Pears Institute – Zionism and Antisemitism International Conference: 24-26 May 2017

On the 24-26 May, scholars from around the world will gather at Birkbeck to explore the interaction between Zionism and antisemitism. This timely international conference coincides with the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, which enabled the Zionist movement to build a national home in Palestine and set it on the road to statehood, achieved three decades later. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War. The war and its aftermath have added further dimensions to the relationship between Zionism and antisemitism.

This is an opportunity to hear experts from different disciplines and with diverse perspectives explore themes including: Christianity, Jews and Zionism; Zionism and National Socialism; memories of the Holocaust and the Nakba; racisms; and anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

Birkbeck postgraduate students are very welcome to attend – see below for more details. You may come for the whole conference or part. Key note lectures on Wednesday and Thursday evenings are free to attend – visit the Pears Institute website for full details of these.

ZIONISM AND ANTISEMITISM

AN INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE

Key note speakers: Derek Penslar, Harvard University and Bashir Bashir, Open University, Israel and The Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
Date:  24 – 26 May 2017
Venue: Birkbeck, University of London, Clore Lecture Theatre, Clore Management Centre, Torrington Square, London WC1E 7HX
Event for scholars: Delegate fee, which includes lunches,refreshments and drinks reception:

Academics: £100.00*
Birkbeck staff: £50.00
Postgraduate students/early career scholars: £35.00

Click here to register.

*A day rate (£40.00) is also available, please contact: pearsinstitute@bbk.ac.uk 

This three day international conference brings together more than 35 scholars from institutions in eight countries, from different disciplines and with diverse perspectives, to examine the interaction between Zionism and antisemitism as it has developed from the nineteenth century through to the present day. Themes to be explored include: Christianity, Jews and Zionism; Zionism and National Socialism; memories of the Holocaust and the Nakba; racisms; and anti-Zionism and antisemitism.

Political Zionism and antisemitism have been connected ever since the late nineteenth century. From the 1870s, self-proclaimed antisemites regarded Jews as an unassimilable element within their nations and states. Many Zionists concluded that the persistence of antisemitism required a Jewish state or national home in Palestine. ‘We are one people – our enemies have made us one in our despite….Distress binds us together,’ wrote Theodor Herzl in The Jewish State, in 1896.

This is a timely moment for our conference. November 2017 brings the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration which enabled the Zionist movement to build a national home in Palestine and set it on the road to statehood, achieved three decades later. This year also marks the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War. The war and its aftermath have added further dimensions to the relationship between Zionism and antisemitism.

For more information and the conference programme: click here