A large-scale event will take place Monday in the Stadtcasino Basel concert hall in Basel, Switzerland, with the attendance of Israel's President, Isaac Herzog.
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The main event will celebrate 125 years since the First Zionist Congress, held in the summer of 1897. The same hall, the same date and even at the same time. A historic landmark, at the end of which Theodor (Benjamin Ze'ev) Herzl wrote the eternal quote in his diary: "In Basel, I founded the Jewish State".
Yaakov Hagoel, the chairman of the World Zionist Organization, is convinced that "without exaggerating, the First Zionist Congress was one of the defining events in the history of the Jewish people over the past 500 years. We had a Jewish leader who went totally against conventional wisdom. He was ridiculed and everyone told him, 'Leave us alone. Let us continue dreaming of the Land of Israel. He created the platform. He is a person from whom you can learn that dreams can truly come true.'"
To understand how Herzl strived to realize his dream, we recommend reading the data in the files of the Zionist office in Vienna, filed in the Central Zionist Archive. The names of about one hundred donors are written there in handwriting and next to them are the amounts of money they gave so that the First Zionist Congress could convene.
Herzl, for example, donated 100 Francs, Dr. Max Bodenheimer, chairman of the German Zionist Federation at that time and the second chairman of the Jewish National Fund, donated 25 Francs, while Isidore Shalit, a dentist and one of the Zionist leaders in Austria and Herzl's personal secretary, shocked everyone and pulled 150 Francs out of his wallet.
To their chagrin
Herzl, who supervised the fundraising campaign, wrote in his diary, "The truth is that I only have an army of "schnorrers" [Yiddish for beggars] at my disposal. I am nothing more than a leader of pitiful young boys, beggars and journalists. If we succeed at all, it is possible that these soldiers will be enough to quickly turn into a strong and orderly army."
Herzl would have been delighted to witness the efficient organization of the current event, in August 2022. The Swiss government and the canton of Basel are funding the security costs. Canton Police Chief Martin Roth confirmed that the costs, which will include hundreds of soldiers, in addition to large police presence and temporarily stopping cruises on the Rhine River, will amount to 5.7 million Swiss Francs ($5.9 million).
The heavy security is a result of a large protest that is being held against the event. The organizers were informed in advance of demonstrations that are due to take place in the city in the coming days, mainly by pro-Palestinian organizations.
At the end of June, 70 entities, including political organizations, academics, cultural personalities, pro-Palestinian activists, and also Jews, sent an open letter of protest to the Canton of Basel, claiming that "Zionism is the ideological basis of the State of Israel, one of the last enterprises of settler-colonialism in the 21st century. Representatives in Basel are ignoring the existing reality in Israel, which has established an apartheid regime against the Palestinian people, as a continuation of the Zionist self-image, formed in Basel in 1897."
Five years ago there was an attempt to organize a similar event to mark the 120th anniversary of the First Zionist Congress, but it was unsuccessful due to security arrangements.
"This time it wasn't easy either," admits Hagoel. "The Swiss government rose up to the security challenge and took care of the costs and I am talking about millions of francs. This event will be secured on a scale that is rarely experienced in Europe."
Returning to the Days of Glory
President Herzog will not be the only dignitary to honor the ceremony with his presence. Also among the guests are former Swiss President, Guy Parmelin, and dignitaries from Israel and abroad, including Diaspora Affairs Minister Dr. Nachman Shai, Former IDF chief of staff and former Defense Minister Moshe (Bogie) Ya'alon, former Mossad Head Yossi Cohen, Chairman of the Jewish Agency Maj. Gen. (Ret.) Doron Almog, and publisher of the Israel Hayom, Dr. Miriam Adelson.
Among the hundreds of attendees at the concert hall in Basel there will also be 125 young Jewish entrepreneurs from all over the world and Jewish leaders from 38 countries. Organizers say that if they had space for 2,000 people, it would also be filled, because of the huge demand.
Guests participated yesterday in the first part of the event, which included discussions on topics such as "The Herzl Conference on Leadership," which focused on modern Zionism following in the footsteps of Herzl's vision, and a conference on socio-economic entrepreneurship.
Basel was decorated in honor of the event, which is a milestone in itself for the city's history. The Stadtcasino Basel hall is a central site that was founded in 1876 and serves, among others, as the home of the local symphony orchestra and for four years, since 2016, has been closed for a thorough renovation, "to bring it back to its days of glory."
On Monday, the main event of the conference in the renovated hall in Basel will host many Jewish men and women, who are a source of pride for the State of Israel, which in the summer of 1897 had just been put on the drawing board and was a distant dream. "When the war broke out in Ukraine, the World Zionist Organization, the Jewish Agency and the State of Israel joined a rescue mission, which brought 18,000 Jews to Israel," Hagoel says. "I have never seen a country take action like this to save its people. This is the difference between today and 125 years ago, a time when Israel did not exist."
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