1819年，罗宾逊（W. D. Robinson）在密西西比州上游地区建立了犹太人定居点。1850年，从基督教改信了犹太教的美国领事Warder Cresson在耶路撒冷附近发展起其他定居点。Warder Cresson被妻子和儿子起诉，受到审判，被谴责为精神失常。他们断言，只有疯子才会从基督教转信犹太教。在第二次审判中，基于美国信仰自由和反犹主义的中心地位，Warder Cresson赢得了这场激烈的诉讼。[27]他移民到奥斯曼巴勒斯坦，并在耶路撒冷的Valley of Rephaim中建立了一个农业殖民地。他希望“阻止任何企图在我们可怜弟兄的生活必需品上占便宜的做法……（这样做）……会强迫他们假装改信”。[28]
自以色列建国以来，世界锡安主义组织主要是一个致力于协助和鼓励犹太人迁往以色列的组织。它在其他国家为以色列提供了政治支持，但在以色列内部政治中几乎没有任何作用。该运动自1948年以来取得的重大成就是为犹太移民提供后勤支援，而且，最重要的是协助苏联犹太人，尤其是帮助他们争取离开苏维埃的权利和实践宗教自由方面的斗争，该组织协助了85万犹太人走出阿拉伯世界，大部分人都回到以色列。1944年至1945年，大卫·本-古里安对外交官员介绍，一百万计划（One Million Plan）是“锡安主义运动的首要目标和首要任务”。[54]英国1939年白皮书的移民限制意味着这样的计划不可能发挥大规模的作用，但直到1948年5月的《以色列独立宣言》后，它才发挥了巨大的作用。新的国内移民政策在以色列政府中也存在反对的声音，例如，有人认为“对于那些没有生命安危的犹太人进行大规模移民是没有理由的，尤其是他们没有移民的动机和欲望。” [55]也有人认为，吸收移民过程造成“不当的困难”。[56]然而，大卫·本-古里安的影响力和坚持确保了他的移民政策得到执行。[57][58]
社会主义锡安主义，又称劳工锡安主义（Labor Zionism），起源于东欧。社会主义锡安主义者认为，在反犹社会无数个世纪的压迫中，犹太人已经被逼到一种懦弱、脆弱、绝望的存在中，这导致了反犹主义更加猖獗。这是西奥多·赫茨尔最先提出的一个观点。这派认为，革新犹太人的灵魂和社会是必要的，这可以通过让犹太人迁移到以色列，成为他们自己国家的农民、工人和士兵而实现。大多社会主义锡安主义者拒绝遵守传统的犹太教制度，因为这种犹太教延续着犹太人的“离散的心态”（Diaspora mentality），他们在以色列建立了乡村公社，叫做“基布兹”。基布兹开始是“国家农场”计划的一个变体，是一种合作农业，Jewish National Fund雇用了犹太工人，让他们接受经过训练的监督。基布兹是第二次阿利亚运动的象征，因为他们非常重视公社主义和平等主义，在一定程度上代表乌托邦社会主义。此外，他们强调自给自足，这成为社会主义锡安主义的重要方面。虽然社会主义锡安主义是从犹太教的基本价值观和精神上获得灵感和哲学根据的，但它对犹太教的激进表达往往导致了犹太教正统派的敌对关系。
从1897年第一次锡安主义大会至第一次世界大战，自由派锡安主义（或一般锡安主义）最初是锡安主义运动中的主流趋势。自由派锡安主义者向自由派欧洲中产阶级看齐，这是许多锡安主义领袖如西奥多·赫茨尔和魏兹曼所向往的。自由派锡安主义虽然与现代以色列任何一个政党无关，但它仍然是以色列政治的强烈趋势，它倡导自由市场原则和民主，并坚持人权。前进党是2000年代的主要党派，现在已经解散，它曾经向自由派锡安主义思想的许多基本政策看齐，极力主张巴勒斯坦国家建立的重要性，这样才可以在以色列建立一个更民主的社会，它肯定自由市场，呼吁以色列阿拉伯公民能享有平等权利。 2013年， Ari Shavit认为，当时新的“未来党“（代表世俗的、中产阶级的利益）的成功体现了“新的自由派锡安主义”的成功。[62]
由泽维·贾鲍京斯基领导的修正派锡安主义，变成民族主义锡安主义（Nationalist Zionism）。其指导原则在一篇〈铁壁〉（英语：Iron Wall (essay)） (1923)的文章中列举出来。1925年，贾鲍京斯基在巴黎一间咖啡馆召开“修正锡安主义者联盟会议”(Conference of the League of Zionist Revisionists)[66]。1935年，因为世界锡安主义组织拒绝指出建立犹太国是锡安主义的目标，修正主义者离开了世界锡安主义组织。
一些印度穆斯林也反对伊斯兰教的反锡安主义。 2007年8月，Maulana Jamil Ilyas率领的All India Organization of Imams and mosques代表团访问了以色列。这次会面达成了一项联合声明，表达了“印度穆斯林的和平与善意”，在印度穆斯林与以色列犹太人之间发展对话，反对以色列-巴勒斯坦冲突具有宗教性质的观点。[98]这次访问是由American Jewish Committee组织的。其访问的目的是促进有关以色列在全世界穆斯林眼中的地位的有益辩论，并加强印度与以色列的关系。人们认为，这次访问可以“打开全世界的穆斯林的观念，了解以色列国家的民主性质，特别是在中东的穆斯林”。[99]
* Shafir, Gershon, Being Israeli: The Dynamics of Multiple Citizenship, Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp 37–38
Bareli, Avi, "Forgetting Europe: Perspectives on the Debate about Zionism and Colonialism", in Israeli Historical Revisionism: From Left to Right, Psychology Press, 2003, pp 99–116
