have read your Haggadah from the Passover (next, you’ll be saying it’s a xian holiday), it concludes with “next year in Jerusalem”.. guess you failed to get that.
What IS this obsession on the part of some Jews to .. for want of a better word, SUCK UP to xians who traditionally have been the most rabid of its persecutors. And don’t give me this nonsense that those who persecuted the Jews weren’t “real xians”. Their History and theology say otherwise. And don’t give me this nonsense about it only being the Catholic church. EVERY Reformer from Luther, to Calvin to Wesley was genocidal anti-semite. And don’t give me this whole schtick about evangelical xians being Israel’s greatest supporters. Yeah.. while they spend Millions of dollars annually to convert Jews. Watch TBN, watch the Inspirational Network, watch any mainline network. They pray and finance that the Jews be converted.
It’s sickening that now some schmecky assimilated Jews now praise xians for giving them Zionism. What’s next? G-d Help Us!!!!!