Unpacking Israeli History

This is a really fantastic podcast - it should be required material for anyone wishing to form an opinion on Israel History!

Hi Noam, I just finished listening to your episode of What is Zionism, Part 1. First of all, I’d like to tell you how much I enjoy your podcast, and especially like any podcast where Haviv Rettig Gur is a guest!! I want to comment on your comparison of Jewish, Christian and Muslim population % increases in the Land of Israel from the early 1800s on… While it is true that the % of the Jewish population grew as a total population of the land during these years, I feel that you left out some extremely important factors. We need to look at the numerical increase of the distinct populations, not just the percentage increase. For example, in the beginning of the 1800s there were approximately 250,000 residents in the Land of Israel & the Jewish population was about 3% (7,000 residents). By 1889 this had increased to around 8% (27,000 Jews out of 350,000 total population), BUT had only risen in absolute numbers by 20,000. The Arab population (Christians & Muslims) had decreased in % terms, but had increased in absolute terms by 80,000 – 4x the increase in actual numbers than the Jewish population!! The vast majority of Israeli Arabs and Palestinian Arabs are descended either from the migration of Egyptian Fellahin under Muhammad Ali in 1832-1840, or the half million migrants from Syria, TransJordan and Egypt during the British Mandate (while Jewish immigration was strictly limited, especially after the 1939 British White Paper). Also, most of these Arab immigrants immigrated to areas close to Jewish settlements, as they found work in these areas!

Noam is a great storyteller, especially when it comes to stories hard to tell. I get to see with my own eyes and feel in my own life, how complicated and nuanced the Middle East affairs are now, so I have no doubt that history also never was simple, with so many parties and countries involved, each pursuing their own interests. I’m not Jewish, but married to a guy who is, and we’ve lived together in Northern Israel for 5 years now. I can say I’ve integrated pretty well, learned the language, I work in a local company, have local friends. But history was never my strong side, and diving into all the complexities of the Israel-Arab conflict seemed like something too big to even approach. So my knowledge of Israeli history was basic at most. And then October 7th came, this horrible and confusing day... How? Why? Why again?.. Luckily we are OK, but we had to leave our kibbutz home to stay in a safer area during the war. A couple of weeks later, after the initial shock, I realized that I don’t have a choice anymore - I must know what the heck has been going on here for the past 100 years (at least)… So - thank you Noam and the team for delivering an almost perfect (to my taste) coverage of the intricacies of Israeli history. Thank you for episodes of well-known, key events, and even more - for those that have been kind of swept under the rug of history. Thank you for always aspiring to bring the truth out, whether beautiful or ugly, whether giving hope or disappointment and fear. It is really great to hear your personal take on the stuff too. Keep on going, I’m sure there’s still a lot to dive into! May we know better and safer times ✨ כל הכבוד ותודה רבה!

Wow Noam. It took me a while to find you. In 1992, I went backpacking around South America and got in with these fresh-from-their-service Israeli Kravi boys. Who were these young men from a far, distant land, that could put up a tent, climb a mountain and make weird, burnt coffee, all within a space of 5 minutes? These were my men and I stuck with them, even though they were loud and rude and spoke in a language that sounded like they were coughing up phlegm. Fast forward 31 years and here’s this shiksa (me), married to one of them and the mother of three loud, rude, phlegm-speaking daughters, living in Ramat HaSharon. I came here just in time for the second intifada (I’m good with timing) and wondered what I’d got myself into. And I still do, 24 years in. But you are helping me Get These People and their history. We are in big trouble right now so I am podcasting back-to-back to inform myself. And you, Noam, are my go-to man. Thank you for the info and the humour. I owe you one.