David Hirsh

David Hirsh (born September 29, 1967) is a professor of sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and a campaigner against antisemitism. As of June 2025, he has an h-index of 11 and an i10-index of 16.

Early life

Hirsh was raised in a Jewish family in Highgate, London.

Education

He attended Highgate School until he was 15, when he persuaded his parents to let him transfer to Woodhouse Grammar School. He was once a member of the Trotskyist Alliance for Workers' Liberty, and a leading activist in the National Organisation of Labour Students.

He did physics briefly at the University of Sheffield, then worked as a driver for years. He is a graduate of City, University of London, holding an MA in Philosophy and Social Theory, and a PhD from the University of Warwick. He wrote his dissertation on crimes against humanity and international law.

Career

2000s

Hirsh won the 2004 British Sociological Association Philip Abrams Memorial Prize for the best first book in sociology ‒ Law Against Genocide: Cosmopolitan trials. The book has an account of the 1999 British trial of Anthony Sawoniuk for Holocaust-related crimes within Belarus in 1942.

In 2005, he co-founded the website Engage to organize opposition to the boycott of Israel. Hirsh told The Guardian:

“

It may not have anti-semitic motivations, but if you organise an academic boycott of Israeli Jewish academics but no-one else in the world, that is an anti-semitic policy.

”

2010s

His 2017 book Contemporary Left Antisemitism, which combined narrative and case studies with sociological analysis and theory to understand left-wing antisemitism, was published in 2017. He developed, with Daniel Allington, the AzAs Scale, for quantitatively measuring antisemitism in relation to Israel.

2020s

In a 2022 article, he wrote that Zionist had become an antisemitic code word for Jews, arguing that this perpetuated institutional antisemitism, and that the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism was needed. He also wrote:

The left-wing tradition of antizionism, which professes unconditional opposition to antisemitism, is only one tradition. In the real world that tradition finds itself in a broad alliance with antisemitic movements [...] It is impossible to tell whether an element of antizionist rhetoric is right-wing, left-wing, or Islamist [...] Antizionism does not allow Jews, individuals or communities, to define their own identities. It defines their Zionism for them, against their will, and without consultation. It defines Zionism as racism and as support for apartheid. In so doing it defines most Jews as alien to any decent community of human beings.

Appointments

In addition to being the editorial consultant of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, Hirsh is the Academic Director and Chief Executive Officer of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism.

Selected works

Articles

2020s

Publications

List (year in descending order)

Hirsh, D; Allington, D; Katz, L. (2023). Correlation between coronavirus conspiracism and antisemitism: a cross-sectional study in the United Kingdom. Scientific Reports, 13(1), 21104. Hirsh, D; Allington, D; Katz, L. (2023). The Relationship Between Antisemitic Attitudes and Conspiracy Beliefs: A Cross-Sectional Study of UK-Resident Adults. Contemporary Jewry, 43(3), 633‒660. Hirsh, D. & Allington, D. (2023). Statistical associations between antisemitism and higher education: a cross-sectional study of UK-resident adults. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 6(2), 1‒14. Hirsh, D. (2023). From a critique of Zionism to an anti-Jewish worldview. LFI, 5‒10. Hirsh, D. (2023). Généalogie de la critique d’Israël comme État d’apartheid: l’antisionisme de Durban. K. Hirsh, D; Allington, D; Katz, L. (2023). Antisemitism is predicted by anti-hierarchical aggression, totalitarianism, and belief in malevolent global conspiracies. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), 1‒16. Hirsh, D; Allington, D; Katz, L. (2022). The Generalized Antisemitism (GeAs) Scale: Validity and factor structure. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 5(2), 1‒28. Hirsh, D; Allington, D; Katz, L. (2022). The Generalised Antisemitism (GeAs) scale: a questionnaire instrument for measuring antisemitism as expressed in relation both to Jews and to Israel. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 5(1), 37‒48. Hirsh, D. (2022). In Memory of Pete Newbon. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 5(1), 127‒130. Hirsh, D & Miller, H. (2022). Durban antizionism: Its sources, its impact, and its relation to older anti-Jewish ideologies. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 5(1), 21‒36. Hirsh, D. (2021). How the Word “Zionist” Functions in Antisemitic Vocabulary. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 4(2), 1‒18. Hirsh, D. & Hilary, M. (2021). The UN Durban Antiracist Process: Projecting Racism Onto Israel. Jewish Journal. Hirsh, D. (2021). Le cas David Miller. K. Hirsh, D & Zeifert, C. (2021). David Unterhalter and BDS: Not the first campaign against Jews being judges. News 24, South Africa. Hirsh, D. (2021). The Jerusalem Declaration defines the'community of the good', not antisemitism. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2021). The Meaning of David Miller. Mapping the New Left Antisemitism, 209‒222. Hirsh, D. (2021). Antisemitismus in Großbritannien: Die Bedeutung von David Miller. Ruhrbarone. Hirsh, D. (2021). The Miller defenders' letter shows how deep the issues around antisemitism go in academia. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2021). A safe space for hate? How the UCU has an antisemitism problem. Left Foot Forward. Hirsh, D. (2021). It was the new phenomenon of Israel-focused antisemitism that required the new definition of antisemitism. David Hirsh responds to a recent ‘call to reject’the IHRA. Fathom Journal. Hirsh, D. (2020). Remembering Esti Webman (1947–2020). Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 3(2), 153‒154. Hirsh, D. (2020). Labour must expel the likes of JVL. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2020). In Memoriam Robert Fine (1945-2018). European Sociologist, 36(42). Hirsh, D. (2020). Jews are asking for protection from their universities from antisemitism: David Feldman’s ‘All Lives Matter’response is not helpful. Fathom Journal. Hirsh, D. (2020). The 'Livingstone Formula' is dead. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2020). To understand Labour antisemitism, we need the detail and the big picture. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2020). "The culture of contempt": anti-Semitism in the UK. inFOCUS Quarterly, 14(2), 27‒29.

