03.06.26
Editorial Note
Recently, the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism (ICSZ) published a call for papers. The invitation reads, “We seek submissions that contribute to the field of Critical Zionism Studies, support the movement for Palestinian liberation, and advance the anti-Zionist struggle. As such, we seek manuscripts that demonstrate logical and consistent argumentation, thoughtful engagement with the relevant scholarship, and a generative expansion of Critical Zionism Studies.” The submission deadline is June 30, 2026, and the planned publication date is December 2026.
According to its website, the ICSZ aims to “support the delinking of the study of Zionism from Jewish Studies, and to reclaim academia and public discourse for the study of Zionism as a political, ideological, and racial and gendered knowledge project that intersects with Palestine and decolonial studies, critical terrorism studies, settler colonial studies, studies of land and climate, disability, performance, and many other related areas scholarship and activism. The Institute approaches Zionism as a broad set of colonial and repressive work and solidarities, efforts to curate knowledge and identities, and to dismantle movements that resist it. In other words, Zionism’s project extends beyond the borders of Palestine. Many scholars and activists are working to illuminate such ‘other work’ of Zionist institutions and discourses.”
In September 2023, Israel Academia Monitor reported on the newly founded ICSZ. The following month, in October 2023, ICSZ hosted a conference aimed at battling “the IHRA definition of antisemitism,” and showing how it “amplifies and hides repressive power and state violence.”
One of the ICSZ founders is Dr. Rabab Abdulhadi, a Palestinian-American scholar from the Department of Ethnic Studies at San Francisco State University. She discussed ICSZ in an interview titled “Why we created the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism.” Abdulhadi declared that Zionism aims to erase the Palestinians’ embodiment and that the JNF aims to erase Palestinian agriculture. Both claims are baseless, malicious, and used to demonize the Jews.
Israel Academia Monitor noted that the name “Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism” derives from the neo-Marxist, critical scholarship in the social sciences and humanities, which rejects the positivist, empirical paradigm based on facts. In the eyes of “critical scholars,” facts and statistical data are considered suspicious because they are generated by the “dominant, colonial or imperialist powers.”
The topics of the upcoming journal would be, “Zionism as a global phenomenon; Zionism as a system of power (analyzed through critical frameworks such as settler colonialism, empire, militarism, and racial capitalism); Palestinian life, resistance/sumud, knowledge production, and futurities; Zionist epistemic framing of Islam & Islamic counter-theology; Zionism and formations of gender, sexuality, disability, and the body; Abolitionist, decolonial, and anti-imperialist frameworks and practices for anti-Zionist work Pedagogical interventions, political education, and curriculum-building; Cultural production, art, film/media, literature, and popular discourses on Zionism, Palestine, and anti-Zionist organizing.”
Emmaia Gelman, the director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and one of its founders, has taught social and cultural analysis at NYU and social sciences at Sarah Lawrence College. She has published the Call for Papers. Gelman recently authored a book about “The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State.” She gave a talk about it at UC Berkeley on April 28, 2026, and at UC Irvine on May 14, 2026. The invitation to the book launch reads, “Emmaia Gelman exposes the ADL’s alliance with American white supremacy and western empire and its historic investment in Cold War anticommunism. Her definitive account shows how the ADL as a Zionist organization has advanced and supported pro-state policing, a hate-crimes framework that obscures racialized structures of power, and a ‘War on Terror’ that has stoked anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.” Gelman’s talk was co-sponsored by UC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, among others.
Worth noting that harsh criticism of Israel is tied to broader intellectual trends in parts of the humanities and social sciences that have embraced postcolonial theory, intersectionality, and global power analysis. Even a cursory reading of the literature indicates that the Jewish state is framed through settler-colonial or oppressor/oppressed paradigms. Global power analysis, in particular, places Israel at the epicenter of the so-called “global power nexus.” Couched in academic terms, this definition echoes the old antisemitic trope that Jews rule the world.
