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Unpacking Zionism

Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism

Produced by the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, this podcast features conversations with scholars, activists, and artists about their insights into Zionism. Unpacking Zionism is a process and a long-term commitment that we at the Institute are making to the Palestinian liberation struggle and the struggles of all people affected by Zionism. To resist the current moment of Israel’s ongoing genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, we must understand Zionism. So join us on this journey as we are Unpacking Zionism one episode at a time. Please subscribe to Unpacking Zionism so you never miss new episodes. To learn more about the Institute and to access episode notes and transcripts, visit our website https://criticalzionismstudies.org

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  • S1 · E61
    August 28 · 22 min

    In Flames: Zionist organization AEN funds “antisemitism” training for psychology students | With Meira Gold & Roy Eidelson

    In this episode of In Flames, Meira Gold & Roy Eidelson discuss a new Zionist "antisemitism training" aimed at students in psychology PhD programs. The program is funded and promulgated by the Academic Engagement Network (AEN). The pilot program introduces "antisemitism" training into psychology programs across New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. Links & Resources Drop the AEN This is Not the New Curriculum Psychology Students Need | Roy Eidelson From Above: Academic Engagement Network (AEN) | With Sean Malloy and Meira Gold In Flames: APA Resolution | With Barry Trachtenberg, Lara Sheehi, & Jordan Dunn Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: An Interview with Lara Sheehi by Jess Row for The Racial Imaginary Institute Northwestern students blocked from enrollment after refusing controversial antisemitism training Find other podcast episodes on our website at criticalzionismstudies.org/our-work/podcast-unpacking-zionism/ Find ICSZ on Social Media!: Instagram: @institutecsz Facebook: @Institute-for-the-Critical-Study-of-Zionism BlueSky: bsky.app/profile/critzstudies.bsky.social

  • S1 · E60
    May 21 · 55 min

    Empire’s Laboratory: Zionism is a real estate project

    Taylor Miller is a writer and researcher based between the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Deserts. She earned her Ph.D. in political geography from the University of Arizona. Taylor is a Contributing Editor and writer for Columbia University’s Avery Review, and other recent works are featured with Social Text, Al Mayadeen, Weird Economies, The New Inquiry, Protean, with forthcoming essays in Yale School of Architecture’s Perspecta, Antipode and Kohl Journal. She’s motivated by border abolition and cactus propagation. Resources: https://averyreview.com/issues/70/silicon-wadi-silicon-desert https://proteanmag.com/2024/05/13/against-these-walls-a-unity-of-struggle-from-gaza-to-sonora/ https://socialtextjournal.org/periscope_article/walking-through-walls-and-scaling-the-roof-direct-action-to-end-the-genocide-in-palestine/

  • S1 · E59
    May 7 · 20 min

    In Flames: APA Resolution with Barry Trachtenberg, Lara Sheehi, & Jordan Dunn

    Bios: Lara Sheehi: is a Research Fellow at the University of South Africa’s Institute for Social and Health Sciences, a licensed clinical psychologist, and the host of the Psychic Militancy podcast. Lara’s work focuses on psychoanalysis, the psychic refusals central to liberation struggles and life-making in the Global South, the psychic dimensions of resistance and revolution, and critical Zionism studies. She is author of the forthcoming book, From the Clinic to the Streets Psychoanalysis for Revolutionary Futures (Pluto, 2026) and the co-author, with Stephen Sheehi, of Psychoanalysis Under Occupation: Practicing Resistance in Palestine which won the Middle East Monitor’s 2022 Palestine Book Award for Best Academic Book. Lara is a member of the founding collective for the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and is on the advisory board for Forensic Architecture. Jordan Dunn: is a licensed clinical psychologist based in New York City. He works as a supervising psychologist and organizer for community action and reflection at the Greene Clinic, a sliding scale, community psychoanalytic, training clinic. He also serves as a council representative at the American Psychological Association representing APA Division 39 the society of psychoanalysis and psychoanalytic psychology. Trained at the New School for Social Research, he has received multiple fellowships, and publishes on psychotherapy and culture. He organizes locally with Jews for Racial and Economic Justice and is part of Jewish Psychologists for Justice, a grassroots organizing group fighting for collective liberation. Barry Trachtenberg: is a historian of modern Jewish history and the Holocaust and author of several books on Jewish history and the Nazi Holocaust. He has published on issues related to American support for Israel, Zionism, anti-Zionism, and antisemitism in venues such as Jewish Currents, the Guardian, Jacobin, the Forward, Electronic Intifada, and Mondoweiss. He is a member of the Academic Advisory Boards of Jewish Voice for Peace and the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, the steering committee of the Genocide and Holocaust Studies Crisis Network, and is Faculty Affiliate of the Center for Security, Race and Rights at Rutgers Law School. He holds the Rubin Presidential Chair in Jewish History at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.

