Every generation for the last 2000 years has thought so too.
Those who knew Scripture knew that end-time prophecy wouldn't begin or mean anything until Israel became a nation.
Israel is God's timepiece. When Israel became a nation, Bible prophecy begin to be fulfilled at an alarming rate so that we are now at the point when we are in the final hours before Christ returns.
One of the very last prophecies to be fulfilled before Jesus returns is the establishment of a one-world government. The new European Union president has announced that global governance was established in November, 2009.
That happened in our generation, not anytime in the last 2000 years.