Palestinians and pro-Palestinian activists in Western Universities have turned campuses into their playing field, with the sole purpose of negating the right of the Jews to their ancestral homeland.
There are no easy solutions to the challenge of balancing academic freedom with malign or one-sided criticism of Israel in academia. University administrators are generally hesitant to intervene in an issue that has become deeply politicized and, at times, toxic. One possible response is to cultivate platforms for more pluralistic discourse, where differing and even competing perspectives can be aired and debated openly.
In this case, there is a need to fight antisemitism. University administrators should challenge the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and urge it to include a critical study of the Palestinians. The upcoming journal could reflect this challenge.
REFERENCES
The Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism aims to support the delinking of the study of Zionism from Jewish Studies, and to reclaim academia and public discourse for the study of Zionism as a political, ideological, and racial and gendered knowledge project that intersects with Palestine and decolonial studies, critical terrorism studies, settler colonial studies, studies of land and climate, disability, performance, and many other related areas scholarship and activism.
The Institute approaches Zionism as a broad set of colonial and repressive work and solidarities, efforts to curate knowledge and identities, and to dismantle movements that resist it. In other words, Zionism’s project extends beyond the borders of Palestine.
Many scholars and activists are working to illuminate such “other work” of Zionist institutions and discourses, historically and in the present, to shape the material conditions of life, the movement of capital, the construction of racial identity, and more.
ICSZ supports this expansive work with fellowships to support academic and activist work, conferences, and publications that expand the reach of scholars’ and activists’ work into political culture.
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Call for Papers: 2026 General Issue
Submission deadline for inclusion in the 2026 general issue: June 30, 2026
The Journal for the Critical Study of Zionism (JCSZ) invites submissions for its next general issue, with rolling submissions accepted through June 30, 2026. We seek submissions that contribute to the field of Critical Zionism Studies, support the movement for Palestinian liberation, and advance the anti-Zionist struggle. As such, we seek manuscripts that demonstrate logical and consistent argumentation, thoughtful engagement with the relevant scholarship, and a generative expansion of Critical Zionism Studies.
Please note that for this call, we invite full papers and finished projects that must include the name of the author(s), institutional affiliation(s) including activist and community organizations, if any, title of the manuscript/project, abstract (400-500 words), list of five keywords or tags, and short bio (no more than 100 words). Please review our Submission Guidelines for more details on submission procedures. For any additional questions, email journal@criticalzionismstudies.org.
Target length for manuscripts
- Articles: 6,000-8,000 words.
- Essays: 3,000–6,000 words.
- Works-in-translation: Translation, in full or excerpted, should be accompanied by a framing introduction (1,500–3,000 words) by the translator, explaining the provenance and relevance of the original manuscript.
- Manuscripts of any format and genre should not exceed 10,000 words (including endnotes and abstract).
About the Journal
JCSZ is a multidisciplinary, transnational journal committed to anti-Zionism and the abolition of all forms of oppression. The journal serves as a platform for rigorous scholarship, political analysis, creative work, and movement-engaged knowledge production that interrogates Zionism as a system of power along with its material, historical, and ongoing determinants and effects. See JCSZ Mission Statement for more details.
Scope
We invite submissions on topics including—but not limited to—the following:
- Zionism as a global phenomenon;
- Zionism as a system of power (analyzed through critical frameworks such as settler colonialism, empire, militarism, and racial capitalism);
- Palestinian life, resistance/sumud, knowledge production, and futurities;
- Zionist epistemic framing of Islam & Islamic counter-theology;
- Zionism and formations of gender, sexuality, disability, and the body;
- Abolitionist, decolonial, and anti-imperialist frameworks and practices for anti-Zionist work
- Pedagogical interventions, political education, and curriculum-building;
- Cultural production, art, film/media, literature, and popular discourses on Zionism, Palestine, and anti-Zionist organizing.