  • S1 · E57
    April 14 · 40 min

    Empire’s Laboratory: ‏الأرض اللي بطعمي The land that feeds

    In this episode, Alex and Lara talk with Danya Nadar about the ways Zionism  is implicated in the ongoing destruction and plunder of land and resources in Guatemala, especially  through imported land-based practices and irrigation technologies, and  the ways that Indigenous people continue to resist. Bio: Danya Nadar is an Egyptian-Canadian PhD candidate affiliated with the Institute of Development Policy (IOB) at the University of Antwerp since 2020. From 2009, Danya worked as a documentary film and news producer focusing on social and political economy topics in North Africa and east of the Mediterranean, and where she is also part of the revolutionary media collective mosireen.org. In 2018 she switched careers to pursue her passion, conducting research alongside Indigenous peasant farmers. She was a research fellow (2019-2020) at the International Development Research Centre in Canada which allowed her to continue the research she had started in occupied Palestine (2018-2019) on ancestral knowledges related to seeds, land tenure, gendered social dynamics, and alternative/parallel food networks. Her current research looks at the interconnected ways food is weaponized by relationally comparing the colonization of Palestine (past to present) with that of Ch’orti’ territories in Guatemala’s east, and the ways ancestral knowledges related to land, seeds, and cosmo vision to resist land encroachment and dispossession towards reconstitution of ancestral territories. Show notes: https://agroecologynow.net/agricultural-research-in-times-of-the-eu-race-to-arms/ Antony Loewenstein book: https://antonyloewenstein.com/books/the-palestine-laboratory-how-israel-exports-the-technology-of-occupation-around-the-world/

  • S1 · E56
    March 17 · 41 min

    Empire’s Laboratory: Palestine has always been a global phenomenon

    Nadim Bawalsa is a historian of modern Palestine and the author of Transnational Palestine: Migration and the Right of Return before 1948 (Stanford University Press, 2022), winner of the 2023 Nikki Keddie Book Award and the 2023 Palestine Book Award. He is the associate editor of the Journal of Palestine Studies. Shownotes: Nadim's book: https://www.sup.org/books/middle-east-studies/transnational-palestine Weavers of Revolution: The Yarur Workers and Chile's Road to Socialism by Peter Winn: https://global.oup.com/academic/product/weavers-of-revolution-9780195045581 Between Arab and White: Race and Ethnicity in the Early Syrian American Diaspora by Sarah Gualtieri ucpress.edu/book/9780520255340/between-arab-and-white Extra readings from Nadim: Nadim Bawalsa with the Arab Center Washington DC: https://arabcenterdc.org/resource/transnational-palestine/ On the limits of Palestinian-Chilean solidarity with Palestine today: https://fromtheperiphery.com/2025/09/29/206-the-limits-of-palestinian-ness-w-pablo-abufom/ A special issue in JPS on Palestinian migration before 1948: https://www.tandfonline.com/toc/rpal20/46/2?nav=tocList

  • S1 · E55
    March 5 · 25 min

    In Flames: On Iran and Intersectional Anti-Imperialism with Manijeh Moradian

    Episode's resources: Iran and the US Anti-War Movement https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/25872/Iran-and-the-US-Anti-War-Movement Iran in Crisis: Seven Essays on the Obstacles to Freedom https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/47192/Iran-in-Crisis-Seven-Essays-on-the-Obstacles-to-Freedom-Introduction Raha Iranian Feminist Collective https://www.rahafeministcollective.org/ Havaar: Iranian Initiative Against War, Sanctions, and State Repression https://web.archive.org/web/20230209153914/http://havaar.org/category/campaign/ https://www.instagram.com/feminists4jina/ https://www.instagram.com/decolonize_anarchism/

