Interestingly, Hatikva first took on the status of a quasi-
anthem at the sixth Zionist Conference in 1903. Herzl had tabled
a suggestion that the movement consider a British proposal to
move European Jews to eastern Africa (the Uganda Plan), and the
majority of delegates, who unlike him understood what Judaism
was about, were horrified; they resoundingly sang Hatikva to
make clear their point that their aspirations were about the
national homeland, not some African backwater. Thereafter the
song became the de-facto anthem of the Zionist movement, being
officially adopted in 1933. The melody derives from the same
Romanian folksong which inspired Smetana when he composed
Moldau. Interestingly, while the song was always the national
anthem of Israel, this was explicitly enacted only in 2004. The
song in its present form is a slightly modified and shortened
version of the original. A German colleague who once happened to
be visiting Israel during the week of Yom Hashoah-Yom Hazikaron-
Independence Day pointed told