College and University Monitor

Dr. Joseph Massad gave a talk on democracy in Israel on Thursday, Sept. 27 in which he argued that Israel has established a racialized democracy that disenfranchises non-Jewish citizens. Speaking in Viking Theater at the invitation of the Political Awareness Committee (PAC), Massad recounted the history of Zionism and Israeli colonization in support of his argument that Israel has a racialized system of democracy.

Serving as Professor of Modern Arab Politics and Intellectual History at Columbia University, Massad is a prolific scholar who has published dozens of books and academic articles. In Massad’s introduction, a PAC representative described him as one of the rare “voices that speak incisively about ongoing injustices that occur around the world.”

Massad’s lecture focused primarily on the history of Zionism and the links between racialism, Zionism and the founding of the state of Israel. Massad argued that Zionism is a fundamentally racialist political philosophy that was integral to the founding of Israel. Massad also described the many ways that he thinks Israel discriminates against Palestinian residents and examined Western support for Israel despite these practices. ...