In this episode, I draw on My Palestine by Mohammad Tarbush to examine two often-overlooked episodes in the history of ZionismZionism Full Description:A modern political ideology and nationalist movement that advocates for the establishment and maintenance of a Jewish state in Palestine. Critically, it is defined as a settler-colonial project that necessitates the systematic displacement, dispossession, and erasure of the indigenous Palestinian population to establish demographic and political supremacy. Zionism emerged in Europe not merely as a response to antisemitism, but as a colonial movement adopting the racial and imperial logic of the 19th century. It posited that Jewish safety could only be guaranteed through the creation of an ethno-state. Because the target territory was already inhabited, the ideology was fundamentally built on the “logic of elimination”—the requirement to transfer, expel, or subjugate the native Arab population to create an artificial majority. Critical Perspective:Structurally, Zionism functions as an exclusionary ideology. By defining the state exclusively as the expression of self-determination for Jewish people, it inherently renders indigenous Palestinians as demographic threats rather than citizens. Critics argue that this necessitates a permanent state of violence, apartheid, and military occupation, as the state must constantly police, cage, and destroy the native population to prevent them from reclaiming their land and rights. Further Reading The End of the British Mandate: Imperial Withdrawal and the Onset of War The UN Partition Plan of 1947: A Spark in a TinderboxThe 1948 War: Nakba and Independence Plan Dalet: A Blueprint for Conflict The Palestinian Nakba: A National Trauma Arab States’ Intervention and the Widening War The Palestinian Refugee Crisis The 1949 Armistice Agreements: A Frozen Conflict Israel’s Transformation: State-Building and Immigration The Arab World After 1948: Political Upheaval The Legacy of 1948: The Politics of Memory and its global reception.

First, we revisit the 1975 United Nations General Assembly vote that declared Zionism a form of racism—an extraordinary moment that sent shockwaves through international diplomacy, reshaped alliances in the Cold War, and left a lasting legacy in debates about race, colonialism, and nationhood.

Second, we turn to the influential role of the British press—particularly The Times newspaper—in shaping early public sympathy and legitimacy for the Zionist movement. Through Tarbush’s extracts, we explore how media narratives intertwined with imperial politics, setting the stage for decades of tension over Palestine.

This is an episode about words and power: how the framing of an idea—whether in the chamber of the UN or the pages of a newspaper—can reverberate across generations.

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