Zionism has it’s roots in Christianity. In short, it began purely religious, expanded to include Jewish Zionists early on, notably in the wake of pogroms in Europe, expanded to include secular justifications as European powers (Britain in particular) were sold onto the project. In any case, Antisemitism was Weaponized to benefit the Zionist project, at the expense of the safety of the Jewish diaspora.

Ilan Pappe has a very detailed book about the origins to the modern day lobbying apparatus: Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic

I haven’t read too much of the book yet, so that’s the best summary I can come up with right now

Zionism began as an evangelical Christian concept and later an active project. It appeared as a religious appeal to the faithful both to aid and be prepared for the ‘return of the Jews’ to Palestine and the establishment of a Jewish state there as the fulfilment of God’s will. But soon after, the Christians involved in this campaign politicised this ‘theology of return’, once they realised that a similar notion had begun to emerge among European Jews, who despaired of finding a solution to the never-ending anti-Semitism on the continent. The Christian desire to see a Jewish Palestine coincided with a similar European Jewish vision in the late nineteenth century.