  • S1 · E54
    March 5 · 1 min

    Introducing: In Flames

    Introducing a new series of podcast shorts: In Flames. Episodes are anti-Zionist hot takes on what's happening right now. With rotating hosts from the Institute's Collective and Advisory Board. Subscribe so you don't miss new episodes.

  • S1 · E53
    March 3 · 43 min

    Empire’s Laboratory: Walking with Palestinians, Zapatistas, Panthers, and jaguars

    In this episode, Alex and Lara interview Linda Quiquivix about radical histories and traditions of resistance to colonialism, with a focus on Zionism and its instantiations in Latin America. Palestine 1492: A Report Back by Linda Quiquivix, available for free here: https://wildoxbooks.org/books/palestine-1492/ Jimmy Johnson & Linda Quiquivix, "Israel and Mexico Swap Notes on Abusing Rights" found here: https://electronicintifada.net/content/israel-and-mexico-swap-notes-abusing-rights/12475 For Zapatista communiques see: https://enlacezapatista.ezln.org.mx/ Mentioned in the episode: México Profundo: Reclaiming a Civilization, found here: https://utpress.utexas.edu/9780292708433/

  • S1 · E52
    February 16 · 1 hr 20 min

    The Anti-Defamation League’s Attacks on Professional Associations: What to Know and How to Respond

    This episode is a recording of a webinar titled "The Anti-Defamation League’s Attacks on Professional Associations: What to Know and How to Respond," hosted by Scholars for Justice and Human Rights in Professional Associations on February 9, 2026. The focus of the session was the Anti-Defamation League's November 2025 report falsely alleging that over a dozen professional academic associations were riddled with antisemitism, based on interviews with a small number of pro-Israel voices inside these associations. Panelists discussed how we should understand the ADL today — an organization that once claimed to serve civil rights but is now partnering directly with the white nationalist right — and how we can configure resistance. The panelists included Emmaia Gelman, Amira Jarmakani, Isaac Kamola, and Lara Deeb, with commentary from Amy Hagopian and Roy Eidelson of SJHRPA. Emmaia Gelman is director of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, co-chair of the American Studies Association Academic and Community Activism Caucus, and author of The Anti-Defamation League and the Racial State (forthcoming from the University of California Press). Amira Jarmakani is a professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies and affiliated faculty with the Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies and LGBTQ+ studies at San Diego State University. She is a core member of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism and a Member of the Palestinian Feminist Collective. Isaac Kamola is a professor of Political Science at Trinity College. He currently directs the American Association of University Professors’(AAUP) Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, which is committed to the pursuit of knowledge free from intimidation and retaliation. Lara Deeb is a professor of Anthropology and Middle Eastern Studies at Scripps College. She co-chairs the Middle East Studies Association’s Task Force on Civil and Human Rights. The task force tracks the changing political and legal context as it impacts scholars of the Middle East and produces resources to support faculty and students. Amy Hagopian is a professor emeritus in the School of Public Health at the University of Washington. She has been a leader in the American Public Health Association for over two decades, recently serving as chair of the editorial board of the Association’s journal. Last year, after receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association’s International Health Section, the Association revoked her membership when an anonymous complainant claimed they were made to feel unsafe by her work for Palestinian health justice within the Association. Roy Eidelson is the past president of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict, and Violence of the American Psychological Association. He is the author of Doing Harm: How the World's Largest Psychological Association Lost Its Way in the War on Terror. Video recording available here - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jbInc34588

  • S1 · E51
    February 3 · 41 min

    Empire’s Laboratory: The Bombs Dropped in West Asia Explode at Home

    In this first episode, ICSZ founding collective member, Lara Sheehi, is joined by advisory board member and co-host, Alex Aviña. Using Alex’s concept and analysis of the Palestine-Mexico border as an orienting frame, they talk about why this series feels especially urgent now, and also discuss his newest analysis about the US imperial aggression on Venezuela. Alex Aviña, “Notes from the Palestine-Mexico Border,” NACLA (Sept 3, 2025), https://nacla.org/notes-from-the-palestine-mexico-border. Alex Aviña, “The Cult of Hercules-Mammon is Back,” Foreign Exchanges (Jan 13, 2026), https://www.foreignexchanges.news/p/the-cult-of-hercules-mammon-is-back.