2010s

Publications

List (year in descending order)

Hirsh, D. & Allington, D. (2019). The AzAs (antizionist antisemitism) scale: Measuring antisemitism as expressed in relation to Israel and its supporters. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 2(2), 43‒51. Hirsh, D. (2019). Wistrich on Dreyfus. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 2(2), 53‒58. Hirsh, D. (2019). In Memoriam: Robert S. Wistrich, 1945–2015. Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism, 2(2). Hirsh, D. & Frankehthal, A. (2019). Forced Out: The Labour Antisemitism Resignation Letters. Goldsmiths, University of London. Hirsh, D. (2019). Dangerous lure of the modern populist parties. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D.; Allington, D.; McAndrew, S. (2019). Violent extremist tactics and the ideology of the sectarian far left. Home Office, London. Hirsh, D. (2019). Why antisemitism and populism go hand-in-hand. Jewish News/The Times of Israel. Hirsh, D. (2019). Labour’s intersection of antisemitism and misogyny. Jewish News/The Times of Israel. Hirsh, D. (2019). The UK Election 2019 | Corbyn’s legacy is that political antisemitism has re-entered the British mainstream. Fathom Journal. Hirsh, D. (2018). Sorry Judas, the joke is just not funny any more. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2018). Brexit and Corbynism could lead to a crisis of UK democracy. UK in a Changing Europe. Hirsh, D. (2018). The trashing of Jonathan Sacks is a trashing of all Jews. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2018). Corbyn to Zionists: Even if you've lived here all your life, you don't get the English. Jewish News/Times of Israel. Hirsh, D. (2018). Stop accusing the Jewish community of conspiring against the left. Open Democracy. Hirsh, D. (2018). Understanding Labour's disavowal of the IHRA definition. Jewish News/Times of Israel. Hirsh, D. (2018). Ken Livingstone is being made into a scapegoat. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2018). Labour's antisemitism problem. Church Times. Hirsh, D. (2018). The speech Jeremy Corbyn must make but never will. Jewish News/Times of Israel. Hirsh, D. (2017). We need to teach our kids to think critically about the Israel/Palestine conflict. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2017). Corbyn’s office ‘glad’ that Machover’s expulsion has been rescinded. Jewish News/Times of Israel. Hirsh, D. (2017). Antisemitic politics is the new normal. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2017). Livingstone, Labour and Antisemitism. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2016). This new definition of antisemitism is only a threat to antisemites. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2016). Submission to the Shami Chakrabarti Inquiry into Antisemitism in the Labour Party. Engage. Hirsh, D. (2016). Jew Hate and Today's Left. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2015). The Corbyn left: the politics of position and the politics of reason. Fathom Journal. Hirsh, D. (2015). Mr Corbyn, time to say you were wrong. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2015). The most threatening form of anti-Semitism in Britain today. Jewish News. Hirsh, D. (2015). If Corbyn wins. The Jerusalem Post. Hirsh, D. (2014). On Studies on Jewish left anti-Zionism. Fathom Journal. Hirsh, D. (2014). So how does it work, the quenelle? Left Foot Forward. Hirsh, D. (2014). The American Studies Association boycott resolution, academic freedom and the myth of the institutional boycott. Inside Higher Ed. Hirsh, D. (2014). ‘Civility’ in contemporary debates about antisemitism. Jewish Quarterly. Hirsh, D. (2013). Ethnicity should have nothing to do with football identity. Left Foot Forward. Hirsh, D. & Fine, R. (2013). 11 The decision to commit a crime against humanity. Rational Choice Theory, 183‒199. Hirsh, D. (2013). Hostility to Israel and Antisemitism: toward a sociological approach. Journal for the Study of Antisemitism, 5, 1401‒1422. Hirsh, D. (2013). Struggles over the Boundaries of Legitimate Discourse: Antisemitism and Bad-Faith Allegations. ISGAP 5, 89‒94. Hirsh, D. (2012). Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) and Antisemitism. Academic Engagement Network. Hirsh, D. (2012). Portia, shylock, and the exclusion of Israeli actors. Journal for the Study of Antisemitism, 4(2), 639‒646. Hirsh, D. (2012). Defining antisemitism down: The EUMC working definition and its disavowal by the university & college union. Fathom Journal, 1(1), 30‒39. Hirsh, D. (2012). Chip Berlet interviews David Hirsh on Contemporary Antisemitism and Conspiracy Theory. Engage. Hirsh, D. (2012). Portia, Shylock and the exclusion of Israeli actors from the global cultural community. Engage. Hirsh, D. (2011). Israel is not an idea which requires justification, it is a nation state forged by history. Labour Friends of Israel. Hirsh, D. (2011). No such thing as victimless boycott. Mail and Guardian. Hirsh, D. (2010). A reply to Neve Gordon by David Hirsh. Engage. Hirsh, D. & Fine, R. (2010). Cosmopolitanism. The British Journal of Sociology, 61(1), 199‒200.