Pappé Ilan, A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples, Cambridge University Press, 2006, pp 72–121
Prior, Michael, The Bible and colonialism: a moral critique, Continuum International Publishing Group, 1997, pp 106–215
Shafir, Gershon, "Zionism and Colonialism", in The Israel / Palestinian Question, by Ilan Pappe, Psychology Press, 1999, pp 72–85
Lustick, Ian, For the Land and the Lord …
Zuriek, Elia, The Palestinians in Israel: A Study in Internal Colonialism, Routledge & K. Paul, 1979
Penslar, Derek J., "Zionism, Colonialism and Postcolonialism", in Israeli Historical Revisionism: From Left to Right, Psychology Press, 2003, pp 85–98
Pappe, Ilan, The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Oneworld, 2007
Masalha, Nur, The Bible and Zionism: invented traditions, archaeology and post-colonialism in Palestine-Israel 1, Zed Books: 16, 2007
Thomas, Baylis, The Dark Side of Zionism: Israel's Quest for Security Through Dominance, Lexington Books: 4, 2011
Prior, Michael, Zionism and the State of Israel: A Moral Inquiry, Psychology Press: 240, 1999
* Zionism, imperialism, and race, Abdul Wahhab Kayyali, ʻAbd al-Wahhāb Kayyālī (Eds), Croom Helm, 1979
Gerson, Allan, "The United Nations and Racism: the Case of Zionism and Racism", in Israel Yearbook on Human Rights 1987, Volume 17; Volume 1987, Yoram Dinstein, Mala Tabory (Eds), Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 1988, p 68
Hadawi, Sami, Bitter harvest: a modern history of Palestine, Interlink Books, 1991, p 183
Beker, Avi, Chosen: the history of an idea, the anatomy of an obsession, Macmillan, 2008, p 131, 139, 151
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Herzl, Theodor (1896). "Palästina oder Argentinien?". Der Judenstaat (in German). sammlungen.ub.uni-frankfurt.de. p. 29 (31). Retrieved 27 May 2016，p.27（29）
Tessler, Mark A. (1994). A History of the Israeli–Palestinian Conflict （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）. Indiana University Press. Retrieved 2016-06-22. p55-56The suggestion that Uganda might be suitable for Jewish colonization was first put forward by Joseph Chamberlain, the British colonial secretary, who said that he had thought about Herzl during a recent visit to the interior of British East Africa. Herzl, who at that time had been discussing with the British a scheme for Jewish settlement in Sinai, responded positively to Chamberlain's proposal, in part because of a desire to deepen Zionist-British cooperaion and, more generally to show that his diplomatic efforts were capable of bearing fruit.
