Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History (w/ Benjamin Moser)

Benjamin Moser's provocative, exquisitely written new book, Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History (penguinrandomhouse.com/books/770236/anti-zioni…), couldn't be a more timely intervention in debates over Israel, Zionism, and the U.S.-Israeli relationship. It's a series of portraits of various Jewish people who came to oppose Zionism. Some are religious, some secular; some began as Zionists then changed their mind, others found it dubious from the get-go. Arranged in rough chronological order, together they make for a bracing tour of arguments against a Jewish state, especially in Palestine, along with the sordid history of the modern nation's origins. It's not a short conversation, but it's a necessary one (and with a great conversationalist).
Sources:
Benjamin Moser, Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History (penguinrandomhouse.com/books/770236/anti-zioni…) (2026)
— "We Have Talked Enough About Ourselves (equator.org/articles/we-have-talked-enough-abo…)," Equator, Oct 29, 2025
— Sontag: Her Life and Work (harpercollins.com/products/sontag-benjamin-mos…) (2019)
— Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector (benmoser.com/books/why-this-world) (2009)
Isaac Chotiner, "How Hamas Used Sexual Violence on October 7th (newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/how-hamas-used-sexu…)," New Yorker, Dec 10, 2023
— "Is Zionism’s Moral Crisis About Roads Not Taken—or Original Sin? (newyorker.com/magazine/2026/09/21/anti-zionism…)" New Yorker, Sept 13, 2026
Barnaby Raine, "Encountering Zionism (theideasletter.org/essay/encountering-zionism)," Ideas Letter, Oct 1, 2026.
Sam Adler-Bell, "Jews in the Diaspora Must Resist the Inhumanity Being Done by Israel in Our Name (newstatesman.com/ideas/2023/11/jews-resist-inh…)," New Statesman, Nov 29, 2023.
M. Gessen, "What We Know About the Weaponization of Sexual Violence on October 7th (newyorker.com/news/the-weekend-essay/what-we-k…)," New Yorker, Jul 20, 2024.
Arno J. Mayer, Plowshares into Swords: From Zionism to Israel (versobooks.com/products/2053-plowshares-into-s…), (2008)
W.H. Auden, "September 1, 1939 (poets.org/poem/september-1-1939)"
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