"Modern Hebrew" is a Zionist invention:
- It was created by Eliezer Yitzhak Perlman, a notorious Zionist and a founder of "Hebrewism", a notion that Hebrew should be the only language that Jews should use, not Aramaic or Yiddish. (As opposed to Yiddishism)
- It is mostly spoken by "Israelis"
- At the time of Hebrew revival, most Jews opposed using holy language for discussing everyday things and preferred Yiddish as a national language of Jewish people
But can a language by itself be Zionist? It is a Zionist invention, it is used by Zionists, but does speaking it make you a Zionist? Should Jews worldwide learn and use Yiddish and Aramaic as a national language instead of "Modern Hebrew"? I mean, "Modern Hebrew" is so artificial, it didn't have curse words at the beginning, so Zionists sweared at Yiddishists in Yiddish!
P.S. Apologies to many smart people here bothering you with my midnight thoughts
Modern Hebrew is no more Zionist in character than Esperanto is Finvenkist. Acting like someone is inherently Zionist on the basis of sy first language is just absolutely unproductive "original sin" type thinking, you absolutely can find L1 Modern Hebrew speakers who have a conscience; on the other hand acting like someone must be Zionist for learning Modern Hebrew as a second language, ignores the fact that there are in fact plenty of very valid reasons to learn Modern Hebrew, reasons that actually led Modern Hebrew to become a mandatory subject in Ghazza's schools in 2012 I believe.
This being said, language absolutely is used as a tool to reproduce settlerism and bourgeois ideology in general, including in the case of Modern Hebrew with Zionism: because the vast majority of fluent and native speakers of Modern Hebrew live in the Zionist Entity, as you pointed out — or rather, the Zionist Entity is the only place in the world where people are actively encouraged to, and not discouraged from, learning Modern Hebrew — the Entity is given an effective monopoly over media produced in Modern Hebrew. This means that anyone with Modern Hebrew as a first language, who wants to consume media in sy first language, has very few choices other than media produced or translated in the Zionist Entity. Such media is practically guaranteed to be under the auspices of the settler bourgeoisie and representative of their ideology.
This is really something I've thought about with regard to languages in general, when reflecting on language dynamics I observe in Norway and Seppoland. A lot more can be said about how languages are used to create identities or oppress others as well, and I really wish I could keep on rambling, but I'm frankly feeling too tired for that.
Do Jews worldwide really need any one specific national language? There are many different Jewish languages in many different language families, many of these Jewish languages are today endangered, and I personally think that the diversity of Jewish languages is worth preserving. I really don't see why manifold people living all over the world should settle on one specific "national language" on the basis of being part of one specific diaspora.