Why Religious Jews Were Originally Anti-Zionist

The religious Jews were initially against Zionism because they believed in a traditional premise of Kalmudic Judaism where God made a deal with the nations not to oppress Jews too much in exchange for the Jews not hurrying God's plan to bring them back to Zion. The concept of Israel was seen as a violation of this belief as it implied Jews trying to return to Zion on their own, breaking the deal according to traditional Judaism.