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Pub date, 23 Sept. 2024 – Pre-order now. Free shipping in North America

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.

Also in the New Edition

Fred Jerome’s article “The 1948 Killing of UN Mediator Count Bernadotte” reveals how, why, and by whom the UN peacemaker sent by the Security Council to “promote a peaceful adjustment of the future situation in Palestine” was assassinated. The article was first published in The Link

Fred Jerome (1939-2020) was a journalist, science writer, activist, and author of several books including The Einstein File, The FBI’s Secret War on the World’s Most Famous Scientist (Baraka Books, 2018) and Einstein on Race and Racism. His investigative reports or op-ed pieces appeared in dozens of publications including Newsweek, The New York Times and The Link. As a reporter in the South during the early 1960s, he covered the explosive civil rights movement. He also taught at Columbia Journalism School, NYU and numerous other New York-area Universities.

Reviews and Praise

“Adds a new . . . how do they say it . . . dimension to Einstein’s character.” Thomas Pynchon

“Fred Jerome’s Einstein on Israel and Zionism is a valuable and timely contribution. Einstein’s views of Zionisme were prescient.” Sivan S. Schweber, Author of Einstein and Oppenheimer and In the Shadow of the Bomb

“Reading the newly revealed correspondence in Fred Jerome’s book makes it clear that Einstein was a social commentator and humanitarian with a worldview worthy of his scientific genius. It’s a pity that the Zionist movement as embodied in the State of Israel took a direction so divergent from the path advocated by the Jewish people’s greatest intellect.” Michael Palumbo, author of The Palestinian Catastrophe and Imperial Israel

“Albert Einstein is all-too often depicted as a naïf about politics; he was anything but that. He followed international and national politics assiduously, corresponded with leaders and ordinary people, and brought a passionate moral stance to the whole, fighting antisemitism, racism, fascism, and nationalism. In this volume, Fred Jerome has assembled a myriad of documents bearing on Einstein’s views of Zionism. Telegrams, letters, magazine articles, interviews, all contribute to a dense and heartfelt analysis of what it would mean to avoid the pitfalls of dogmatic nationalism, and to create a Jewish homeland utterly respectful of Palestinian rights and equality. Of course, Einstein’s physics speaks to us still; astonishingly, we can still learn from his moral-political reflections.” Peter Galison, author of Einstein’s Clocks, Poincare’s Maps and Image and Logic

“Einstein on Israel and Zionism is a welcome and necessary contribution to the discussions about the Middle East crisis. You do not have to be a genius in order to understand the gravity of the situation, but it is essential to listen to one, especially if his name was Einstein. His thoughts make for fascinating reading, allow us new insights into the mind of one of the 20th centurys greatest thinkers and remind us that it is never too late.” Avraham Burg, author of The Holocaust is Over; We Must Rise From Its Ashes

*ABOUT THE FIRST EDITION

St. Martin’s Press published the first edition of Einstein on Israel and Zionism. Soon out of print, it was never reprinted and never made into an ebook. As a result, it is very hard to find. Baraka Books is thrilled to bring out this new enriched edition and is very grateful to Fred Jerome’s widow, Jocelyn Jerome, who granted us the right to bring out a new edition.