Maura Finkelstein writer anthropologist Essays

Essays and Opinion Pieces

"The Jewish supremacy at the heart of the Zionist project”

Liberal Zionists in both Israel and the United States claim to be horrified by the far-right turn both countries have taken. However, for those of us who are positioned in “the West,” what we are seeing now is that the liberal facade shielding colonial violence and inequality has fallen and the rot at the center of both projects is finally as clear to the colonizers as it is to the colonized. This is the inevitability of supremacist societies.

Liberal Israeli society may claim that settlement expansions, the blockade of Gaza, and even the genocide are temporary conflicts that will eventually be resolved when the liberal order is restored. In the United States, these same arguments are made about the U.S. southern border policies, the militarization of the police, and the dispossession of native land. But these policies are the heart of who these two countries are. Just as we call out white supremacy in the United States, we must call out Jewish supremacy in occupied Palestine. (Mondoweiss, June 20, 2025)

“Israel uses antisemitism as cover for Gaza genocide. It's a trap”

Anyone condemning the recent waves of political assassinations and spectacles of violence clearly and specifically orchestrated as a form of political resistance should instead redirect their outrage to this: almost one million Palestinians, murdered in the most extreme and horrific ways. Two million people are being actively starved to death by Israel. This is the violence we should be condemning. Any violence against Israel, the US, or individuals supporting Israel and the US’s ongoing genocide is resistance and should be framed as such. To draw on antisemitism in this moment is both a form of genocide denial and an incitement to more violence against Palestinians. (The New Arab, June 10, 2025)

“On academic freedom in a time of genocide (Freedom for whom?)”

What is academic freedom in the midst of a genocide?

What is the use of our training and our resources if we cannot use our position as intellectuals to condemn the genocide of Palestinians in Gaza and call for Palestinian liberation? Hostile Homelands: a newsletter about India and Israel, April 3, 2025)

”Palestine Pedagogies: Teaching in a Time of Genocide”

If every anthropology professor, regardless of subfield, regional expertise, or training, went into their classrooms this fall and devoted the year to teaching the work of Palestinian scholars and scholars of Palestine, we could help change the discourse around Palestine, Israeli settler colonialism, and the genocide in Gaza. This is, after all, our job—to acknowledge the “power in the story” (to draw on Michel-Rolph Trouillot) and ask: What stories are we centering? Whose voices are we privileging? (Cultural Anthropology (Hot Spots), November 5, 2024)

“What does campus 'unsafety' mean in the midst of a genocide?”

Scholasticide in Gaza is unsafety. The murder of thousands - likely hundreds of thousands - of Palestinian students in Gaza is unsafety. The violent attacks on Palestinian, Arab and Muslim students are unsafety. American students have both the right and the responsibility to be brave enough to confront the reality of this genocide. (Middle East Eye, November 3, 2024)

“What is our Anthropology for? Knowledge Production and Platform in a Time of Genocide”

Every anthropologist who has ever called for “decolonizing anthropology” (as well as everyone else) should be actively invested in using their platform, as teachers and as scholars, to call for a free Palestine and an end to the Israeli occupation, ongoing for 76 years. What is our voice good for, if not for this?. (American Anthropologist: Vital Topics Forum, October 30, 2024)

“Why I Am Not Voting for Kamala Harris”

Harris may be the lesser of two evils when it comes to Donald Trump, but the lesser of two evils is still evil. If she wants to win in November, she needs to give us more than vibes and celebrity culture – she needs to make a real commitment to ending the genocide in Gaza, first and foremost by not funding it. (Al Jazeera, August 2024)

“Don’t be fooled – Biden is the real antisemite”

Don't be fooled by Joe Biden's recent speech on antisemitism. Biden doesn’t care about Jews unless they share his support for Zionism. The rest of us are enemies of the state. (Mondoweiss, May 2024)

“Equating Critique of Israel with Antisemitism, US Academics are Being Silenced”

Is Zionism becoming a protected class, criticizing Israel a taboo subject of speech? How the genocide debate is causing chaos on U.S. campuses. (The Markaz Review, April 2024)

“Anti-Colonial Time in Fady Joudah’s […]”

“I am not a poet but I read poetry when I need to be reminded how to live. Right now, in present tense, is a very hard time to live. What is time in a genocide? This question animates Fady Joudah’s remarkable new collection of poems.” (Scottish Left Review, March 2024)

“Islamophobia and spectacles of Muslim death”

“Our words matter. We have to use them. Not only must we all call for a free Palestine, we must also start speaking directly to the global indifference to Muslim death and suffering that is allowing the genocide in Gaza to continue, even as the world watches.” (Red Pepper Magazine, February 2024)

“Reframing Hamas”

“While framed as a “war on Hamas,” there is no version of this reality that justifies the destruction of civilian life, land, and infrastructure. Instead, Hamas is Israel’s excuse for genocidal violence, ongoing for 75 years…. are we finally ready to have real conversations about who Hamas is, what the organization wants, and how its members go about fulfilling their political goals? Because of this “terrorist” categorization, Hamas and its members can easily be written off as monstrous savages, intent only on destroying Israel, all Jews, and everyone caught in their wake. Because of this categorization, it’s easy to avoid confronting the deep racist Islamophobia central to this framing. Because of this framing, thousands of innocent civilians have been brutally murdered in Gaza and then written off as collateral damage, the inevitable result of a necessary war on terror. (Allegra Lab, December 2023)

“Never Again Means Never Again For Anyone”

“Right now, we all have to figure out what our humanity is worth….“Never Again means Never Again for Anyone”…. This is the legacy we should be bringing into the current moment. For people speaking out against the genocide in Gaza, there will surely be consequences. We may lose friends and family, our jobs, our safety. But we must ask ourselves, can we live with our silence? I hope the answer is no.” (Allegra Lab, October 2023)