An Internal Critique of the Herzl Foundations With Respect to the Views of Ahad Ha'am

Political Zionism, which was built on Theodor Herzl ideas, was followed by many internal and external criticisms from the beginning. Asher Ginsberg (Ahad Ha'am), the founder of the cultural Zionist, was among the critics among the Zionist movement. This paper studies the viewpoints and critics of Ahad Ha'am about the Political Zionism and the Herzl ideas. Concentrating on the Ahad Ha'am and Herzl works and using the immediate and intermediate sayings this paper has been written. Ahad Ha'am challenged Herzl's views about salvation of Jews through immigration to Palestine, creating an independent Jewish state, and gaining international support for the establishing a Jewish state to realize other goals of political Zionism, and emphasized on the cultural and spiritual revival of the nation and the preservation of their Jewish identity by considering the national values, which were completely ignored by Herzl.