The New Yorker Interview

A Genocide Scholar Asks “What Went Wrong” in Israel

一位种族灭绝研究学者追问：以色列“哪里出了问题”

The Israeli historian Omer Bartov argues in his new book that a “state ideology” of Zionism has led to what he calls genocide in Gaza.

以色列历史学家奥默·巴托夫（Omer Bartov）在其新著中指出，犹太复国主义的"国家意识形态"导致了加沙地带发生他所谓的种族灭绝。

ByDavid Remnick

April 17, 2026

Drawing of the flag of Israel surrounded by fragmented border lines.

Illustration by Diego Mallo

Listen and subscribe: Apple | Spotify | Wherever You Listen

Sign up for our daily newsletter to get the best of The New Yorker in your inbox.

Omer Bartov is an Israeli professor of Holocaust and genocide studies at Brown University. He grew up in a Zionist home and served as an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, but he has long been concerned about Israel’s use of military power. In a new book called “Israel: What Went Wrong?,” Bartov argues that Zionism has morphed into an ideology of extremism that led to genocide in Gaza following the Hamas attacks of October 7th. “There is growing criticism of American support for these kinds of Israeli policies, both on the American left and on the American right,” Bartov tells David Remnick. Bartov believes that Israel requires “shock therapy” because “it has not still come to identify the limits of its own power, because those limits are in Washington, D.C., and it’s there that those limits have to be set.” “For Israel, that would be good, because I think Israel needs to be liberated from that kind of dependence on American power. I think, for American society and for American Jewry, that’s a very bad thing because there is a rise of . . . antisemitism from the Tucker Carlsons of the world, who are a rising force right now.”

奥默·巴托夫（Omer Bartov）是布朗大学研究大屠杀与种族灭绝问题的以色列籍教授。他在一个信奉犹太复国主义的家庭中长大，曾担任以色列国防军的军官，但他长期以来一直对以色列使用武力的方式感到担忧。在新书《以色列：何处出了错？》中，巴托夫认为，犹太复国主义已蜕变为一种极端主义意识形态，在哈马斯去年10月7日发动袭击后，这种意识形态导致了加沙地带的种族灭绝。巴托夫告诉大卫·雷姆尼克："美国左翼和右翼都越来越多人批评美国支持以色列的这类政策。"巴托夫认为，以色列需要"休克疗法"，因为"它仍未认清自身力量的边界——因为边界在华盛顿特区，而边界必须在那里划定"。"对以色列而言，这会是件好事，因为我认为以色列需要从那种对美国力量的依赖中解放出来。我认为，对美国社会和犹太裔美国人而言，这是非常糟糕的情况，因为……反犹主义正在抬头，来自塔克·卡尔森之流，他们如今正成为一股崛起的力量。"