ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the convergence of antisemitism and feminism in the aftermath of 7 October, focusing on the troubling alignment of parts of contemporary intersectional and queer feminist movements with antisemitic and antizionist discourses. Taking feminist responses to the Hamas massacres as its point of departure, the chapter shows how denial, relativisation, or legitimation of antisemitic and misogynistic violence − particularly sexual violence against Israeli women − became widespread within sections of the feminist left. These reactions are interpreted as a form of derealisation and, in some cases, as a contemporary variant of guilt-defensive antisemitism, marked by reversals of victim and perpetrator and the erosion of feminist principles such as believing survivors of sexual violence.
The chapter then situates these developments within a broader theoretical genealogy, critically examining intersectionality, postcolonialism, and queer-feminist frameworks. While acknowledging the emancipatory intentions of intersectionality, it argues that its selective focus on racism, cultural relativism, and the Whiteness frame often marginalises or obscures antisemitism and facilitates antizionist projection. Particular attention is paid to Queer BDS as an alliance that subordinates feminist and queer concerns to an anti-Israel agenda, thereby reproducing misogyny and homophobia under the guise of anti-imperialism. The chapter concludes by calling for a feminist Critical Theory that confronts antisemitism as integral to, rather than external to, struggles against sexism and domination.