  • S1 · E50
    February 2 · 2 min

    Introducing: Empire's Laboratory

    Empire's Laboratory is a mini-series co-hosted by ICSZ founding collective member Lara Sheehi and advisory board member Alex Aviña. Empire's Laboratory will provide a  critical analysis of Zionism in Latin America. Subscribe so you don't miss new episodes. Learn more about the series, our co-hosts, and the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism on our website - https://criticalzionismstudies.org

  • S1 · E49
    Sep 23, 2025 · 36 min

    Normalization with Reem Farah

    This episode looks at the keyword “normalization” in conversation with independent writer and researcher Reem Farah. Our discussion draws on Reem’s 2024 article “Ottolenghi and Tamimi's Cookbook, Jerusalem: Israel as Frame and Palestine as Subject” in the Jerusalem Quarterly. Reem analyzes the cookbook as an example of the normalization of Zionism, and explains why opposing normalization is a pillar of the fight for a free Palestine. Notes: 1) This is the last episode in our keywords series, at least for now. As we’re wrapping up the keywords, we have a new mini-series in the works dedicated to the movement that emerges out of K thru 12 schools in the US to resist Zionist attacks. 2) If you are listening to this episode on Spotify, this is the last episode that we publish on this platform. After this episode, the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism is pulling our content from Spotify and will not be using the platform for our materials. This decision is a response to Spotify's chief executive, Daniel Ek’s $700 million investment in a military startup Helsing. Ek has now also become the chairman of Helsing, which is a company specializing in AI-powered combat drones and military software. Multiple musicians, including Massive Attack & King Gizzard,​​ already pulled their catalogs from Spotify and many users are canceling their subscriptions. We are joining this principled call to boycott Spotify over its ties to military technologies and manufacturers. Follow us on Apple podcast or other platforms. Other resources: Reem Farah, “Ottolenghi and Tamimi's Cookbook, Jerusalem: Israel as Frame and Palestine as Subject” Yara Hawari, “Arab Normalization and the Palestinian Struggle for Liberation” Jumana Manna’s film Foragers Rabea Eghbariah, “The Struggle for Akoub & Za'atar: On Edible Plants in Palestinian Cuisine and Israeli Plant Protection Laws”

  • S1 · E48
    Sep 17, 2025 · 15 min

    Disarmament with Bikrum Gill

    This week we bring listeners a rich and concise episode on “disarmament” as a keyword for the critical study of Zionism. It's a short talk by Bikrum Gill, a member of the Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective and faculty at Virginia Tech, excerpted from a panel on Critical Zionism Studies and political theory at the 2025 American Political Science Association conference. Bikrum Gill, The Political Ecology of Colonial Capitalism: Race, Nature, and Accumulation (2024) - https://muse.jhu.edu/pub/300/monograph/book/133572 Anti-Imperialist Scholars Collective - https://www.anti-imperialists.com/

  • S1 · E47
    Sep 9, 2025 · 36 min

    Securitization with Nicole Nguyen

    In this episode we’re with Dr. Nicole Nguyen to talk through securitization as a keyword for Critical Zionism Studies. From manipulations of the idea of “safety” to tech giant Palantir’s dystopian “digital kill chain” in Gaza and surveillance-to-deportation machinery in the United States, we connect the dots between Zionist and U.S. militarisms. This interview was recorded in June 2025. Nicole Nguyen’s selected writings: https://clj.uic.edu/profiles/nicole-nguyen/ Mohammed El Kurd, Untitled essay on Substack (8/29/25) Pro-Israel Group Censoring Social Media Led by Former Israeli Intelligence Officers (Lee Fang and Jack Poulson, 7/11/24) What Big Tech’s Band of Execs Will Do in the Army (Wired, 6/28/25) Foundation to Combat Antisemitism “Command Center”

