page_title: First Zionist Congress
hierarchical_section_title: First Zionist Congress
caption_attribution_description: English: The delegates at the First Zionist Congress in 1897 العربية: مندوبون في المؤتمر الصهيوني الأول في بازل في سويسرا عام 1897. وقد ضم المؤتمر جميع الجاليات اليهودية بهدف إنشاء وطن قومي لليهود في فلسطين.
context_page_description: First Zionist Congress was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization held in Basel, Switzerland, from August 29 to August 31, 1897. 208 delegates and 26 press correspondents attended the event. It was convened and chaired by Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism movement. The Congress formulated a Zionist platform, known as the Basel program, and founded the Zionist Organization. It also adopted the Hatikvah as its anthem.
  The conference was covered by the international press, making a significant impression; the publicity subsequently inspired the antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
context_section_description: First Zionist Congress (Hebrew: הקונגרס הציוני הראשון‎) was the inaugural congress of the Zionist Organization (ZO) (to become the  World Zionist Organization (WZO) in 1960) held in Basel (Basle), Switzerland, from August 29 to August 31, 1897. 208 delegates and 26 press correspondents attended the event. It was convened and chaired  by  Theodor Herzl, the founder of the modern Zionism movement.  The Congress formulated a Zionist platform, known as the Basel program, and founded the Zionist Organization. It also adopted the  Hatikvah as its anthem (already the anthem of Hovevei Zion and later to become the national anthem of the State of Israel).
  The conference was covered by the international press, making a significant impression; the publicity subsequently inspired the antisemitic forgery The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
caption: The delegates at the First Zionist Congress, held in Basel, Switzerland (1897).