What Hasan Piker Got Wrong About Einstein and Zionism

Unpacking Israeli History

Unpacked

Society & Culture, Judaism, Religion & Spirituality, History

4.8 • 1.3K Ratings

🗓️ 23 April 2026

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Hasan Piker weaponized Albert Einstein on Pod Save America to condemn Zionism. But he left out most of the story. Noam addresses Piker's troubling statements about Einstein by tracing his full relationship with Zionism, exposing how a confident but incomplete portrait collapses under the weight of the full historical record. The Problem with Hasan Piker's Einstein Story, by Yair Rosenberg: https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/deep-shtetl/ Check out our past episodes of Unpacking Israeli History on topics including Deir Yassin, Hamas, Sabra and Shatila and the Right of Return. https://unpacked.media/podcast-series/unpacking-israeli-history/ For more on the topic, listen to Jewish History Nerds' recent episode Albert Einstein: Was he a Zionist? https://unpacked.media/albert-einstein-was-he-a-zionist-part-2/ This episode was sponsored by Travis Terry and Cathy and Barbara Malamut. To sponsor an episode or to be in touch, please email noam@unpacked.media. Visit jewishlives.org to explore and buy books from the Jewish Lives book series. Use the discount code JLIFE to get a discount. Check out this episode on ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Youtube.⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠This podcast is brought to you by Unpacked, an OpenDor Media brand. ------------------- For other podcasts from Unpacked, check out: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Jewish History Nerds⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Soulful Jewish Living⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Stars of David with Elon Gold ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Wondering Jews⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hey, I'm Noam Weissman, and this is Unpacking Israeli History, the podcast that takes a deep
0:04.1	dive into some of the most intense, historically fascinating, and often misunderstood
0:08.2	events and stories linked to Israeli history. This episode is sponsored by Travis Terry
0:14.3	and Kathy and Barbara Malamut. Thank you so much for sponsoring. So incredible. Thank you, thank you.
0:20.2	Thank you. If you. Thank you.
0:21.0	If you want to sponsor an episode of unpacking's early history,
0:24.1	or if you just want to say,
0:25.8	hello, get at me at knowam at unpacked.media.
0:30.2	Before we start, as always, check us out on Instagram, on TikTok, on YouTube,
0:34.9	all those fine social media websites on the internet. Just search unpacking
0:39.4	his other history and hit the follow or subscribe button. Okay, Yala. Let's do this.
0:46.5	We, the people of Israel, are prepared and anxious to meet the representatives of our neighbors without any preconditions.
1:05.0	There are people in Israel elsewhere, say it's impossible to make peace between the Arabs and Israel or the Jewish people.
1:13.9	I think they're home.
1:18.0	In case the name unpacking Israeli history doesn't give it away, this is a history podcast.
1:23.4	It's not a current affairs podcast. I generally don't like to weigh too much into the politics and the culture of the day.
1:30.5	I like wrestling with events that happened in the past.
1:34.1	After the dust has settled, after the haze has cleared,
1:37.4	after we've had time months, years, decades, centuries, to sit down and analyze things deeply.
1:48.1	I don't do hot takes. I'm just not a reactive guy.
1:54.3	Sometimes, though, I decide to make an exception after October 7th, after Charlie Kirk was killed. And after Hassan Piker appeared on Pod Save America and made some what I I want to call, troubling comments about Israel and
2:03.6	Albert Einstein and lots of other things. I've decided to do so again. Okay, okay. I know Hassan
	...

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