Wired to Steal: Zionism and the Shaping of the Western Mind
November 17, 2026
6:00 pm
Centre Congregational Church
193 Main Street Brattleboro VT 05301
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Historians Ilan Pappé and Yoav Litvin examine Zionism, Palestinian dispossession, and the political and psychological systems that sustain settler colonialism at WWAC’s annual Galbraith Lecture.
This event is presented by the Windham World Affairs Council, in partnership with Southern Vermont for Palestine and Jewish Voice for Peace VT–NH.
How does the taking of land become justified, normalized, and embedded in the political and cultural consciousness of a society? What allows systems of dispossession and inequality to endure? And how can understanding these processes contribute to the struggle for justice and Palestinian liberation?
These questions are central to Wired to Steal: Zionism and the Shaping of the Western Mind, the new book by historian Ilan Pappé and neuroscientist Yoav Litvin. The authors will join the Windham World Affairs Council (WWAC) for its annual Galbraith Lecture on Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at 6:00 p.m., at Centre Congregational Church, 193 Main Street, Brattleboro. Doors open at 5:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public, with a suggested donation of $10.
Drawing on historical scholarship and behavioral neuroscience, Pappé and Litvin examine Zionism through the history and ongoing realities of Palestinian land dispossession, displacement, and resistance. Their book explores how political ideology, collective identity, and narratives of belonging can shape public acceptance of the theft of land, systemic inequality, and violence.
Rather than presenting Israel and Palestine as opposing sides in an abstract or symmetrical conflict, the authors examine the historical structures of power that have enabled Palestinian dispossession and the denial of Palestinian rights. Their analysis places the Palestinian struggle for liberation at the center of a broader inquiry into how settler colonialism operates, how it becomes normalized, and how its underlying assumptions can be challenged.
While Zionism serves as the book’s most immediate and urgent case study, Pappé and Litvin also explore the wider implications of their analysis for understanding settler colonialism around the world. Bringing together history, psychology, and neuroscience, they investigate how political narratives influence moral judgment, how collective identities shape perceptions of injustice, and how institutions and cultural systems can sustain unequal relationships of power.
The evening’s conversation will be moderated by Michel Moushabeck, founder and publisher of Interlink Publishing, which published Wired to Steal under its Olive Branch Press imprint. Moushabeck’s longstanding work publishing Palestinian literature, history, and political analysis brings an important perspective to the discussion and offers an opportunity to explore the authors’ arguments in the context of Palestinian history, rights, and liberation.
The event will invite the Brattleboro community to engage directly with the book’s central arguments and their implications for historical accountability, political responsibility, and the pursuit of justice. A moderated conversation will be followed by audience questions and discussion.
About the Speakers
Ilan Pappé is a historian, professor at the University of Exeter, and co-director of its European Centre for Palestinian Studies. The author of more than twenty books, he is internationally known for his scholarship on the history of Israel/Palestine, Palestinian displacement, settler colonialism, and the political narratives that shape historical understanding.
Yoav Litvin is a neuroscientist, writer, and researcher whose work explores the neuroscience of emotion and the relationships among psychology, political ideology, and human behavior. His interdisciplinary approach examines how collective identities, political narratives, and psychological processes influence attitudes toward injustice and violence.
Michel Moushabeck is the founder and publisher of Interlink Publishing, a Palestinian-owned independent publishing house based in Massachusetts. Through its Olive Branch Press imprint, Interlink publishes works addressing Middle Eastern history, politics, culture, and human rights, including Wired to Steal.
Continuing a Community Conversation on Violence, Trauma, and Responsibility
The November program follows WWAC’s October 30 conversation with Palestinian scholar Dr. Ayman Nijim, which explores genocide, collective trauma, and the responsibilities of bearing witness to human suffering.
Together, these programs examine both the human consequences of violence and dispossession and the historical, political, and psychological structures that sustain them. They invite the community to consider questions of accountability, Palestinian rights, and the responsibilities of individuals and institutions in confronting injustice.
The events reflect WWAC’s commitment to bringing rigorous scholarship, diverse perspectives, and consequential international debates into public conversation.
About the Galbraith Lecture
Each fall, the Windham World Affairs Council presents its premier annual event, the Galbraith Lecture, honoring WWAC co-founder John Kenneth Galbraith, one of the twentieth century’s most influential economists and public intellectuals.
Galbraith believed that economic and political institutions should serve human well-being rather than the other way around. His commitment to questioning conventional wisdom, challenging concentrations of power, and bringing rigorous intellectual debate into public life remains central to the spirit of the lecture series.
The author of more than thirty books, including the landmark The Affluent Society, Galbraith delivered the inaugural lecture on August 3, 1981, and continued speaking at the annual event through 1999. The series has since carried forward his legacy of connecting international affairs, public policy, and civic responsibility.
In 2025, former U.S. Secretary of Labor Robert Reich opened the evening with a virtual address honoring Galbraith, his longtime mentor.
In recent years, the lecture has been hosted by Galbraith’s son, Ambassador Peter Galbraith, a Windham County resident whose distinguished public service includes serving as the first U.S. Ambassador to Croatia, participating in international peace negotiations, holding leadership roles in United Nations missions in East Timor and Afghanistan, and serving two terms in the Vermont State Senate.
This year’s lecture continues the Galbraith tradition of critically examining established systems of political and economic power. By exploring the historical and ideological foundations of Palestinian dispossession, Pappé and Litvin invite audiences to consider how injustice becomes institutionalized and how rigorous inquiry can contribute to accountability and meaningful change.
