Opportunities, Query, New Book, Recommendations
Things Continue to Hop in The Critical Study of Antizionism
So much critical-study-of-antizionism goodness to report …!
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I. OPPORTUNITIES
(1)
Two opportunities in one:
(A) National Students for Justice in Palestine put out a position paper a few months back, and it’s a real doozy. I would love for someone to do a serious critique of it—a “fisking,” as it were—for this substack and perhaps for publication elsewhere.
(B) The forthcoming ICSA Encyclopedia: We are still missing someone to do a chapter on SJP itself, a deep critical dive, of about 5000 words. If you are competent and interested to do that, please get in touch.
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(2)
Resource and opportunity:
The newest edition of the American Psychology journal is out, the journal of the American Psychological Association. It is a special issue on antisemitism and psychology with at least several papers relevant to antizionism. I would love for someone to a summary or review of the relevant papers in the issue for this substack.
Meanwhile there is this guy on X who offered a few interesting observations:
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II. QUERY
Kile Jones has of late been a one-man-critical-study-of-antizionism machine. He has a new and important project and seeks assistance: Do you know anyone who was originally antizionist but who changed their mind after October 7? Please send them his way:
Speaking of Kile, check out his work in progress here, providing a “Short History of Long Hatreds”—very useful resource, included some figures I hadn’t heard of ….!
https://kilejones-alt.github.io/ObscureAntizionists/
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III. NEW BOOK
“The Hidden Hand: The Information War and the Rise of Antisemitic Propaganda”
by Warren Kinsella
I have only read excerpts and it looks both excellent and important, and right up the ICSA alley as we document what appears to be a nearly global campaign against Zionism and the Jews. (Anyone want to review the book for ICSA?)
Abstract:
The Hidden Hand argues that the surge in antisemitism following the October 7 attacks was not merely spontaneous outrage but part of a sophisticated, organized information campaign. Drawing on political strategy, media analysis, and investigations into activism, social media, lobbying, and foreign influence, Warren Kinsella contends that anti-Israel narratives have been deliberately amplified to shape public opinion. The book examines how propaganda ecosystems function and why Canada became a key battleground in this struggle over narratives and political influence.
For some information, here is a podcast-interview with Warren Kinsella:
Purchase the book here:
https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Hand-Information-Antisemitic-Propaganda/dp/0771021577/ref=sr_1_1
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IV. RECOMMENDATIONS
A lot of tremendous stuff has been published in the past week or so.
(1)
The latest essay from our friends at the Movement Against Antizionism is really brilliant, in my humble opinion. Philosophical, lyrical, moving, and quintessential:
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(2)
All I can say about this one is that Sam Harris gets it:
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(3)
There seems to be a trend of antizionist Jews going all nostalgic about pre-1948 Jewish anti-Zionism (and yes that hyphen is deliberate). A couple of books have already been published and at least a couple more are in the pipeline for later this year (anyone interested in reviewing those books please let me know!). There is so much that is wrong with this trend I don’t know where to start. I think that the main thing is that there really is no legitimate comparison to be made between pre-state anti-Zionism and contemporary antizionism, but that would take a whole separate article. (If you want to write that, let me know!)
Meanwhile here is an excellent Tablet article on why one of those books, or at least the movement it is defending, is bullshit:
https://www.tabletmag.com/contributors/debbie-lechtman
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(4)
Speaking of antizionist Jews who unfathomably (to me) long for the exile, Prof. Shaul Magid is one of those with (yet another) book coming out later this year. Marcia Kupfer offers a first-rate, two-part critique of Magid’s thinking:
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(5)
Continuing to speak of antizionist Jews who write books seeking to disempower their fellow Jews “for their own good,” Prof. Omer Bartov—absolute golden child for the antizionist movement, because he’s Jewish, Israeli, served in the IDF, is a “genocide scholar,” and accuses Israel of genocide—is one of the very worst. I haven’t read his recent book yet but have read many of his relevant writings, and find myself thinking that pretty much every word that he writes is either an outright lie or misrepresentation or distortion or delusion, and that includes the punctuation.
Russell Shalev and Verena Buser read Bartov’s most recent book—Israel: What Went Wrong—so you don’t have to. Here is his review:
https://isgap.org/flashpoint/omer-bartov-what-went-wrong/
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There’s still plenty more, but that’s it, for now.
Remember: We need teams of scholars producing reams of scholarship about antizionism.
We need ICSA.
I love posts about new books and insightful articles. And thanks for the "they read the book so you won't have to" link!
Here's a scholarly essay on the French historical controversy from the 1980s about whether the War in the Vendée constituted a genocide. I analyse the discourse of the time and compare it to the current discourse around Gaza. When mainstream historians talk about France, what arguments for genocide are considered absurd? And are the same standards applied to Gaza? See: https://donalmoloney.substack.com/p/the-counterfeiters