Boundless Insights - with Aviva Klompas
When it comes to Israel, antisemitism, and American Jewry, the conversations are seemingly endless—there are so many perspectives and so many difficult questions that it can be hard to know where to start.
That’s why we created Boundless Insights—to bring you thoughtful, in-depth, and engaging discussions to help make sense of the issues.
Our goal is to become your trusted source for insights that are not just informative, but also empowering – giving you the confidence to start conversations of your own.
Boundless Insights - with Aviva Klompas
American Antizionism - With Shaul Kelner
Sociologist and Jewish studies scholar Dr. Shaul Kelner joins Dr. Rachel Fish to examine the rise of antizionism as a distinctly American political and social movement. Kelner argues that contemporary antizionism is less an intellectual critique of Zionism than a political mass movement defined by praxis: the othering and exclusion of Jews through social and institutional action.
Their conversation explores why debates over whether antizionism equals antisemitism often obscure more than they clarify, the distinction between 'anti-Zionism' and 'antizionism', how ambiguity about end goals of the pro-Palestine movement enables broad coalition-building, why higher education became especially fertile ground for this movement, and more.
Further Reading
Shaul Kelner, “American Antizionism,” Sources Journal
Isabella Tabarovsky, "The Cult of 'Antizionism'," Tablet Magazine
Isabella Tabarovsky, "Zombie Anti-Zionism," Tablet Magazine
David Hirsch, "'Anti-Zionism' and 'Antizionism'," Australia/Israel, and Jewish Affairs Council
Guest Bio
Shaul Kelner is a Professor of Jewish Studies and Sociology at Vanderbilt University, specializing in the study of contemporary Jewish life.
His latest book, A Cold War Exodus: How American Activists Mobilized to Free Soviet Jews received grant support from the National Endowment for the Humanities and won a National Jewish Book Award.
Prof. Kelner has been a Fellow of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s Institute for Advanced Studies and the University of Michigan’s Frankel Institute for Advanced Judaic Studies, a visiting scholar in Tel Aviv University’s Department of Sociology and Anthropology and a resident scholar at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute. He has served as a board member of the Association for Jewish Studies and of the Association for the Social Scientific Study of Jewry.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Vanderbilt’s College of Arts and Science recognized him with an Innovative Teaching Award for Creating Engaging In-Person Learning Environments.