What Is Zionism?

Zionism was a national liberation movement developed by European Jews in the late nineteenth century. Their early vision of a national homeland was fulfilled about half a century later with the creation of the independent state of Israel, which turned a majority Arab land into a Jewish state. Today, pro-Palestinian protesters on college campuses routinely denounce Zionism as a violent colonial project. In this episode, political scientist Ian Lustick recovers Zionism's historical origins and discusses its future, as roughly 7 million Jewish Israelis face as many Arab residents on territory controlled by Israel.

Om Podcasten

Learn how the past shapes the present with the best historians in the world. Everything happening today comes from something, somewhere, so let's start thinking historically about current events. History As It Happens, with new episodes every Tuesday and Friday, features interviews with today's top scholars and thinkers, interwoven with audio from history's archive.