April 19, 1956
Writer and academic Gadi Taub, a leading commentator on the meaning of modern Zionism, is born in Jerusalem. Taub’s grandparents were Zionist pioneers who arrived in Palestine in the 1920s during the British Mandate, and Taub’s father fought in the 1948 War of Independence after escaping Czechoslavakia in 1939.
After completing his military service, Taub begins writing for and presenting on children’s television and radio programs. He earns a bachelor’s degree in history at Tel Aviv University while writing a book of influential essays and a book of popular short stories. He receives a doctorate from Rutgers University in New Jersey with a thesis on American liberalism, and he begins a career as an instructor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
He writes several books about Zionism. He calls the West Bank settler movement a negation of Zionism, which he sees as advocating the rights of all peoples to have national self-determination. He supports the creation of a Palestinian state. He writes a regular column for a series of Israeli newspapers and contributes opinion articles to newspapers and magazines in other nations. He also appears as a panelist on political television programs.
Beyond his academic work and political commentary, Taub writes novels and works in the entertainment industry. His young-adult novel “The Witch From 3 Melchet Street,” about unrequited love, is turned into a film in 2005. He adapts his own novel “Allenby St.,” about strip clubs in Tel Aviv, into a TV series, and he writes, directs and acts in the TV series “Harem.”