The Idea of Israel: A History of Power and Knowledge is a non-fiction book written by professor and historian Ilan Pappé about the Zionist ideology's role in Israeli education, media, and film.

The book discusses three periods in the effort to define Zionism: the classic Zionist account of the history of Israel; the emergence of the post-Zionism movement in the 1990s; and the rise of neo-Zionism, which Pappé argues is a highly nationalistic and racist ideology.

Pappé asserts that the Zionist narrative was necessary to market the newly formed Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East, to explain the expulsion of Palestinian Arabs, and condemn their resistance to the establishment of a Jewish state.

Shlaim wrote that The Idea of Israel observes Zionism under an "uncompromising lens", and thought highly of the author's expertise in the subject matter, for "he is one of the few Israeli students of the conflict who write about the Palestinian side with real knowledge and empathy".

[7] Hochberg concluded The Idea of Israel is "more like a textbook, in bringing together many examples, names, and anecdotes to form a coherent picture of the evolution of the main Israeli schools of thought and the leading cultural trends from 1948 to the present".