Einstein on Israel and Zionism corrects a widely accepted story that Einstein was a major supporter, a “champion,” of the State of Israel – a story told and retold primarily in the mainstream media.

Einstein was a secular Jew, but he had mixed feelings about Zionism. Though he supported the goal of a Jewish “homeland” within Palestine, he opposed that of a “Jewish State.” He never wavered from arguing forcefully for equal rights and equal power for the Arabs, whom he called “kinfolk” of the Jews. His nationalism had no room for any kind of aggressiveness or chauvinism. For him, the domination of Jew over Arab in Palestine, or the perpetuation of a state of mutual hostility between the two peoples, would mean the failure of Zionism.

Some material spanning the years from 1919 to 1955 had never been translated or published. Fred Jerome presents it objectively and puts some of the obscure references into context.

Had Einstein’s foresight and warnings been heeded, the never-ending wars in Palestine might have been avoided.