Keynote: Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism Ep.2

Event Overview

This lecture will assess the meaning and significance of anti-Zionism historically and in our own time. In particular, it will examine the question of if and when anti-Zionism can be understood as antisemitic. UC Berkeley Professor Ethan Katz posits two major strands of anti-Zionism over the past century or more: what he calls "critical" vs. "negationist" anti-Zionism. He then addresses the impact of October 7 and the events that have followed in Israel and Gaza, asking how these events have changed the place and meaning of anti-Zionism.

Sponsored by the Office of the Provost.

What You'll Learn

The multiple meanings of anti-Zionism, a largely ill-defined and misunderstood term
Tracing the two major strands that anti-Zionism has taken historically
Analyzing the impact of October 7 and ongoing events in Israel and Gaza for the debates over anti-Zionism

Speaker

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Ethan Katz

Associate Professor of History

University of California, Berkeley

Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies, University of California, Berkeley

Ethan Katz is currently Associate Professor of History and Director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. He is the author of the award-winning The Burdens of Brotherhood: Jews and Muslims from North Africa to France (Harvard, 2015) and the co-editor of several other volumes, including Colonialism and the Jews and When Jews Argue: Between the University and the Beit Midrash.

Professor Katz has played a leading and thoughtful role in promoting complex and often difficult dialogues about antisemitism on college campuses. As the Chair of the Chancellor’s Advisory Committee on Jewish Student Life and Campus Climate, as a co-founder of the Antisemitism Education Initiative at Berkeley, and as the chair of a taskforce of the Association for Jewish Studies on antisemitism and academic freedom, he has worked toward creating guidelines of education and engagement for students, campus leaders, and teachers across the United States. Through his scholarship and his public-facing work, Professor Katz has developed considerable knowledge of the subject as well as wide-ranging experience in dialoguing across differences.

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