For this episode, we invited Sara Kershnar to unpack antisemitism as one of the keywords in Critical Zionism Studies. In October 2023, Sara spoke at the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism's inaugural conference about Israel, U.S. white nationalism, and transnational right-wing alliances and you can view Sara’s talk on our website. In today’s conversation, we will pull on some of the threads Sara introduced in that talk, including why it is hard and contentions to define antisemitism, how accusations of antisemitism are weaponized to advance Zionist politics, and how Zionism is inherently antisemitic.

Sara Kershnar is the co-founder and international coordinator of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network established in 2007. Sara began her Palestinian solidarity work during the second intifada. Sara is also a co-founder of Generation FIVE, an organization working on transformative justice approaches to addressing child sexual abuse and works towards prison abolition in solidarity with currently and formerly-incarcerated people. After her father tested positive for HIV, Sara began her organizing and social justice work in the movements to reduce drug-related harm. Sara is the queer mother of a fabulous nine-year old. Sara has coordinated and been a lead writer on several publications including the The Business of Backlash: The Attack on the Palestinian Movement and Other Movements for Social Justice; Israel’s Worldwide Role in Repression focused on the role of Israel’s government, its military, and related corporations and organizations in a global industry of violence and repression; Greenwashing Apartheid: The Jewish National Fund’s Environmental Cover Up – an eBook; and was a producer of a documentary film, “Enduring Roots: Over a Century of Resistance to the JewishNational Fund.” Sara has also published several articles on reducing drug-related harm and a manual on implementing transformative justice approaches to child sexual abuse.