A Genocide Scholar Asks “What Went Wrong” in Israel

About this episode

Omer Bartov discusses his concerns about Israel's military power and the implications of Zionism in his new book.

Omer Bartov is an Israeli professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. He grew up in a Zionist home and served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, but he has long been concerned about Israel’s use of military power. In a new book called “ Israel: What Went Wrong? ,” Bartov argues that Zionism has morphed into an ideology of extremism that led to genocide in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7th. “There is growing criticism of American support for these kinds of Israeli policies, both on the American left and on the American right,” Bartov tells David Remnick. Bartov believes that Israel requires “shock therapy” because “it has not still come to identify the limits of its own power, because those limits are in Washington, DC and it's there that those limits have to be set.” “For Israel, that would be good, because I think Israel needs to be liberated from that kind of dependence on American power. I think, for American society and for American Jewry, that’s a very bad thing because there is a rise of . . . antisemitism from the Tucker Carlsons of the world, who are a rising force right now.” Further reading: “ Israel: What Went Wrong? ,” by…

People in this episode

Host: David Remnick

Guest: Omer Bartov

Topics covered

• genocide studies
• Zionism
• Israeli military power
• American support
• antisemitism
• October 7th attacks

Keywords

• genocide
• Zionism
• Israel
• Hamas
• antisemitism
• military power
• Omer Bartov

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Brown University, Israel Defense Forces, The New Yorker

Books & works: Israel: What Went Wrong?

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