PODCAST · education
Unpacking Zionism
by 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 on Critical Zionism Studies -- the study of Zionism as a power structure, and of anti-Zionist resistance. Unpacking Zionism is a process and long-term commitment that we make to the Palestinian liberation struggle, and the struggles of all people affected by Zionism. Subscribe to Unpacking Zionism so you never miss new episodes, and leave a review to boost the podcast's visibility to others. To learn more about the Institute, and find episode notes and transcripts, go to https://criticalzionismstudies.org.
Episodes
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Empire's Laboratory: "Defending Western civilization": Cold War Dictatorships & Border Regimes
In this final episode of Empire's Laboratory, Alex Aviña is in the interview seat, with Emmaia Gelman as guest host. Alex extends the concept of “Palestine-Mexico border” from the present backward in time to the Cold War, and throughout Latin America as a site of colonization and resistance. Alex...
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In Flames: Who owns the American Historical Association?
Who Owns the American Historical Association? Israel, the war lobby, and the fight for Palestine In this episode, host Barry Trachtenberg speaks with Adam Rzepka, professor of literature at Montclair State University, about his Chronicle of Higher Education report on the American Historical...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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In Flames: On Anti-Anti-Zionism with Sean Malloy & Emmaia Gelman
Episode's resources: https://mondoweiss.net/2025/12/stop-calling-right-wing-criticism-of-israel-anti-zionism/
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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…
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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...
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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…
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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.
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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:...
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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...
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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…
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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…
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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...
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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.
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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...
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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:...
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From Above: Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) with Amira Jarmakani
In this episode, we discuss the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI) with the veteran of this podcast Amira Jarmakani, ICSZ collective member and Professor of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies at San Diego State University. NCRI, presenting itself as a research institute interested in...
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From Above: Simon Wiesenthal Center with Stop LAPD Spying Coalition
This episode with Akhil Gopal and Matyos Kidane of Stop LAPD Spying Coalition looks at the Simon Wiesenthal Center, which is the parent organization of the Museum of Tolerance and a go-to Holocaust education provider. We look at how its work relates to what L.A. organizers call the "stalker…
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From Above: Academic Engagement Network with Sean Malloy and Meira Gold
In this episode, Sean Malloy and Meira Gold discuss the Academic Engagement Network (AEN), which has been working behind the scenes on campuses, advising many of the administrators who have been imposing the repressive measures that we've seen throughout the Israeli genocide. AEN claims to have...
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From Above: Helen Diller Family Foundation with JAWS UCSC
In this episode of “From Above,” we discuss the Helen Diller Family Foundation – an organization that claims to support “global Jewish needs.” And while it indeed funds Jewish Studies Programs as well as hospitals, art museums, and playgrounds, what the Helen Diller Family Foundation is actually...
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From Above: CAMERA with Sana Fadel and Nora Lester Murad
WARNING: the word "rapist" appears in this episode several times in the context of Zionist smears. At the 15'48" mark, there is a mention of a Jewish man being shot by a CAMERA-affiliated agitator. In this episode on CAMERA and the Camera Education Institute, we’re hearing from education…
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From Above: Hillel with Maura Finkelstein
This is the second episode in our series From Above, in which we look at Zionist institutions that wield their power to advance fascist repression of anyone who speaks against the U.S.-backed Israeli genocide of Palestinians. My guest today is herself an example of how this repression works. I am...
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From Above: Mothers Against College Antisemitism (MACA) with Zach Samalin
This is the first episode in a mini-series called "From Above," which looks at the Zionist organizations that have been laying the groundwork for Trump-era fascism and are now helping it advance. This mini-series isn’t so much a “how did we get here” as an effort to demystify the ongoing…
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Introducing: From Above
"From Above" is a new mini-series in our Unpacking Zionism podcast. It launches next week, but our teaser this week is a mini-show in itself. This series looks at the Zionist institutions that have been smearing, doxxing, and fueling ICE abductions and deportations in their efforts to shut down...
