Episode 567 - Hijacking Anti-Zionism (w/ Norman Finkelstein)
Bad Faith
Bad Faith
4.5 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 16 April 2026
⏱️ 119 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Political scientist, author, and one the foremost authorities on Gaza, Norman Finkelstein, returns to Bad Faith to debate how the left should mange the political right's dominance within the anti-Zionist, pro-Palestine movement. With huge platforms and enormous influence, figures like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Marjorie Taylor Greene have become the dominant Israel-critical voices in the United States. But what are the implications of that given that they embrace politics and conspiracy theories not shared by the left? What obligation do leftists like Norm have to distance themselves from these figures -- even though they have become some of the few hosts that still invite leftists on to their platforms? Also, Finkelstein addresses the long-standing contraversy over his critique of BDS.
Norman's forthcoming book is Gaza's Gravediggers: An Inquiry into Corruption in High Places (OR Books, 2026) https://orbooks.com/catalog/gazas-gravediggers/
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Produced by Armand Aviram.
Theme by Nick Thorburn (@nickfromislands).
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You would never believe how many emails I get. |
| 0:03.0 | What do you mean the Israeli's name, Kil Kennedy? |
| 0:05.7 | How can you say that? |
| 0:08.0 | You know, so irate, so indignant. |
| 0:13.1 | You know, I don't know where things are headed, |
| 0:16.2 | but for me it's a source of concern as a person of the left. I would love to have known Norman Finkelstein in the 1960s. |
| 0:55.0 | What kind of teen were you? |
| 0:58.0 | What kind of teen was I? |
| 1:00.0 | I was a militant black power advocate in a neighborhood comprised |
| 1:07.0 | homogeneously a lower middle class Jews. |
| 1:11.9 | I didn't know a black person. |
| 1:17.5 | We inspired you without having any proximity to you. |
| 1:21.3 | The idea of us inspired your action. |
| 1:25.0 | But I did have, speaking factually, from sophomore year to senior year, there was one African-American woman, I'll call girl, because it's high school, in all our classes. |
| 1:40.4 | You know what was what we're called the H.B on the bright classes. They were the top classes. |
| 1:45.5 | Her name was Valerie Bacon. |
| 1:48.4 | And Valerie Bacon was the only black woman. |
| 1:51.7 | No black eyes. |
| 1:53.1 | Not very kosher. |
| 1:54.5 | Valerie Bacon. |
| 1:57.0 | I think it's fair to say I did everything in my power to befriend her. |
| 2:03.3 | Why was that, Norm? |
... |
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