Adam Rovner (12 December 2014). In the Shadow of Zion: Promised Lands Before Israel （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）. NYU Press. p. 45. ISBN 978-1-4798-1748-1.European Jews swayed and prayed for Zion for nearly two millennia, and by the end of the nineteenth century their descendants had transformed liturgical longing into a political movement to create a Jewish national entity somewhere in the world. Zionism'sprophet, Theodor Herzl, considered Argentina, Cyprus, Mesopotamia, Mozambique, and the Sinai Peninsula as potential Jewish homelands. It took nearly a decade for Zionism to exdusively concentrate its spiritual yearning on the spatial coordinates of Ottoman Palestine.
Naomi E. Pasachoff; Robert J. Littman (2005). A Concise History of the Jewish People. Rowman & Littlefield. pp. 240–242. ISBN 978-0-7425-4366-9.Adam Rovner (12 December 2014). In the Shadow of Zion: Promised Lands Before Israel （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）. NYU Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-4798-1748-1. On the afternoon of the fourth day of the Congress a weary Nordau brought three resolutions before the delegates: (1) that the Zionist Organization direct all future settlement efforts solely to Palestine; (2) that the Zionist Organization thank the British government for its other of an autonomous territory in East Africa; and (3) that only those Jews who declare their allegiance to the Basel Program may become members of the Zionist Organization." Zangwill objected… When Nordau insisted on the Congress’s right to pass the resolutions regardless, Zangwill was outraged. “You will be charged before the bar of history,” he challenged Nordau… From approximately 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 30, 1905, a Zionist would henceforth he defined as someone who adhered to the Basel Program and the only “authentic interpretation” of that program restricted settlement activity exclusively to Palestine. Zangwill and his supporters could not accept Nordau’s “authentic interpretation" which they believed would lead to an abandonment of the Jewish masses and of Herzl’s vision. One territorialist claimed that Ussishkin’s voting bloc had in fact “buried political Zionism”.
Adam Rovner (12 December 2014). In the Shadow of Zion: Promised Lands Before Israel （页面存档备份，存于互联网档案馆）. NYU Press. p. 81. ISBN 978-1-4798-1748-1. On the afternoon of the fourth day of the Congress a weary Nordau brought three resolutions before the delegates: (1) that the Zionist Organization direct all future settlement efforts solely to Palestine; (2) that the Zionist Organization thank the British government for its other of an autonomous territory in East Africa; and (3) that only those Jews who declare their allegiance to the Basel Program may become members of the Zionist Organization." Zangwill objected… When Nordau insisted on the Congress’s right to pass the resolutions regardless, Zangwill was outraged. “You will be charged before the bar of history,” he challenged Nordau… From approximately 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, July 30, 1905, a Zionist would henceforth he defined as someone who adhered to the Basel Program and the only “authentic interpretation” of that program restricted settlement activity exclusively to Palestine. Zangwill and his supporters could not accept Nordau’s “authentic interpretation" which they believed would lead to an abandonment of the Jewish masses and of Herzl’s vision. One territorialist claimed that Ussishkin’s voting bloc had in fact “buried political Zionism”.
Ėstraĭkh, G. In Harness: Yiddish Writers' Romance with Communism. Judaic traditions in literature, music, and art.Syracuse, New York: Syracuse University Press, 2005. p. 30
Hacohen 1991, p. 262 #2:"In meetings with foreign officials at the end of 1944 and during 1945, Ben-Gurion cited the plan to enable one million refugees to enter Palestine immediately as the primary goal and top priority of the Zionist movement.
Hakohen 2003, p. 46: "After independence, the government presented the Knesset with a plan to double the Jewish population within four years. This meant bringing in 600,000 immigrants in a four-year period. or 150,000 per year. Absorbing 150,000 newcomers annually under the trying conditions facing the new state was a heavy burden indeed. Opponents in the Jewish Agency and the government of mass immigration argued that there was no justification for organizing large-scale emigration among Jews whose lives were not in danger, particularly when the desire and motivation were not their own."
Hakohen 2003, p. 246–247: "Both the immigrants' dependence and the circumstances of their arrival shaped the attitude of the host society. The great wave of immigration in 1948 did not occur spontaneously: it was the result of a clear-cut foreign policy decision that taxed the country financially and necessitated a major organizational effort. Many absorption activists, Jewish Agency executives, and government officials opposed unlimited, nonselective immigration; they favored a gradual process geared to the country's absorptive capacity. Throughout this period, two charges resurfaced at every public debate: one, that the absorption process caused undue hardship; two, that Israel's immigration policy was misguided."