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Cultural Boycott with Mama Ganuush
In this episode, we are joined by Mama Ganuush, a Palestinian drag artist and activist, to unpack “Cultural Boycott” as a keyword in Critical Zionism Studies. We discuss San Francisco’s Civic Joy Fund, its Zionist backers, and the joy-washing event the Fund is organizing on April 5 – the…
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Corporate Capital with Felice Gelman
In this episode, we’re unpacking “corporate capital” as a keyword in Critical Zionism Studies with our guest Felice Gelman. We are discussing the article she wrote for Mondoweiss titled “The ADL’s war on socially conscious investing is in service to Israel and the new oligarchy.” It is about the...
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Liberatory institutions with Bassam Haddad
In this episode we’re talking about building liberatory institutions — institutions of resistive, anti-Zionist knowledge production. We’re with Bassam Haddad of the Arab Studies Institute, the parent organization of Jadaliyya, Gaza in Context, and multiple other projects. Join us to talk about...
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The Trouble with White Feminism: Ep 5 with Lara Sheehi
In the fifth and final episode of “The Trouble with White Feminism” series, Jessie Daniels talks to ICSZ founding collective member Lara Sheehi about maintaining clarity about the material reality of Zionist settler colonialism while resisting psycho-affective tactics that Zionists use to…
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The Trouble with White Feminism: Ep 4 with Jessie Daniels
In the fourth episode of "The Trouble with White Feminism" series, Kim-Hong Nguyen talks to Jessie Daniels, author of Nice White Ladies, about white ladies celebrities. They unpack why white Jewish celebrities like Debra Messing, Amy Schumer, and Sheryl Sandberg stake a claim on their brand of...
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The Trouble with White Feminism: Ep 3 with Kim-Hong Nguyen
In the third episode of "The Trouble with White Feminism" series, Jessie Daniels interviews Kim-Hong Nguyen, professor at University of Waterloo, in Ontario, Canada, and author of Mean Girl Feminism: How White Feminists Gaslight, Gatekeep, and Girlboss (University of Illinois Press, 2024). This...
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The Trouble with White Feminism: Ep 2 with Melissa Weiner
In this episode, Jessie Daniels and Kim-Hong Nguyen ask Melissa Weiner about her work exploring the affective ties that the Zionist project generates through Birthright trips and summer camps and how these ties become imbricated within heteropatriarchy and settler colonialism. “The Blue Box” -...
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The Trouble with White Feminism: Ep 1 with Randa Tawil
In the first episode of our special mini-series "The Trouble with White Feminism," host Jessie Daniels interviews Randa Tawil about the ways that white feminism serves the Zionist project. Randa Tawil is an Assistant Professor of Women and Gender Studies at Texas Christian University and a fellow...
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Visual Remains with Azza El Hassan
Today’s guest is Palestinian filmmaker and writer Azza El Hassan and the keyword we are discussing is “visual remains.” This term refers to Palestinian photographs and films that have survived Israeli plunder, looting, and destruction. By recovering, collecting, and restoring visual remains, El...
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Introducing: The Trouble with White Feminism
The Trouble with White Feminism is a special mini-series presented by writer, professor, and member of the founding collective of the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism Jessie Daniels. Across five episodes, Daniels and her colleagues will discuss how white feminism overlaps and…
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Practicing Pedagogies of Resistance and Liberation: The Critical Study of Zionism
Today’s episode is a double release with Nothing Never Happens – A Radical Pedagogy Podcast. In conversation with Tina Pippin and Lucia Hulsether, Unpacking Zionism co-hosts Yulia Gilich and Emmaia Gelman discuss ICSZ’s vision of producing resistive critical knowledge about Zionism in service of...