Formats and Genres
JCSZ welcomes submissions in a wide range of formats, genres, and mediums. In addition to traditional scholarly articles, we are interested in:
- Book and film/media reviews (including review essays and collective reviews)
- Interviews and conversations
- Organizing notes and movement documents
- Political educational materials and syllabi
- Works-in-translation
- Creative writing and poetry
- Forums and roundtables
- Photo, video, and multimedia essays
- Art, zines, and interactive or experimental media
- Analytical and critical theoretical writing
We especially welcome work that is movement- and community-engaged and that expands what counts as scholarly and political intervention.
Submissions are reviewed on a rolling basis, but June 30, 2026 is the final deadline for inclusion in the 2026 general issue. Authors will be notified by September 30, 2026. Planned publication date is December 2026
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Director
Emmaia Gelman
Founding Collective (partial list)
Emmaia Gelman
Christine Hong, Critical Race & Ethnic Studies and Literature, UC Santa Cruz
Amira Jarmakani, Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies, San Diego State University
Jennifer Kelly, Feminist Studies and Critical Race & Ethnic Studies, UC Santa Cruz
Alana Lentin, Professor of Cultural and Social Analysis, Western Sydney University
Sean Malloy, Professor of History and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, UC Merced
Jennifer Mogannam, Assistant Professor, Critical Race and Ethnic Studies, UC Santa Cruz
Dylan Rodriguez, University of California
C. Heike Schotten, University of Massachusetts Boston/USACBI
Lara Sheehi, Doha Institute for Graduate Studies
Advisory Board (partial list/list in formation)
Nasser Abourahme, Bowdoin College
Hil Aked
Alexander Aviña, Associate Professor of History, Arizona State University
Ariella Aïsha Azoulay, Professor of Modern Culture & Media and Comparative Literature, Brown University
Solomon Brager
Judith Butler, University of California-Berkeley
Umayyah Cable, Assistant Professor, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
Karma R. Chávez, Bobby and Sherri Patton Professor, Mexican American and Latina/o Studies, The University of Texas at Austin
Jessie Daniels, PhD, Professor, Hunter College and The Graduate Center, CUNY
Huma Dar, Adjunct 2 Professor, Critical Studies Program, California College of the Arts
Lisa Duggan, NYU
Stacy D. Farenthold, Professor of History and Middle East/South Asia Studies, University of California Davis
Keith P. Feldman, UC Berkeley
Maura Finkelstein
Cynthia Franklin, University of Hawai’i at Mānoa
Bikrum Gill, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, Virginia Tech
Terri Ginsberg, Rutgers University / USACBI / South-centered Image and Media Collective (SCIMA)
Alyosha Goldstein, Professor of American Studies, University of New Mexico
Robin D G Kelley, Professor of History, UCLA
Sara Kershnar, International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
Arun Kundnani
Marisol LeBrón, Associate Professor of Feminist Studies and Critical Race and Ethnic Studies at UCSC
Ronit Lentin, Associate Professor (ret), Trinity College Dublin
David Lloyd, Distinguished Professor of English, UC Riverside; Founding member and Advisory Board of USACBI
Geo Maher, W.E.B. Du Bois Movement School for Abolition & Reconstruction
Karen Miller, LaGuardia Community College
Jamal Nabulsi, Griffith University
Sheryl Nestel, Independent Jewish Voices
Donna Nevel, Jewish Voice for Peace-South Florida
Shaista Aziz Patel, UCSD, Assistant Professor of Critical Muslim Studies
Celine Qussiny, Palestinian Youth Movement
Andrew Ross, NYU and USACBI
Sherene Seikaly, UC Santa Barbara
Barry Trachtenberg, Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History, Wake Forest University
Anna-Esther Younes
Emeritus/Founding members
Rabab Abdulhadi, AMED Studies Program, San Francisco State University/Teaching Palestine
M. Muhannad Ayyash, Professor of Sociology, Mount Royal University
Lara Kiswani, Arab Resource & Organizing Center (AROC)
Dov Baum Ph.D., Director of Corporate Accountability and Research, AFSC
Abdeen Jabara, Past National President, American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee
Lesley Williams, Jewish Voice for Peace
Sherene H. Razack, UCLA
Sarah Schulman
Tallie Ben Daniel, Managing Director, Jewish Voice for Peace
Mandy Turner, Professor of Conflict, Peace and Humanitarian Affairs, University of Manchester, UK
2023 Conference Planning Collective
See Battling the ‘IHRA definition’: Theory & Activism
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Battling the IHRA Definition: Conference Press Release
Press release
Conference on the “IHRA definition” of antisemitism launches new Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism
October event welcomes broad support from academic and community organizations; resists attacks by conservative groups.
