From the Cold War to University Campuses Today: The USSR, the Third World, and Contemporary Antizionist Discourse

One of the most striking aspects of contemporary antizionist discourse is the extent to which it reproduces the slogans, tropes, and explanatory logic of Soviet propaganda. From equations of Zionism with Nazism, fascism, racism, imperialism, and colonialism to claims that Israel is a genocidal, apartheid state, the contemporary demonization of Zionism and Israel by the anti-Israel left follows familiar patterns born during the Cold War to serve the USSR’s geopolitical objectives.

In this talk, Izabella Tabarovsky traces the trajectory of contemporary antizionism from Cold War USSR to the 1970s-80s global left, the postcolonial Third World, the UN and university campuses today.

Meet our speaker:

Izabella Tabarovsky is a scholar of Soviet antizionism and contemporary antisemitism, a sought-after speaker and lecturer, and the author of 'Be a Refusenik: A Jewish Student’s Survival Guide' (Wicked Son)

She is a fellow with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, DC; senior fellow with the Z3 Institute for Jewish Priorities in Palo Alto; and a fellow with the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism and the Comper Center for the Study of Antisemitism and Racism at the University of Haifa.

A contributing writer at Tablet, she has also published in Newsweek, Sapir, Quillette, The National Interest, Fathom, The Forward, and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency. Her essays have appeared in several edited volumes, including 'October 7: The Wars over Words and Deeds' (Academic Studies Press); 'The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century: From the Academic Boycott Campaign into the Mainstream' (Routledge); 'Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays' (Routledge); 'Sionismo y antisionismo: Un debate necesario' (RiL editores); and 'Jewish Priorities: Sixty-Five Proposals for the Future of Our People' (Wicked Son). Her work has been translated into Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Polish, Russian, Czech, and other languages.

Meet or chair:

Professor Marc David Baer has been Head of Department at the Department of International History (LSE) since 2022. He received his PhD in History from University of Chicago in 2001, and has since gone on to author six books. His expertise looks at focuses on early modern and modern Europe and Middle East, the Ottoman Empire, Turkey, Germany, and Muslim-Jewish Relations.

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