Is Antisemitism the Gateway Drug to Socialism? — with Yascha Mounk (Part 1)

Is Antizionism the new common denominator of the left? Political scientist Yascha Mounk, founder of Persuasion and author of The Identity Trap, joins Dan to discuss whether the rise of Zohran Mamdani is indicative of a growing connection between socialist causes and hostility towards Jews. Drawing on his personal history, Mounk explains the different iterations of Antisemitism on the left and discusses with Dan whether it is categorically different from what we’re increasingly seeing on the American right.

The conversation went longer than normal, so stay tuned for part 2 in which Dan and Yascha discuss how identity politics consumed America and Jews should be wary of falling into the same trap.

In this episode...

- Yascha’s political upbringing

- The history of Antizionism on the left

- What would Mamdani compromise on?

- Is the IHRA’s definition of Antisemitism dangerous to free speech?

- The Western left’s silence on repression in Iran

This episode was sponsored by SAPIR: Sign up for the SAPIR journal at sapirjournal.org/CallMeBack

From the episode:

- Listen to Yascha’s podcast The Good Fight

- Subscribe to Persuasion

- Purchase Yascha’s book, The Identity Trap

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Credits: Ilan Benatar, Adaam James Levin-Areddy, Brittany Cohen, Martin Huergo, Mariangeles Burgos, and Patricio Spadavecchia, Yuval Semo