Israeli Historian Ilan Pappé Claims Zionism Was Backed by Europe to Address Its Anti-Jewish Racism
February 25, 2026
“IT WAS CONVENIENT FOR EUROPE.”
Historian Ilan Pappé argues that Zionism was not just a Jewish national movement but also a European political solution.
A continent steeped in antisemitism.
A history of expulsions, pogroms, and genocide.
And instead of dismantling its racism, Europe supported the creation of a state elsewhere.
According to Pappé, backing a homeland in Palestine allowed European powers to reposition themselves — morally cleansed, politically absolved — while a different population bore the consequences.
Not the end of colonial thinking.
But its relocation.
History isn’t just about what happened.
It’s about who paid the price.
Enough is enough. Palestine is paying the price.
#IlanPappe #History #Zionism #Palestine #fyp
English Script:
Tanish Talib: Israeli soldiers carry out a genocide in Gaza and then they go to detox in India.
Shrishti Khanna: I think that’s a bit unsettling because when you talk about it in India, people like, oh, but they’re just stories. Why are you questioning tourism? But the problem is, when there is an ongoing genocide in a certain part of the world and people who have been a part of it directly or indirectly are coming in India, you are accepting business as usual. And when you do that, you realize that you are also complicit.
Tanish Talib: Remember when AJ+ spoke with Shrishti Khanna, who was doxed and harassed in India for speaking out about Israel? Well, she was threatened after she talked about Israelis vacationing in India.
Shrishti Khanna: As the genocide in Gaza continues, an article documenting the idea of holidaying in India.
Tanish Talib: As many as 80,000 Israelis travel to India every year, many of them ex soldiers. They often go on what’s called the Hummus Trail, a journey across India to relax after serving in the Israeli military. And pro-Palestine activists like Shrishti say it’s not right that Israelis vacation in India during a genocide.
Shrishti Khanna: A lot of them are coming to decompress after their military trips, and from having talked to a lot of people and having those personal anecdotes, they do boast about it, and they do talk about it quite a bit because it’s such an identity thing as well, being a part of the military.
Tanish Talib: There have been repeated incidents over decades where Israelis in India have been accused of racism, taking drugs and disrespecting locals. And it’s not only India. Their behavior has been called out in other countries like Thailand and Sri Lanka too.
Shrishti Khanna: I think it’s like another form of colonialism and creating similar forms of apartheid here, where the locals are discriminated against and there’s just a lot of bigotry and racism as well. I talked to a few people, and I have personal anecdotes of people traveling in these places, and also locals who themselves, homestay owners who have reported that they’ve been harassing. They don’t pay and they just sort of leave and go M.I.A. They come and they cause a lot of havoc. So there’s just this sense of like there’ll be no consequences, because the larger pattern of it is that the Israeli state has had no consequences.
