Ruhi Khalidi

Khalidi was a high-profile critic of the earliest stages of Zionism,[3] although he made a sincere effort to better understand the movement by attending Yiddish plays, briefly studying at the Alliance Israelite School in Jerusalem and also owning Hebrew texts.

Khalidi advocated for an approach of anti-Zionism, but his debate record contains repeated clarifications to other parliamentarians that he was arguing against Jewish migration to Palestine, but not against the residence or status of Palestinian Jews.

His sentiments were based on the fear that Zionists wanted to create their own state with an exclusive social and political system.

He understood that the Zionists were attempting to create a nation where they would no longer be second class citizens or outsiders, but he felt their goals would be detrimental to the Ottoman Empire and all the people in it as a whole.

Khalidi was criticized by Zionists and non-Zionists for wanting to make illegal the purchase of land not only by unregistered Jewish immigrants, but also Jews that were natural citizens of the Ottoman Empire.