In this episode of Don't Know Much About, Naya Lekht sits down with historian Dr. Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki to dismantle one of the most pervasive arguments used against the Jewish state: that Zionism is a 19th-century European settler-colonial project with no historical legitimacy. Drawing on her new book, a collection of essays examining nationalism, empire, and the intellectual roots of antizionism, Dr. Kirschbaum-Shirazki offers a rigorous comparative framework — situating Zionism alongside other national movements that emerged from the collapse of empires in Europe and the Ottoman world. The result is a compelling case that antizionism is not a coherent political critique but an ideological dead end, and that genuine progress in the Middle East requires accepting Jewish national legitimacy rather than denying it.
About the Guest
Dr. Olga Kirschbaum-Shirazki is a historian, writer, and public intellectual specializing in modern European history, nationalism, and Jewish thought. Raised in Toronto, she earned her Ph.D. in Modern European History from New York University. Her research explores nationalism, intercultural relations, Judaism and modernity, and the intellectual history of Europe and the Middle East. Her latest book, From Antizionism to a New Middle East, is a collection of nine essays reinterpreting the Israeli-Arab conflict through the lens of ideas, nationalism, and the intellectual roots of antizionism.
What We Cover
Why the "settler colonial" analogy for Israel doesn't hold up under historical scrutiny
How Zionism compares to other national movements that emerged from the collapse of European and Ottoman empires
The concept of "derivative imperial nations" — and what it reveals about Palestinian Arab nationalism
Why diaspora alone doesn't make the Jewish national movement fundamentally different from movements like Armenian or Kurdish nationalism
The idea of "loser empires" and why they're uniquely dangerous and prone to conspiratorial antisemitism
The weaponization of indigeneity discourse — and why it fails on its own terms when applied to the Palestinian Arab case
What "imperial rollback" means, and why the Abraham Accords represent an early step toward it
Why minority and cultural rights, not maximalist claims to sole sovereignty, offer a realistic path forward
How Dr. Kirschbaum-Shirazki's thesis reframes antizionism as an ideological dead end blocking real reconciliation
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