The Zionites - In the Movies

A Zionite is an inhabitant of Zion, The last human city. Zion is the city where humans who were freed from the Matrix live. The populations consists also of humans who were born outside of the cocoons and thus have no plugs for a direct connection from the neural system to the matrix.

It is a city nestled underground, speculated to be 4 kilometers deep (or roughly two miles.) The Machines are in direct opposition of Zion. The soldiers of Zion can tap into the Matrix and occasionally free select individuals. In the films, these soldiers were Morpheus and Trinity, and they come into the Matrix to free Neo from it, with the belief he is "The One."

In History

The word "Zion," historically, refers to the former Jebusite fortress in ancient Jerusalem, which later was called "the city of David" (2 Samuel 5:7,9). In the Maccabean period, Zion referred to the Temple Mount (I Maccabees 4:37-38). Old Testament Zion was equated with the Temple, and was the name for the religious centre of the Jews. (J.D. Douglas. The New Bible Dictionary, p. 617). The Hebrew Scriptures equate Zion with the Holy City, Jerusalem. Psalm 135:21 reads: Blessed be the LORD out of Zion, who dwelleth at Jerusalem. Isaiah 24:23 reads: The LORD of hosts will reign on Mount Zion and in Jerusalem.

"Zionism" is a term coined by Nathan Birnbaum in 1890 denoting that `movement' whose goal was the return of the Jewish people to Eretz Israel. From 1896 the term referred to the political movement founded by Theodor Herzl, aiming at the establishment of a Jewish State in the land of Israel. (Encyclopedic Dictionary of Judaica, p. 647).

Websters Dictonary lists Zion as the following:

Zi·on - also Si·on (sn) n. The historic land of Israel as a symbol of the Jewish people.

• The Jewish people; Israel.
• A place or religious community regarded as sacredly devoted to God.
• An idealized, harmonious community; utopia.