Three New Pieces!
The scholarship keeps pouring in ....
And of such outstanding variety, on so many different topics as we map out the boundaries of this emerging field of the critical study of antizionism. Here are a few new pieces, including an original piece published by ICSA for the first time.
This might be a good time for the occasional reminder that ICSA accommodates a wide variety of opinions from left to right, united only by the belief that the critical study of antizionism is both necessary and valuable.
-----
(1) Eric Daniel Buesing contributes some original research into the philanthropic foundations that have been funding antizionist activity. Turns out they may not be so “philanthropic” after all... I suspect this work is the tip of an enormous iceberg that would repay extended and deep excavation ….
“From Eugenics to Anti-Zionism: Elite Philanthropy and the Structural Marginalization of Jewish Self-Determination” by Eric Daniel Buesing
Abstract: This paper argues that elite American philanthropic foundations have exhibited a persistent structural pattern that has repeatedly undermined Jewish collective life across different historical eras. Using a genealogical method inspired by Michel Foucault, the author contends that while ideological frameworks shift—from early twentieth-century eugenics to contemporary progressive and anti-colonial paradigms—the institutional “effect” remains consistent: Jewish self-determination is repeatedly positioned as a problem to be constrained or dissolved. The paper traces this pattern through major foundations, including those linked to Henry Ford, John D. Rockefeller, and Andrew Carnegie, arguing that their early support for eugenics and restrictive immigration policies targeting Jews has, in the present, been replaced by funding for organizations and academic frameworks aligned with anti-Zionism and BDS activism. Despite public repudiations of past antisemitism, the author claims these institutions continue to fund initiatives that delegitimize Israel and Jewish sovereignty.
-----
(2) Medievalist Marcia Kupfer wrote an entire series that is worthwhile, but I found this one (#4) particularly interesting.
“’Palestine’” as a geographic label in popular and academic histories” by Marcia Kupfer
Abstract: This article examines how contemporary antizionist discourse in the West has transformed “Palestine” into both a totalizing moral abstraction and a trivialized cultural meme. It argues that, particularly after October 7, 2023, intellectuals, activists, and institutions have deployed “context” and decolonization frameworks to negate Israeli victimhood and rationalize violence, thereby reinforcing rigid moral binaries. Simultaneously, the elevation of “Palestine” into a universalized cause enables its insertion across unrelated political and cultural domains, while its meme-ification reduces complex realities to performative symbolism. The article contributes to the critical study of antizionism by tracing how these dynamics collapse historical specificity, reproduce older anti-Jewish tropes, and blur the boundary between political critique and antisemitic exclusion.
Read it here: https://icsa.substack.com/p/by-marcia-kupfer-palestine-as-a-geographic
-----
(3) Among the many things antizionism is, it is also a movement, that performs concrete actions, that often have very negative consequences. In this painful piece, social work graduate student Ally Frank describes her experience confronting (or rather being confronted by) antizionism in her program and on her campus at the University of Illinois Chicago. (Incidentally ICSA is eager to include and support graduate students, so if you know of any please send them our way!)
“Being Jewish Shouldn’t Feel Like This – The Truth About Being Jewish at UIC” by Ally Frank
Read it here: https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/author/ally-frank/
-----
(4) REMINDER: Next up in our series, “Antizionism: The History of an Ideology”:
Monday Apr 6, 7-8 PM Eastern
Hussein Aboubakr Mansour
“The Genealogy of Arab-Islamic Antizionism”
Register: https://www.chaimitzvah.org/events/the-genealogy-of-arab-islamic-antizionism/
Those who pre-register will have access to a recording afterward if they cannot make it live.
And please spread the word!
That’s it for now!
Remember:
We need teams of scholars producing reams of scholarship on antizionism.
We need ICSA.