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Understanding Israel Palestine
Understanding Israel/Palestine advocates for a fair and even-handed U.S. foreign policy that recognizes the rights of both Palestinians and Israelis. The program offers multiple perspectives through interviews with journalists, scholars, policy experts and activists to clarify the underlying issues that are often obscured by mainstream media.
Margot Patterson continues her conversation with Professor Barry Trachtenberg about the origins of Zionism. A response to anti-Semitism that reflected the rise of nationalist movements in Europe, Zionism was until the Nazi Holocaust during World II a minority movement within Judaism. From its inception it was a settler-colonial project that reflected the same asssumptions of cultural superioty that motived other European colonial projects. It was frequently facilitated by Christian Zionists who saw in Jews’ return to Palestine after 2,000 years a fulfillment of Christian eschatology. As even today the number of Christian Zionists exceeds that of Jewish Zionists, Trachtenberg says the word “Zionist” should be not be confused with “Jew” or “Jewish.” He notes that in the United States the term “Zionist” is often used to describe Jews who unconditionally support Israel, even though they themselves have no desire to emigrate to Israel. Trachtenberg holds the Rubin Presidential Chair in Jewish History at Wake Forest University, where he teaches courses on the history of Zionism.
