Feminist Antisemitism

Kara Jesella is a feminist scholar based in New York City, USA.

• Introduction: Feminism’s antisemitic-antizionist feedback loop 1. Sisterhood is racist, imperialist, and Jewish 2. New alliances, new ethics: identity feminism’s Jewish problem 3. The bridges: how Jewish feminists enabled antisemitism 4. Queer antizionism: feminism against women, feminism against Jews 5. “Me Too, Unless You Are a Jew”: feminism justifies October 7th Conclusion: Antizionist success, feminist failure, and the future

“With her exhaustive research and deeply insightful interpretation of key texts, Kara Jesella reveals that antisemitism was endemic in second-wave feminism from the outset, not—as some would have it—a result of Zionism. In fact, she shows, it was this antisemitism that predisposed the movement to become antizionist and led feminists to deny that Hamas had committed sexual violence on October 7. This is a bold, brave, and necessary book.”Sonya Michel, Professor Emerita of History and Gender and Women’s Studies, University of Maryland“One of the saddest—and yet most indicative—features of contemporary antizionism has been its willingness to abandon the historic feminist commitment to equality in favor of hostility to Jewish women. Kara Jesella’s eloquent and immensely important book offers a compelling account of both how feminism lost its way and what its consequent impact on contemporary politics has proven to be. If you have been troubled by these developments, this is the book to read to understand them.”Cary Nelson, author of Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on Basic Principles