Hakohen 2003, p. 47: "But as head of the government, entrusted with choosing the cabinet and steering its activities, Ben-Gurion had tremendous power over the country's social development. His prestige soared to new heights after the founding of the state and the impressive victory of the IDF in the War of Independence. As prime minister and minister of defense in Israel's first administration, as well as the uncontested leader of the country's largest political party, his opinions carried enormous weight. Thus, despite resistance from some of his cabinet members, he remained unflagging in his enthusiasm for unrestricted mass immigration and resolved to put this policy into effect."
Hakohen 2003, p. 247: "On several occasions, resolutions were passed to limit immigration from European and Arab countries alike. However, these limits were never put into practice, mainly due to the opposition of Ben-Gurion. As a driving force in the emergency of the state, Ben-Gurion—both prime minister and minister of defense—carried enormous weight with his veto. His insistence on the right of every Jew to immigrate proved victorious. He would not allow himself to be swayed by financial or other considerations. It was he who orchestrated the large-scale action that enabled the Jews to leave Eastern Europe and Islamic countries, and it was he who effectively forged Israel's foreign policy. Through a series of clandestine activities carried out overseas by the Foreign Office, the Jewish Agency, the Mossad le-Aliyah, and the Joint Distribution Committee, the road was paved for mass immigration."
Goldstein, Jonathan (1999), "The Republic of China and Israel", in Goldstein, Jonathan, China and Israel, 1948–1998: A Fifty Year Retrospective, Westport, Conn. and London: Praeger, pp. 1–39
Lewis, Donald (2 January 2014). The Origins of Christian Zionism: Lord Shaftesbury And Evangelical Support For A Jewish Homeland. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 380.ISBN 9781107631960.
Murray, Iain (October 2014). the Puritan Hope. Edinburgh: Banner of Truth. p. 326. ISBN 9781848714786. "The Puritan Hope and Jewish Evangelism". Herald Magazine, Christian Witness to Israel. 2015. Archived from the original on 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2016-06-29. "John MacArthur, Israel, Calvinism, and Postmillennialism". American Vision. 2007-07-03. Archived from the original on 2016-06-29. Retrieved 2016-06-29.
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E. Nimni (ed.), The Challenge of Post-Zionism, Zed Books, 2003 ISBN 1-85649-893-X.
J. Reinharz and A. Shapira (ed.), Essential Papers on Zionism, New York University Press, 1996 ISBN 0-8147-7449-0.
J. Mandel, The Arabs and Zionism before World War I, University of California Press, 1976.
Z. Sternhell, The Founding Myths of Israel – Nationalism, Socialism, and the making of the Jewish State, Princeton University Press, 1998 ISBN 1-4008-0774-3.
G. Shafir, Land, Labor and the Origins of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, 1882–1914, University of California Press, 1996 ISBN 0-520-20401-8.
K. Armstrong, The Battle for God, Ballantine Books, 2001. ISBN 0-345-39169-1.
Stephen Sizer. Christian Zionism: Road map to Armageddon? (InterVarsity Press: 2004) - Very in-depth analysis of the historical, theological and political claims and influences of the movement.
Lawrence Jeffrey Epstein. Zion’s call: Christian contributions to the origins and development of Israel (Lanham : University Press of America, 1984)
Michael J. Pragai. Faith and fulfilment: Christians and the return to the Promised Land (London, England : Vallentine, Mitchell, 1985)
Irvine H. Anderson. Biblical interpretation and Middle East policy : the promised land, America, and Israel, 1917-2002 (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2005)
Paul Charles Merkley. The Politics of Christian Zionism 1891 – 1948 (London: Frank Cass, 1998)
Gorenberg, Gershom. The End of Days: Fundamentalism and the Struggle for the Temple Mount (New York: The Free Press, 2000).
Boyer, Paul. "John Darby Meets Saddam Hussein: Foreign Policy and Bible Prophecy," Chronicle of Higher Education, supplement, 2003-02-14, pp. B 10-B11.
Selig Adler & Thomas E. Connolly. From Ararat to Suburbia: the History of the Jewish Community of Buffalo (Philadelphia: the Jewish Publication Society of America, 1960, Library of Congress Number 60-15834).
