Jews are bound by a force others cannot begin to understand. It's not necessarily a good thing that made it this way, but that's the way it is.

On another note, I don't think most people even know what Zionism is. The Arab world set out to demonize this word and they have done a great and thorough job.

In the long history of the Jews, religious or not, there has been unprecedented persecution. This rekindled (it didn't create, but rather rekindled) the idea that Jews need to have their homeland reestablished. Zionism is the movement to accomplish this as a means of self-preservation in a world that has tried to annihilate the Jewish people more times than can be counted. And now everyone is entitled to a homeland except the Jews. That's the way it is, but it doesn't make the need any less potent.