Oct. 5, 2023 – The newly-formed Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism (ICSZ) will hold its inaugural bicoastal conference, Battling the “IHRA Definition”: Theory & Activism, on October 13-14. Through the lens of research on structural racism, state violence, and social justice movements, the conference will analyze political campaigns that seek to codify the “IHRA definition” of antisemitism, and efforts to oppose IHRA policies. This is the first research conference focusing on IHRA campaigns, which have been a feature of conservative strategy since 2016 and are linked to anti-Critical Race Theory campaigns. IHRA campaigns have been widely criticized as efforts to chill academic freedom, and to exclude groups from funding and civic life including human rights, peace, racial justice, and legal advocates, and Palestinian and progressive Jewish organizations.
Battling the “IHRA Definition”: Theory & Activism is also the first conference under the banner of Critical Zionism Studies. Critical Zionism Studies studies Zionist politics and ideas in relation to forces including states, capital, race, and culture, and it examines power from the perspective of people experiencing its effects. The Institute supports the “research from below” that is central to Critical Zionism Studies.
The conference is sponsored by numerous academic centers and departments spanning critical race and ethnic studies, Near East studies, Arab and Muslim studies, culture, creative practice, and environment at New York University, the University of California Santa Cruz, and San Francisco State University. It is additionally sponsored by student groups at NYU and CUNY, academic freedom groups in the United States and Europe, and grassroots organizations. Panels and events will take place in New York City (at NYU and The People’s Forum) and Santa Cruz (at the Resource Center for Nonviolence).
“We have been thrilled with the outpouring of support for our conference, and for the establishment of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism. There’s almost a sense of relief that it finally exists,” said Emmaia Gelman, director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism. “There have been decades of conservative investments in Israel Studies and Jewish Studies, which have helped create a repressive environment where it’s risky to critically examine Zionism. And yet we absolutely must study this political movement – how can a major political movement be off limits to study?”
“It’s clear enough that we need to study Zionism when we watch Israeli settlers literally steal houses from Palestinians, protected by Israeli soldiers. Critical Zionism Studies looks also at the lesser understood political work undertaken by Zionist organizations. In the U.S. for instance, Zionist groups have joined white Christian nationalists in opposing antiracist education. Shouldn’t we be trying to understand why that’s happening, researching the history, placing it in the context of research on race?” said Emmaia Gelman.
Conference panels will feature scholars of American studies, Arab studies, art and visual culture, Black studies, carceral studies, critical race and ethnic studies, feminist studies, film and media studies, geography, history, Indigenous studies, Jewish studies, law, Palestine studies, philosophy, politics, sociology, and more, in conversation with community groups targeted by IHRA campaigns. Sessions will explore the political history of terms and concepts including Zionism, antisemitism, racism, and “DEI”; the relationship between IHRA campaigns and global movements including Hindutva and white/Christian nationalism; interactions between IHRA and anti-CRT campaigns; and the material impacts of IHRA campaigns on K-12 education, higher education, and civic life. The conference will be opened by Emmaia Gelman (Sarah Lawrence College & Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism), Hatem Bazian (UC Berkeley/Islamophobia Research & Documentation Project, Zaytuna College, and American Muslims for Palestine), and Corinna Gould (Spokeswoman and Tribal Chair, Confederated Villages of Lisjan/Ohlone, and Sogorea Te Land Trust). The conference will be closed by Arun Kundnani (Author/scholar) and Kaleem Hawa (Palestinian Youth Movement.) A preview of panels and presentations is online at criticalzionismstudies.org.
