Did Zionism Go Wrong or Was it Always Wrong?

About this episode

A discussion on the complexities of Zionism and anti-Zionism featuring Omer Bartov and Gideon Levy.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit peterbeinart.substack.com Professor Omer Bartov, is the author of the newly released, Israel: What Went Wrong . Haaretz Columnist Gideon Levy, in a recent column , criticized an interview about the book that Bartov conducted with Haaretz . I invited both of them to join me in a discussion. Topics include… The difficulty for some Jews of declaring oneself anti-Zionist Did Zionism go awry or was it always meant to be what it has become? What might a more moral Israel have looked like at its inception? The morality and necessity of BDS The loneliness of the anti-Zionist Israeli

People in this episode

Host: Peter Beinart

Guests: Omer Bartov, Gideon Levy

Topics covered

• Zionism
• anti-Zionism
• morality of Israel
• BDS
• Jewish identity
• Israeli politics

Keywords

• Zionism
• anti-Zionism
• Israel
• BDS
• morality
• Jewish identity
• Omer Bartov
• Gideon Levy

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Haaretz

Books & works: Israel: What Went Wrong

More episodes of The Beinart Notebook

• Is a Jewish Democracy a Contradiction in Terms? · June 10, 2026 · 12 min
• A Reply to Sam Harris · June 8, 2026 · 18 min
• “You Cease, We Fire” · June 5, 2026 · 13 min
• A Glimpse into The Horror in Gaza · June 1, 2026 · 9 min
• “You Cannot Pick and Choose Exceptions to Your Bigotry” · May 31, 2026 · 11 min
• Being Israeli After the Destruction of Gaza · May 28, 2026 · 13 min