Benjamin Moser

About

Benjamin Moser is an American writer and biographer based in the Netherlands. A Pulitzer Prize–winning author known for major works on Clarice Lispector and Susan Sontag, he has more recently turned to the history of Jewish opposition to Zionism. In his book Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History, his Forward interview, and public talks, he describes his own journey from a passive Zionist upbringing in Houston to an adult anti-Zionist position, and presents a global lineage of Jewish figures who opposed Zionism, often at significant personal cost. He publicly characterizes Israel as a “racial tyranny,” describes ongoing “ethnic cleansing,” and argues that “the best way to fight this is to fight Zionism,” framing his work as part of an international movement for Palestinian rights. Moser’s project situates Jewish anti-Zionism in a long intellectual, religious, and political tradition, challenging the conflation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism and highlighting the impact of Zionism on Palestinians and diverse Jewish communities. Through profiles, essays, and events such as his New York Public Library / Cullman Center conversation with Rashid Khalidi, he aims to recover a “suppressed tradition” within Jewish thought and to analyze Israeli state practices in terms of apartheid, occupation, and dispossession, while emphasizing the ethical and historical stakes of these debates for both Jews and Palestinians.

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