Right-wing groups and media outlets have launched false and defamatory attacks at Battling the “IHRA Definition”: Theory & Activism and the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism since both were announced in July 2023. ICSZ’s statement on right-wing attacks is available at criticalzionismstudies.org/academicfreedom. The attacks seek to make university administrators afraid to defend the rights of scholars and students, and aim to derail the study of racism and state violence as well as efforts to oppose such violence. In the face of attacks, the conference and ICSZ have been defended by the Center for Constitutional Rights and Palestine Legal, the faculty councils of every campus of the University of California, California Scholars for Academic Freedom, and the graduate student union of UC Santa Cruz (UAW 2865). Letters from Jewish scholars and educators and the UC Ethnic Studies Faculty Council additionally defend the ethnic studies faculty (including ICSZ scholars) subjected to parallel attacks by the same actors and using the same misrepresentations of antiracist scholarship.
“The work of the ICSZ is vital because it creates a collective space for scholars who face cynical and dishonest forms of repression, censure, and personalized attacks from those who treat Zionism as an exceptional system of beliefs and practices that should be insulated from critical analysis. I am relieved to observe that a growing global community understands that accusations of ‘antisemitism’ against critics of Zionism are misplaced, misinformed, and dishonest,” said Dylan Rodríguez, a professor of Black Study and Media and Cultural Studies at UC Riverside and former president of the American Studies Association. “Now is the time for scholars of principle and seriousness to lend their skills and labor to the work that is required to address the political and ideological history of Zionism as well as its concrete effects on Palestinians who must resist and survive massive state terror, supported by U.S. policy and militarism.”
ICSZ is a new institute that supports the development of Critical Zionism Studies with resources for academics and activists engaged in research. Its planned work includes fellowships, collaborations, conferences, and publications that expand the reach of scholars’ and activists’ research.
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Legal & academic organizations defend the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism from right-wing attacks
Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism
Sept. 22, 2023
The Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism is organizing the first-ever conference examining the politics and impacts of calls to adopt the “IHRA definition of antisemitism.” Campaigns for the IHRA definition are a relatively new, potent form of cultural politics, and they call for scholarly research. IHRA campaigns take a form closely tied to developments in the U.S. political landscape: they emanate from the right, often funded by mega donors seeking to curtail criticism of the Israeli state and Zionist political claims, while also making use of anti-discrimination policies perceived as liberal or progressive and grassroots-driven. Research is particularly needed because IHRA campaigns do not simply call for expressions of sympathy, but materially impact the flow and expression of ideas, resources, rights, and the conditions of life. They determine whether, for instance, Palestinians and progressive Jewish communities can be heard in political discussions and scholarly fora, and whether academic research will be funded or defunded. A significant body of research and reporting on IHRA’s impacts shows it is used primarily to silence, threaten, smear, and deny public resources to researchers in academic fields including American studies, Palestine studies, settler colonial studies, and critical race and ethnic studies, as well as community-based researchers and people who are themselves subjected to state violence.
While communities, academics, and legal advocates have opposed IHRA campaigns’ repressive impacts since 2016, researchers have more recently begun to turn a scholarly lens on IHRA. The October 2023 conference, “Battling the ‘IHRA definition’: Theory & Activism”, is the first to bring together the burgeoning movement to critically examine IHRA campaigns and clarify the cultural and political conditions in which they are situated. This conference, sponsored by academic programs on both U.S. coasts, applies the standard tools of critical study. Scheduled talks at the convening consider topics such as the history of definitions of Zionism, antisemitism, and protection; how IHRA campaigns have employed Cold War concepts to oppose antiracist political movements, and how key ideas in political culture like racial justice and safety are employed and shaped by IHRA campaigns.
The Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and our conference have been attacked by right-wing organizations who are engaged in IHRA campaigns. They have used the same false charges of antisemitism, exclusion, and “viewpoint discrimination” to try to curtail our academic freedom and deny space and funding to research on IHRA campaigns. Taking a page from white nationalist attacks on education, our attackers have attempted to smear the idea of critical study as “Soviet”; drawing on Islamophobic post-9/11 fears they have called us “terrorist”; and merging these smears with the weaponization of antisemitism, they have defamed our work as “Nazi.” In keeping with the despicable nature of these institutional attacks on our research, scholars and Institute staff have been targeted with individual racist and misogynistic abuse, including pornographic messages, attacks on the Jewish identity of scholars in the Institute, and a smear article targeting an Asian American scholar in the Institute published with a photo of a different Asian woman. The attacks have fallen most heavily on Institute members who are leaders in the field of Ethnic Studies, who were already being targeted and smeared by conservative, anti-critical race theory groups.
Setting an ominous precedent, the two universities where the conference is organized, NYU and UC Santa Cruz, have not defended academic freedom and research against these attacks. Although the universities have not banned the conference, they have acceded to right-wing demands to misuse anti-discrimination policy to chill research on racism and political power. They have made faculty and students – particularly people of color and queer people in academia – even more vulnerable than usual. We note that similar attacks have targeted the upcoming Palestine Writes conference at the University of Pennsylvania, and that Penn has similarly failed to defend that conference, its writers and scholars, and expressions of Palestinian experience. The failure of academic institutions to hold space for this work makes clear that the conference, and the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, are crucial supports for academic freedom.
We are incredibly honored that legal advocates, academic organizations, Jewish scholars and educators, and other research communities are standing with us against efforts to stifle critical study and research on the IHRA definition and Zionism. We share these letters of support with admiration for those who, under difficult conditions, insist on making space for these conversations.
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Letters supporting ICSZ against right-wing attack:
UAW 2865 Santa Cruz
Solidarity with ICSZ
“We will defend the right of workers on our campus to participate in advocating for Palestinian liberation, and we stand in solidarity with the organizers of ICSZ.”
The Council of UC Faculty Associations
Letter to Chancellor Larive and VC Kletzer about UCSC admin response to ICSZ conference
“We remind you that it is a misappropriation of university resources to use campus legal counsel funds to curtail faculty members’ academic freedom and First Amendment rights. To the contrary, it is campus legal counsel’s responsibility to ensure that the university protects faculty members’ freedom of thought, expression, and speech… Issuing a statement of ‘non-endorsement’ has a chilling effect on the critical study of Zionism at UCSC and on the examination of any subject that administrators deem undesirable.” (9/25/23)
Palestine Legal & the Center for Constitutional Rights
Civil Rights Groups Warn UCSC Attempts to Censor Pro-Palestine Scholarship May Violate Federal Laws (9/20/23)
California Scholars for Academic Freedom
Letter to Chancellor Larive and Campus Provost and Vice Chancellor Kletzer of University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC)
Opposing UCSC administrators’ statement maligning and vilifying the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism’s conference… (9/12/23)
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Letters defending antiracist scholarship against the same right-wing organizations
Jewish Studies scholars, Jewish academics, and Jewish educators
Open letter from Jewish Studies scholars, Jewish academics, and Jewish educators on Ethnic Studies (9/13/23)
This letter relates to the weaponization of antisemitism in attacks on Ethnic Studies and critical race theory, including scholars involved in the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism. It identifies the organizations attacking both ICSZ and Ethnic Studies as right-wing organizations.
University of California Ethnic Studies Council
Letter warning against right-wing efforts to censor Ethnic Studies
This letter describes attacks on Ethnic Studies through vague bans on subject matter and the requirement of loyalty oaths.
