The 1915 Locust Plague in Palestine: Nature as a Weapon of War

In the spring of 1915, a vast swarm of locusts descended on Palestine, devouring crops from Gaza to the Galilee. But the plague was not just a natural disaster—it was amplified by war. The Ottoman Fourth Army under Jamal Pasha requisitioned grain, seized livestock, and forced peasants into labor battalions, turning a bad harvest into a famine that killed tens of thousands. Lucas and Luna explore how the locust plague intersected with Ottoman conscription, Allied blockades, and Zionist land purchases, and how the American Colony of Jerusalem documented the catastrophe in photographs that still haunt archives today. This episode examines the biblical dimensions of the plague—reminiscent of the Exodus story—and how Zionist settlers like those at Petah Tikva and Rishon LeZion fared differently than Palestinian fellahin. With names like Aaron Aaronsohn, who saw the locusts as an opportunity for scientific collaboration, and Najib Nassar, who warned of dispossession, the conversation reveals how ecology, empire, and ideology converged in a single, devastating season.

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