LAHARANNE, ERNEST°, 19th-century French writer and precursor of Zionism. Laharanne wrote political pamphlets and, during the reign of Napoleon III, edited a republican newspaper, L'Etat, which supported free trade. Beyond this, little is known of him. It is probable that he came from the south of France, was a left-wing Roman Catholic, and belonged to the Emperor's secretariat. He wrote a pamphlet entitled La Nouvelle Question d'Orient: Empires d'Egypte et d'Arabie: reconstitution de la nationalité juive (1860), in which he proposed establishing a Jewish state in Palestine extending from Suez to Smyrna. He championed his idea with a romantic ardor, conforming to the principle of nations so dear to Napoleon III. Moses *Hess published large portions of the work in his Rome and Jerusalem (Letter 11).
N.M. Gelber, Ḥasidei Ummot ha-Olam bi-Mevasserei ha-Teḥiyyah (1931), 75–80; idem, in: Ha-Po'el ha-Ẓa'ir (July 26, 1960); E. Laharanne, La nuova questione d'Oriente (1952), 3–10, preface by D. Lattes.
Source: Encyclopaedia Judaica. © 2008 The Gale Group. All Rights Reserved.