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Launch of the Journal for the Critical Study of Zionism with Diana Buttu and Robin Kelley
Today’s special episode is a recording of the launch of the inaugural issue of the Journal for the Critical Study of Zionism (JCSZ). Our guest speakers, Diana Buttu and Robin D.G. Kelley, reflect on the devastation wrought by Zionism over the past year and the past century. We asked Diana and…
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Abolition with Rawan Masri and Fathi Nimer
In this episode, founders of DecolonizePalestine.com Rawan Masri and Fathi Nimer discuss abolition as a keyword in Critical Zionism Studies. In June 2023, Rawan and Fathi published an article titled “Imprisoning Palestine: Zionist Colonialism through an Abolitionist Lens” in the Scalawag…
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Antisemitism Training with Eli Meyerhoff
This episode with Eli Meyerhoff looks at “antisemitism training” as a keyword for Critical Zionism Studies. Eli Meyerhoff is a fellow at the Center for the Defense of Academic Freedom, which is part of the American Association of University Professors. Last week's episode is related to this...
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Oh... and Islamophobia
This week we’re looking at Islamophobia as a keyword for Critical Zionism Studies. But it’s necessarily also about anti-Palestinian racism and DEI — diversity, equity, and inclusion. This is a special episode — rather than an interview, we’re bringing you leading thinkers and educators in...
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Propaganda with John Harfouch
This episode with philosopher John Harfouch considers “propaganda” as a keyword for Critical Zionism Studies. We’re looking at the work of Fayez Sayegh — the incredibly prolific Palestinian-Syrian-American scholar who was instrumental in theorizing Zionism and defining Arab American politics. Dr....
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Indigenous Sovereignty with Jamal Nablusi
Today's guest is Jamal Nablusi, a diaspora Palestinian writer, researcher, and organizer. And the term he is helping us unpack in this episode is “Indigenous sovereignty.” In 2023, Jamal published an article called “Reclaiming Palestinian Indigenous Sovereignty” in the Journal of Palestine…
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Future with Sophia Azeb
This conversation with Sophia Azeb is the third and last (at least for now) episode in our mini-series about “future” as a keyword in Critical Zionism Studies. We talk about Palestinian futurity and its entanglement with Palestinian history and memory of the past. Sophia Azeb (she/they) is an...
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Reclaiming Knowledge Production, Resisting Zionist Enclosures
“Reclaiming Knowledge Production, Resisting Zionist Enclosures” is a recording of a panel discussion among scholars, organizers, and faculty labor leaders who are resisting Israel’s genocide of Palestinian in Gaza and also resisting the upsurging forces of intellectual and cultural repression in...
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Hindutva with Pranay Somayajula
In this episode, Pranay Somayajula helps us unpack the term hindutva as a keyword in Critical Zionism Studies. Hindutva is a strain of ethnic supremacy and Indian nationalism that Pranay will help us unpack in the episode. It is specifically anti-Muslim, and – like Zionism – it has been fueled by...
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ABOUT THIS SHOW
Produced by the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, this podcast features conversations with scholars, activists, and artists on Critical Zionism Studies -- the study of Zionism as a power structure, and of anti-Zionist resistance. Unpacking Zionism is a process and long-term commitment that we make to the Palestinian liberation struggle, and the struggles of all people affected by Zionism. Subscribe to Unpacking Zionism so you never miss new episodes, and leave a review to boost the podcast's visibility to others. To learn more about the Institute, and find episode notes and transcripts, go to https://criticalzionismstudies.org.
HOSTED BY
Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism
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How many episodes does Unpacking Zionism have?
Unpacking Zionism currently has 66 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Unpacking Zionism about?
Produced by the Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism, this podcast features conversations with scholars, activists, and artists on Critical Zionism Studies -- the study of Zionism as a power structure, and of anti-Zionist resistance. Unpacking Zionism is a process and long-term commitment...
How often does Unpacking Zionism release new episodes?
Unpacking Zionism has 66 episodes. Check the episode list to see recent publication dates and frequency.
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Unpacking Zionism is created and hosted by Institute for the Critical Study of Zionism.
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