Join us for a public lecture with Ethan Katz from 4:00-5:30pm on October 19th, 2026. Please register here.

Is Zionism a movement of national liberation or a story of colonialism and dispossession? Most public debate insists it has to be one or the other. This talk makes the case that it’s both, and that treating it as an either/or question gets in the way of actually understanding Zionism’s history, its current crisis, and its possible futures. Drawing on history that ranges from French Algeria to the broader question of Jewish nationalism, this talk will ask whether Zionism should be seen as an exceptional case or as part of larger histories of liberation, nationalism, and colonialism since the late 19th century. By reframing Zionism in a series of wider contexts, the talk clarifies the stakes of the existential choices currently facing Israel and Palestine.

The talk also offers a preview of speaker Ethan Katz’s current book project, “Unsettling Histories: Zionism and Colonialism Reconsidered,” forthcoming from Princeton University Press.

Ethan Katz is Associate Professor of History at UC-Berkeley, where is also the Helen Diller Family Faculty Director of the Center for Jewish Studies. Katz’s first book, The Burdens of Brotherhood: Jews and Muslims from North Africa to France (Harvard, 2015), received several prizes, including a National Jewish Book Award. Katz has co-edited three other books, including Colonialism and the Jews, a finalist for a National Jewish Book Award. His newest book, currently entitled Unsettling Histories: Zionism and Colonialism Reconsidered is under contract with Princeton University Press. Katz has taken a major leadership role in discussions of antisemitism and Israel/Palestine on college campuses. He is the co-founder of two pioneering programs at Berkeley: (1) the Antisemitism Education Initiative, a program to improve the conversation about antisemitism through thoughtful education and engagement; and (2) The Berkeley Bridging Fellowship, a year-long program that brings together diverse students for discussions about Israel and Palestine. His research has been supported by numerous fellowships, including from the Katz Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, at the Hebrew University.