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The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State: A Book Talk with Emmaia Gelman
Date: Thursday, May 14, 2026
TIME: 5:00 pm
Location: Social Science Plaza A (SSPA) 1100
“The ADL was born of the belief that the best protection from antisemitism was admission into the white racial state and waging a vigorous defense of capitalism, individual rights, and the West against communists and barbarians. And it has never looked back.” –Robin D. G. Kelley
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) once sought to portray itself as a defender of civil rights aligned with racial justice movements in the United States. In a groundbreaking study that Publishers Weekly describes as a “gutsy, razor-sharp demystification of a powerful organization,” Emmaia Gelman exposes the ADL’s alliance with American white supremacy and western empire and its historic investment in Cold War anticommunism. Her definitive account shows how the ADL as a Zionist organization has advanced and supported pro-state policing, a hate-crimes framework that obscures racialized structures of power, and a “War on Terror” that has stoked anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.
Emmaia Gelman is the founding Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism. She has taught social and cultural analysis at NYU and social sciences at Sarah Lawrence College. Her writing appears in Jewish Currents, Boston Review, The Forward, and elsewhere.
Cosponsored by the UCI Department of Global & International Studies, UCI Office of Inclusive Excellence, UC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, the Ethnic Studies Council at the University of California, and the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism.
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Emmaia Gelman – The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State
April 25, 2026 @ 3:00 pm | Resource Center for Non Violence
“The ADL was born of the belief that the best protection from antisemitism was admission into the white racial state and waging a vigorous defense of capitalism, individual rights, and the West against communists and barbarians. And it has never looked back.” –Robin D. G. Kelley
The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) once sought to portray itself as a defender of civil rights aligned with racial justice movements in the United States. In a groundbreaking study that Publishers Weekly describes as a “gutsy, razor-sharp demystification of a powerful organization,” Emmaia Gelman exposes the ADL’s alliance with American white supremacy and western empire and its historic investment in Cold War anticommunism. Her definitive account shows how the ADL as a Zionist organization has advanced and supported pro-state policing, a hate-crimes framework that obscures racialized structures of power, and a “War on Terror” that has stoked anti-Palestinian racism and Islamophobia.
Emmaia Gelman is the founding Director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism. She has taught social and cultural analysis at NYU and social sciences at Sarah Lawrence College. Her writing appears in Jewish Currents, Boston Review, The Forward, and elsewhere.
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This event is presented by the Center for Racial Justice and cosponsored by the Resource Center for Nonviolence, Jewish Voice for Peace–South Bay, Santa Cruz Jews for a Free Palestine, Students for Justice in Palestine Santa Cruz, Faculty for Justice in Palestine at UC Santa Cruz, UC Faculty and Staff for Justice in Palestine, the Ethnic Studies Council at the University of California, and the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism.
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The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State
Emmaia Gelman. Univ. of California, $29.95 (301p) ISBN 978-0-520-41044-2
American studies scholar Gelman debuts with a trenchant, elucidating history of the Anti-Defamation League. The book opens with the 1993 raid on the ADL’s San Francisco offices for “spying on civil rights groups and antiracist organizers,” a revelation that, as the New York Times wrote, “caused confusion for some liberals” due to the Jewish organization’s longtime association with civil rights. A similar culture shock occurred in 2025 as the ADL brushed aside Elon Musk’s apparent Nazi salute as “an awkward gesture” while also labeling protesters of Israel’s assault on Gaza as “supporters of terror.” Delving into the ADL’s little-told history, the author uncovers a long legacy of such conservative stances, as the organization repeatedly worked to sideline or actively target leftists. Among the revelations is an upending of the myth of the ADL’s founding as a response to Leo Frank’s 1915 lynching in Georgia; instead, Gelman asserts, the ADL “was formed in 1913 by midwestern German Jews of the fraternal lodge B’nai B’rith” worried that the influx of “uncouth” and impoverished Eastern European Jewish immigrants fleeing pogroms were “changing the perception of Jewishness.” Following the organization across the 20th century, the author unearths a multitude of right-wing positions, from “insist[ing] that antisemitism did not play a role” in the prosecution of the Rosenbergs to supporting neoconservative policy in Latin America in the 1970s and ’80s by pegging leftist governments as antisemitic. It’s a gutsy, razor-sharp demystification of a powerful organization. (June)
israel-academia-monitor.com 