What is the historical origin of the Greater Israel concept and who coined it?
Executive summary
The idea known in English as “Greater Israel” rests on two concentric origins: ancient biblical descriptions of Eretz Yisrael and a modern political reworking by Zionist thinkers and activists; it was not coined by a single individual but evolved from scripture into political language used by multiple actors, notably Theodor (Theodor/Théodore) Herzl, early revisionists like Ze’ev Jabotinsky and later right‑wing movements such as those around Menachem Begin and the Irgun [1] [2] [3] [4]. Scholarly and journalistic treatments emphasize that the phrase’s biblical roots predate modern nationalism, while its politicization accelerated in the 20th century and surged again after the 1967 war [5] [6] [2].
1. Biblical seed: Eretz Yisrael as textual precedent
The oldest lineage of the concept is religious and textual: the Hebrew Bible contains multiple and sometimes inconsistent delineations of the Promised Land—passages in Numbers, Deuteronomy and Ezekiel set territorial limits that were understood in Jewish tradition as Eretz Yisrael and provided the cultural-linguistic bedrock for later claims [5] [1]. Encyclopedic and academic summaries stress that Eretz Yisrael is a biblical phrase that, centuries later, resurfaced as a centerpiece of Jewish national sentiment and served as the semantic root for what English speakers call “Greater Israel” [1].
2. From idea to politics: early Zionist engagement
Modern political Zionism adopted biblical language without literally translating scriptural borders into immediate policy, but key figures did invoke expansive borders; Theodor Herzl’s diaries include language envisioning a Jewish polity stretching “from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates,” a formulation later cited by critics and sympathizers alike as emblematic of maximalist ambitions [7] [3]. Historians quoted in mainstream coverage caution that while such formulations surfaced in early Zionist writings, they did not constitute a coherent or universally endorsed blueprint across the movement—instead, they were one stream among pragmatic and realist currents [2] [6].
3. Revisionists, emblems and the interwar years
The term and the imagery hardened in part through right‑wing Zionist currents: Revisionists around Jabotinsky and militant groups like the Irgun used maps and symbols that implied broader territorial claims, and leaders such as Menachem Begin continued to invoke Eretz Yisrael language politically after 1948 [3] [4] [1]. Some commentators trace modern political usages and emblems directly to these actors, noting that Israel’s official post‑1948 stance favored pragmatic borders even as rival factions kept the “whole land” rhetoric alive [4] [6].
4. Post‑1967 revival and the term’s politicization
Scholars and journalistic accounts identify the 1967 Six‑Day War as a turning point when control of East Jerusalem, the West Bank, Gaza and the Golan made previously abstract religious‑historical claims politically actionable, energizing movements such as Gush Emunim and bringing “Greater Israel” from rhetoric closer to a concrete program for some parties [2] [8]. At the same time, mainstream Israeli leaders from Ben‑Gurion onward often rejected literal maximalism for demographic and democratic reasons, producing a persistent fault line within Israeli politics between maximalist ideology and sober statecraft [2] [6].
5. Terminology, conspiracy claims and contested meanings
Contemporary reporting shows the phrase is contested: critics and some regional actors treat “Greater Israel” as shorthand for expansionist designs and sometimes package it as a conspiratorial blueprint, while many defenders call that usage an exaggeration or mischaracterization of Zionism’s diverse currents [9] [10]. Multiple sources underline that no single person can be credited with “coining” the modern label; rather, it is an English gloss on Hebrew political‑religious language that accumulated meanings across scripture, Zionist literature, party rhetoric and militant iconography [5] [1] [3].
Conclusion
The historical origin of the “Greater Israel” concept is dual: ancient biblical texts supplied the vocabulary and imagined borders (Eretz Yisrael), while 19th–20th century Zionist leaders and movements—most prominently cited in the literature Theodor Herzl, revisionists like Jabotinsky, and later right‑wing activists—rehabilitated and politicized that vocabulary into a modern territorial idea; the phrase itself emerged over time rather than being the singular invention of one person [5] [7] [2] [3] [1].