Magshimey Herut
Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. World Magshimey Herut (Hebrew: מגשימי חרות עולמי, lit. "world achievers of liberty") is a Zionist young adult movement founded in 1999 by a group of Jewish activists who felt the need for a young adult movement dedicated to the ideals of aliyah, social justice and the territorial integrity of the Land of Israel. The world headquarters of the movement are located in Israel symbolizing the state of Israel's centrality to Jewish life.
World MH is dedicated to a strong and independent Jewish nation in the Land of Israel, composed of Jews from around the world reuniting in their homeland. To this end the movement works in conjunction with the World Zionist Organization (WZO), the Jewish Agency for Israel, and the Jewish National Fund on projects that advance common goals.
History
World MH was founded in 1999 by a number of Betar members looking to answer the need for a hagshama[clarification needed] movement of young adult activists dedicated to the personal implementation of their commitment to social justice, the unity of the Hebrew nation and the integrity of the Land of Israel.
When a Likud government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu relinquished parts of Hebron to Yasser Arafat in 1998, Betar (the youth movement most associated with the Likud) members were uncertain as to how to view a Likud Prime Minister's betrayal of one of their most sacred principles. As a reaction to the Prime Minister's decision, the Director of Overseas Activities at the time, Karma Feinstein-Cohen, along with a group of ideological purists and veteran activists from chapters throughout the world, left Betar in order to establish a new movement.
Led by a group of activists from different religious backgrounds, the new movement made an effort to be more sympathetic to all levels of Jewish observance. This was done because the unity of the Jewish people was their ultimate objective, above all.
Ideology
World MH is a Zionist movement. It unabashedly embraces Zionism as the legitimate term to describe the just aspirations of the Jewish people for normalcy and sovereignty in their national homeland.
World MH is proactively engaged in the fulfillment of classic Zionist goals:
- The ingathering of the majority of world Jewry into the Land of Israel
- Jewish settlement throughout the homeland
- The incorporation of the entire Land into the free nation-state of the Jewish people, in the State of Israel.
Like the founding fathers of Zionism who dedicated their lives to the establishment of a state, dedication is needed to finish this Zionist task.
Although for the first time in two millennia there is a Jewish state, it is engaged in constant struggle for its continued existence. World MH takes the responsibility to guarantee its future. They gladly do so and commit themselves to the effort in order to ensure the welfare of Israel and the fulfillment of Zionism.
World MH views itself as loyal to the basic Zionist teachings of Zev Jabotinsky and the Revisionist Zionist Movement. Revisionist Zionism advocates the 'revision' of the 'practical Zionism' of David Ben Gurion and Chaim Weizmann, which was focused on independent settlement of the Land of Israel. Revisionist Zionism was instead centered on a vision of "political Zionism", which Jabotinsky regarded as following the legacy of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism. In its early years, and under Jabotinsky's leadership, Revisionist Zionism was focused on gaining British aid for settlement. In 1925, Jabotinsky formed the Union of Zionists Revisionists, in the World Zionist Congress, to advocate his views, which included increased cooperation with the British on transforming the entire Mandate for Palestine on both sides of the Jordan River into a sovereign Jewish state, loyal to the British Empire. To this end, Jabotinsky advocated for mass Jewish immigration from Europe and the creation of a second Jewish Legion to guard a promising Jewish state.
"I did not learn my Zionism from the works of Achad Haam, not even from Herzl and Nordau. I learned how to be a Zionist from the Gentiles. The best part of my youth I spent in Rome, where I made a careful study of the Italians. At the turn of the century, Italy was a free and pleasant country, liberal, peace-loving, carefree without the slightest trace of chauvinism – just a country almost 100 per cent Italian, harming nobody, persecuting no one. ‘This is how every nation should live and us Jews too’. I said to myself. Now sometimes I hear the argument that this Gentile Zionist school was detrimental, because Zionism must be nourished exclusively from Jewish sources with all the accompanying hair-splitting – for and against. But it is my view that this approach is incorrect. There is no hair-splitting in Zionism. There is also no for or against. Zionism is water and air, valley and hill. It is enough for one to observe the world of the Almighty in order to learn the wisdom of it all. And whether that corner of the world of the Almighty that one observes be Italy, France or England – it is of no consequence." -Ze’ev Jabotinsky (‘By Intellect’, 1934, On Literature and Art)
Activities
World MH is active in several countries around the globe with four major types of activities. 1. Aliyah assistance from A to Z 2. Tailor-made internships 3. Leadership seminars 4. Helping with college campus activism
