The course description depicts Zionism as “a project that kills children, bombs hospitals, tortures prisoners, occupies land, assassinates journalists.”
By United with Israel Staff
A group representing faculty and staff at the University of Florida is promoting a six-part anti-Zionist activist course to be held on campus, with materials portraying Zionism as inherently genocidal and urging participants to study it as an “adversary” in the fight for “Palestinian liberation.”
UF Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine (UF FSJP), which describes itself as a group of University of Florida faculty and staff “organizing for Palestinian liberation,” advertised the series on Facebook under the title “Understanding Zionism: A Six-Part Study for the Palestine Movement.”
The group said the program would be free and open to the public, with six sessions scheduled from Sept. 14 through Nov. 23 at UF’s Marston Science Library.
“Join us for a six-session political education series where we will deepen our comprehension of Zionism with the aim of expanding our engagement in the movement for Palestinian liberation,” the group wrote in its announcement.
The promotional material for the first session, “Origins of Zionism,” says participants will discuss what organizers call the “founding myths of Zionism” and its “defining characteristics” in order to understand why “genocide and ethnic cleansing” are not aberrations from Zionism’s logic.
Subsequent sessions carry titles including “Breaking the Iron Wall: How Have Palestinian Revolutionaries Understood Zionism?,” “‘Organic Unity’: Zionism and US Imperialism’s War on Arab Revolution,” “Zionism’s International Alliances and Global Counterrevolution,” and “Zionism and the Movement for Palestine in the US.”
The broader course description is even more explicit.
It accuses “Zionist terror forces” of expelling 750,000 Palestinians in 1948 and claims that the Nakba, the Arabic term for “catastrophe” used by Palestinians to describe Israel’s establishment, “has never ended.”
The organizers go on to describe the war against Hamas in Gaza as a “genocidal war” waged by Israel and the United States and portray such accusations not as departures from Zionism, but as expressions of its fundamental character.
The course description depicts Zionism as “a project that kills children, bombs hospitals, tortures prisoners, occupies land, assassinates journalists,” before claiming that it “seeks to destroy the Palestinian people and those who stand with them.”
Israel has repeatedly rejected accusations that its war against Hamas constitutes genocide, maintaining that its military campaign targets the terrorist organization responsible for the Oct. 7 massacre while taking measures to reduce civilian casualties.
The course also characterizes Israel’s international public diplomacy efforts as “propaganda” intended to conceal what organizers call Zionism’s “genocidal and colonial nature.”
The organizers make clear that the series is intended as political education designed to strengthen activism against Zionism rather than simply examine the ideology and its history.
“Like all struggles for liberation, we must understand the adversary,” the course description states.
It says participants will “deepen their comprehension of Zionism with the aim of expanding their engagement in the movement for Palestinian liberation,” while examining how “Palestinian revolutionaries” have understood Zionism and how Zionism allegedly advanced “right-wing forces in partnership with the US.”
The series is being promoted by an organization identifying itself as University of Florida Faculty & Staff for Justice in Palestine and is scheduled to take place on the UF campus.
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