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New Documentary on History of Zionism to Counter ‘Erasure of the Jewish People’
Pro-Israel rally in Times Square, New York City, US, Oct. 8, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Jeenah Moon
Oriental rugs, Bauhaus furniture, and Mediterranean sweets adorned a stage featuring one college student and a former member of Israel’s parliament, known as the Knesset. The suavely-set docuseries preview was the latest attempt by a group of Zionist organizations, most prominently the Tikvah Fund, to create greater public knowledge about the history of Zionism.
On Dec. 12, the University of California, Los Angeles’ Hillel Center held a preview of the new documentary expanding on the history of Zionism. Featuring former Israeli politician Einat Wilf and her 23-year-old former Georgetown University student, Zoe Tara Zeigherman, the five-part documentary series will be featured on over 30 college campuses across the country before a wider release next month.
The documentary breaks down the history of the Jewish state’s establishment and its aftermath into five parts: emancipation and political Zionism; socialism and labor Zionism; religious Zionism and anti-Zionism; Islamic and Arab anti-Zionism amidst the creation of Israel; and Soviet, anti-imperialism, and left-wing anti-Zionism.
The series is unique in the thoroughness of its attempt to blend historical narratives with contemporary political analysis. “The series ends in our contemporary moment and a discussion of left-wing anti-Zionism,” Zeigherman told The Algemeiner. However, “it discusses this movement through its roots in Soviet anti-Zionism.”
Zeigherman, a London-born graduate of Georgetown University in Washington, DC, added that the film seeks to highlight the similarities between contemporary anti-Zionism and the “anti-Zionist propaganda machine that was so heavily invested in the Soviet Union, especially after the Six-Day War [of 1967].”
In the episodes, which range in length from 30-40 minutes, Wilf examines the history of Zionism in a way that the directors sought to make digestible for the average college student.
After serving in the Knesset as a representative of the Labor and the Independence parties from 2010 to 2013, Wilf has since pivoted to activism and academia, authoring several books and, most recently, teaching courses at Georgetown.
The impetus for the documentary, Zeigherman told The Algemeiner, was the miseducation of her peers. During the tumultuous summer of 2020, Zeigherman recalled that her peers viewed Jews as “actually white and oppressors in a kind of oppressed-oppressor narrative used as a comprehensive worldview.” The result, she observed, was “the erasure of Jewish history and an erasure of Jewish people.”
Her alienation amongst progressive voices ultimately led Zeigherman to seek out the voices of progressive Zionist pundits online. Among them was Wilf, who by sheer coincidence was set to teach at Georgetown the following semester. The former Israeli politician’s course was “transformative” for Zeigherman “as a student, for me, as a Jew,” she explained. “I was finally able to root my understanding of myself in knowledge, in history.”
This month’s screening took place as a preview ahead of a wider audience release set to occur in Jan. 2024.
According to the documentary’s product manager, Yael Zeldin, its broader release will be intended “to become an integral part of the curriculum for Israel education.”
Zeldin told The Algemeiner that agreements are in place with Hillel chapters “to be viewed across the country,” but that she hopes it will also be featured in “synagogues, Jewish Community Centers, and anywhere else where its screening can be of educational value.”
The series is produced by Levana Studios, and a trailer for the documentary can be found on its website.
The public release will include a series of YouTube videos that break up the interviews into soundbites, with the intention of such a format resonating with a younger generation that often watches short videos on social media.
The post New Documentary on History of Zionism to Counter ‘Erasure of the Jewish People’ first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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After False Dawns, Gazans Hope Trump Will Force End to Two-Year-Old War
Palestinians walk past a residential building destroyed in previous Israeli strikes, after Hamas agreed to release hostages and accept some other terms in a US plan to end the war, in Nuseirat, central Gaza Strip October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Issa
Exhausted Palestinians in Gaza clung to hopes on Saturday that US President Donald Trump would keep up pressure on Israel to end a two-year-old war that has killed tens of thousands and displaced the entire population of more than two million.
Hamas’ declaration that it was ready to hand over hostages and accept some terms of Trump’s plan to end the conflict while calling for more talks on several key issues was greeted with relief in the enclave, where most homes are now in ruins.