  • S1 · E46
    Aug 12, 2025 · 1 hr 11 min

    Confronting Zionist Expansionism

    This episode is a recording of a webinar on Confronting Zionist Expansionism. Moderators Jennifer Mogannam & Amira Jarmakani talk with Abdaljawad Omar on Zionism’s territorial drive and Natalie El-Eid on weaponizing Druze in Palestine and Syria. This event was recorded on August 6 and is available as a video recording on our youtube channel.

  • S1 · E45
    Jul 28, 2025 · 34 min

    From Above: Secure Community Network (SCN)

    Most of the organizations we’ve covered so far in this mini-series purport to represent Jewish communities’ opinions. But the one we’re covering today is different. It’s not about opinions, it’s about putting the armed, carceral muscle behind other organizations. We’re talking about the Secure Community Network (SCN). There isn’t much research on the SCN, so rather than interviewing a scholar or journalist who wrote about it, in this episode Emmaia and Yulia talk about SCN based on the reporting that is available.

  • Jul 15, 2025 · 2 min

    Unpacking Zionism - July 2025 Update

    Updates about our podcast: wrapping up "From Above," announcing new mini-series, and inviting your feedback. You can find us at criticalzionismstudies.org and on Instagram at @institutecsz.

  • S1 · E44
    Jul 8, 2025 · 40 min

    From Above: Lawfare with Yousef Munayyer

    This interview with Yousef Munayyer, head of the Palestine/Israel program at Arab Center Washington DC, is about lawfare. Lawfare refers to the use of law as a political weapon that is more concerned with inflicting damage on an opponent than prevailing with a particular legal argument or proving facts based on evidence. We discuss Zionist lawfare, who formulates its goals and targets, and who funds and carries out these efforts. Resources: Yousef Munayyer, “Spaces Beyond Borders: Israel’s Transnational Repression Network,” in Suppressing Dissent: Shrinking Civic Space, Transnational Repression and Palestine–Israel (2024). Emmaia Gelman, Astroturf Antisemitism Watchdogs, Jadaliyya (2024) Charity & Security Network, The Alarming Rise of Lawfare to Suppress Civil Society: The Case of Palestine and Israel (2021)

  • S1 · E43
    Jun 17, 2025 · 51 min

    From Above: the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) with Alex Kane

    In this episode we are looking at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) with journalist Alex Kane, senior reporter at Jewish Currents. This is the first of several episodes we'll have on the ADL, in an effort to grapple with its scale and long history. Lots of links in the show notes. History: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Y-w8y83byMLcxFd1gvI1xqpcDUaCo1WW/view?usp=sharing https://jewishcurrents.org/the-anti-democratic-origins-of-the-jewish-establishment https://www.bostonreview.net/articles/emmaia-gelman-anti-defamation-league/ https://criticalzionismstudies.org/2024/10/26/from-the-new-antisemitism-to-the-ihra-definition/ Reporting & Analysis: https://jewishcurrents.org/adl-shutters-flagship-anti-bias-program https://jewishcurrents.org/scoop-internal-adl-memo-recommended-ending-police-delegations-to-israel-amid-backlash https://jewishcurrents.org/examining-the-adls-antisemitism-audit https://jewishcurrents.org/how-the-adls-israel-advocacy-undermines-its-civil-rights-work https://criticalzionismstudies.org/2024/05/28/the-anti-defamation-league-counterinsurgency-and-the-palestinian-liberation-movement/ https://rethinkingschools.org/articles/educators-beware-the-anti-defamation-league-is-not-the-social-justice-partner-it-claims-to-be/ https://www.jadaliyya.com/Details/45918 Resistance to the ADL: www.droptheadl.org Related episodes: Unpacking Zionism: Mothers Against College Antisemitism Battling the IHRA Definition: The new 'terror' bill Also mentioned: Canary Mission Amcha Initiative American Jewish Committee

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