“If you want it, it's not a dream.” In this quote Theodor Herzl set himself the goal of living up to his statement. The British offered the Jews an area in eastern Uganda as a temporary refuge so that they could be safe from anti-Semitism and pogroms in Europe; there is a dispute as to whether it was the right decision to reject such an offer, but the Seventh Zionist Congress made the right choice in rejecting Uganda as a Jewish refuge. In the late 1800s many Jews in Europe were exposed to events involving anti-immigration Semitism. In the Papal States the Christians wanted to convert the Jews. If they refused, the punishment was death. They were taxed heavily and placed in ghettos to be confined, like livestock. Herzl states: “Wherever they (the Jews) live in visible numbers, they are more or less persecuted. Their equality before the law, enshrined in the statute, is practically a dead letter." (The Jewish State, 21)Even in the Russian Empire things were not so pleasant. In April 1903, the Kishinev pogroms broke out, killing hundreds of Jews. This led tens of thousands of Jews to leave their homes and find safer places to live. Chisinau was not the only place where pogroms occurred; there were places all over Europe that had pogroms and strong anti-Semitism. The Dreyfus Affair in France began in 1894. Alfred Dreyfus was a secular Jew who was convicted of treason against France by providing information to the Germans. Theodor Herzl was an Austrian journalist sent to France to cover world affairs. During the trial, Dreyfus' Jewish heritage became known. This created a lot of confusion from the public who wanted Dreyfus to suffer as much as possible. “Death to the Jew” people shouted “Death to the Jew” over and over again. Like… halfway through the document… the other reason why Uganda's proposal is so important is because it's so prevalent. Herzl spoke not only about his present, but also about ours when he said. “And there is an attempt to chase them out of the market too: “Don't buy from the Jews!”” (21). Many people want to boycott Israel now and not buy anything made by Jews. This is one way of trying to hinder the Jewish community. But what the Holocaust demonstrated, the pogroms and Metzrayim demonstrated, is that no matter how much hatred there is, the Jews will always persevere. And that's the message I wanted to express and Herzl did everything in his power to help his nation. Uganda was not a suitable refuge because it was simply not Israel. What keeps Jews together and makes us so strong are the things we have in common: we have nothing in common with Uganda, but Israel is a special part of all our lives.