This summer, K. invites you to rediscover, in each of its weekly issues, a feature consisting of five articles previously published in the magazine. This week, our “K.ritique” feature serves both as a short guide to intellectual self-defense and as a powerful argument to send to tedious interlocutors. With pieces by Elisheva Gottfarstein, Bruno Karsenti, Matthew Bolton, Julia Christ and Julien Chanet.
On ‘goyish fragility’. Jewish response to an offended left
Elisheva Gottfarstein – Published July 11 2024
In France, the radical left is plagued by antisemitism that expresses itself in a variety of ways. Since October 7 in particular, anti-Jewish outbursts, conveyed in particular by France Insoumise executives and activists, have been documented and constantly denounced by Jewish organizations. Yet, while this left wing acknowledges its anti-Zionism, it denies any accusation of antisemitism, claiming to belong to the anti-racist camp. Recently, intellectuals close to France Insoumise published an opinion piece that caused quite a stir, with the explicit aim of clearing their movement of any antisemitism. Elisheva Gottfarstein’s text is a step-by-step response to their diabolically specious arguments.
>>> Read the article by Elisheva Gottfarstein
Trump and the war of the Jews
Bruno Karsenti – Published October 21, 2024
Could the Jewish world, which is currently undergoing a process of division, go as far as an internecine war? For Bruno Karsenti, the possible election of Donald Trump to the American presidency could complete the rupture. It would make it impossible to ignore the gulf that now separates the “Jews committed to force” from the “Jews committed to law and rights”.
>>> Read the article by Bruno Karsenti
The meaning of ‘genocide’
Matthew Bolton – Published June 5, 2025
Since the attack on October 7 and Israel’s war in Gaza, the word “genocide” has become a touchstone in public debate. A symbol of uncompromising commitment for some, it is no longer a matter of law, but an absolute moral imperative. In this article, Matthew Bolton analyzes the shift in meaning of this term—from legal accusation to ontological condemnation—and shows how its use, fueled by the theory of “settler colonialism,” leads to cutting off any possibility of political action against the war of destruction being waged by the Netanyahu government in Gaza. For by positing that Israel is acting on a logic of annihilation intrinsic to its very existence, the equation “Israel = genocide” becomes the axiom of an ideology that rejects any political solution to the conflict on principle.
>>> Read the article by Matthew Bolton
Anti-Zionism: a realistic option?
Julia Christ – Published April 26, 2024
“We have to differentiate between anti-Zionism and antisemitism”, say those who don’t like being called antisemitic. On the face of it, there’s nothing foolish about this demand: it’s necessary to distinguish between legitimate criticism of the Jewish state and dubious feelings towards Jews. But is it really necessary to invent a specific word for this criticism? Philosopher Julia Christ traces the various possible uses of the notion of “anti-Zionism” and asks under what conditions, and in what context, criticism of the State of Israel can legitimately be called anti-Zionist. This brief analysis of state criticism and its modalities provides a clearer picture of when anti-Zionism is just another word for antisemitism.
>>> Read the article by Julia Christ
Left-wing Zionism on trial
Julien Chanet – Published April 24, 2025
The contemporary anti-Zionist left has decided to reject the idea that one can be both Zionist and left-wing. Yet this possibility is clearly attested to by a whole section of Israel’s political history, as well as by the political movements to which many Jews in the diaspora adhere. Julien Chanet, drawing on sources and references found in Paris and Brussels, examines the causes and consequences of this “anti-Zionist truism” that insists that “left-wing Zionism” is an oxymoron. By choosing to denigrate this reality rather than consider it, anti-Zionism not only aims to make Jews a little more alien to the left, but paradoxically becomes the objective ally of reactionary Zionism, blocking any prospect of a political solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
>>> Read the article by Julien Chanet
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