The History of Communism in Israel/Palestine w/ Prof. Joel Beinin

Parallax Views w/ J.G. Michael

On this edition of Parallax Views, Prof. Joel Beinin joins the program to discuss his July 2023 972 magazine essay "A century after its founding, the Israeli Communist Party is at a crossroads". In said essay, Prof. Beinin gives a history of Communism and the Communist Party in Israel/Palestine that offers an insight into how the Left dealt with issues such as Zionism, anti-Zionism, Arab nationalism, partition, imperialism, and colonialism as they related to Israel/Palestine and the Middle East during the 20th century.

In our conversation Prof. Beinin will give a history on the Communist Party in Israel/Palestine that delves into the splits between Palestinian and Israeli in this history as well as how the Soviet Union, the Cold War, the aftermath of the Holocaust, Egyptian President Abdel Nasser and Arab anticommunism, the formation of Hadash (The Democratic Front for Peace and Equality) in Israel, the Suez Crisis of 1956, the Communist Party successful mobilization against Israeli Minister of Agriculture Moshe Dayan's proposed Consolidation of Lands Law in the 1960s, and more. We'll also discuss the failings of the Communist Party in Israel/Palestine and the lessons that can be gleaned from those failings for the Left today in regard to Israel/Palestine.