“It’s happy news, it saves those who are still alive,” said 32-year-old Saoud Qarneyta, reacting to Hamas’ response and Trump’s intervention. “This is enough. Houses have been damaged, everything has been damaged, what is left? Nothing.”
GAZAN RESIDENT HOPES ‘WE WILL BE DONE WITH WARS’
Ismail Zayda, 40, a father of three, displaced from a suburb in northern Gaza City where Israel launched a full-scale ground operation last month, said: “We want President Trump to keep pushing for an end to the war, if this chance is lost, it means that Gaza City will be destroyed by Israel and we might not survive.
“Enough, two years of bombardment, death and starvation. Enough,” he told Reuters on a social media chat.
“God willing this will be the last war. We will hopefully be done with the wars,” said 59-year-old Ali Ahmad, speaking in one of the tented camps where most Palestinians now live.
“We urge all sides not to backtrack. Every day of delay costs lives in Gaza, it is not just time wasted, lives get wasted too,” said Tamer Al-Burai, a Gaza City businessman displaced with members of his family in central Gaza Strip.
After two previous ceasefires — one near the start of the war and another earlier this year — lasted only a few weeks, he said; “I am very optimistic this time, maybe Trump’s seeking to be remembered as a man of peace, will bring us real peace this time.”
RESIDENT WORRIES THAT NETANYAHU WILL ‘SABOTAGE’ DEAL
Some voiced hopes of returning to their homes, but the Israeli military issued a fresh warning to Gazans on Saturday to stay out of Gaza City, describing it as a “dangerous combat zone.”
Gazans have faced previous false dawns during the past two years, when Trump and others declared at several points during on-off negotiations between Hamas, Israel and Arab and US mediators that a deal was close, only for war to rage on.
“Will it happen? Can we trust Trump? Maybe we trust Trump, but will Netanyahu abide this time? He has always sabotaged everything and continued the war. I hope he ends it now,” said Aya, 31, who was displaced with her family to Deir Al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
She added: “Maybe there is a chance the war ends at October 7, two years after it began.”
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Mass Rally in Rome on Fourth Day of Italy’s Pro-Palestinian Protests
A Pro-Palestinian demonstrator waves a Palestinian flag during a national protest for Gaza in Rome, Italy, October 4, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Claudia Greco
Large crowds assembled in central Rome on Saturday for the fourth straight day of protests in Italy since Israel intercepted an international flotilla trying to deliver aid to Gaza, and detained its activists.
People holding banners and Palestinian flags, chanting “Free Palestine” and other slogans, filed past the Colosseum, taking part in a march that organizers hoped would attract at least 1 million people.
“I’m here with a lot of other friends because I think it is important for us all to mobilize individually,” Francesco Galtieri, a 65-year-old musician from Rome, said. “If we don’t all mobilize, then nothing will change.”
Since Israel started blocking the flotilla late on Wednesday, protests have sprung up across Europe and in other parts of the world, but in Italy they have been a daily occurrence, in multiple cities.
On Friday, unions called a general strike in support of the flotilla, with demonstrations across the country that attracted more than 2 million, according to organizers. The interior ministry estimated attendance at around 400,000.
Italy’s right-wing government has been critical of the protests, with Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni suggesting that people would skip work for Gaza just as an excuse for a longer weekend break.
On Saturday, Meloni blamed protesters for insulting graffiti that appeared on a statue of the late Pope John Paul II outside Rome’s main train station, where Pro-Palestinian groups have been holding a protest picket.
“They say they are taking to the streets for peace, but then they insult the memory of a man who was a true defender and builder of peace. A shameful act committed by people blinded by ideology,” she said in a statement.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive after Hamas terrorists staged a cross border attack on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and taking 251 people hostage.
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Hamas Says It Agrees to Release All Israeli Hostages Under Trump Gaza Plan
Smoke rises during an Israeli military operation in Gaza City, as seen from the central Gaza Strip, October 2, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Dawoud Abu Alkas
Hamas said on Friday it had agreed to release all Israeli hostages, alive or dead, under the terms of US President Donald Trump’s Gaza proposal, and signaled readiness to immediately enter mediated negotiations to discuss the details.