2000s

Publications

List (year in descending order)

Hirsh, D. (2009). Jews as canaries and hawks. Haaretz. Hirsh, D. (2009). Do not confine Jews to the couch. The Jewish Chronicle. Hirsh, D. (2009). Antisemitic Myths: A Historical and Contemporary Anthology. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 32(4), 749‒750. Hirsh, D. (2008). Occupation, not apartheid. Mail and Guardian. Hirsh, D. (2008). Unjust, unhelpful: arguments against the academic boycott of Israel. Democratiya, 13, 135‒148. Hirsh, D. (2007). It’s not about Israel, stupid. Ynetnews. Hirsh, D. (2007). Anti-zionism and antisemitism: Cosmopolitan reflections. Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA). Hirsh, D. (2006). Jenny Tonge: “The pro-Israel lobby has got its grips on the western world”. Hirsh, D. (2005). Against the" Academic Intifada". Dissent, 52(4), 22‒25. Hirsh, D. (2004). Accommodating Diversity: National Policies That Prevent Ethnic Conflict. Contemporary Sociology, 33(2), 206‒208. Hirsh, D. (2001). The trial of Andrei Sawoniuk: Holocaust testimony under cross-examination. Social & Legal Studies, 10(4), 529‒545. Hirsh, D. (2001). The coming of age of cosmopolitan law: crimes against humanity and their prosecution. University of Warwick.

Books

2020s

Publications

List (year in descending order)

Hirsh, D & Freedman, R. Responses to 7 October: Law and Society. Taylor & Francis, 2024. Hirsh, D & Freedman R. Responses to 7 October: Universities. Taylor & Francis, 2024. Hirsh, D & Freedman R. Responses to 7 October: Antisemitic Discourse. Taylor & Francis, 2024. Hirsh, D. The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century: From the Academic Boycott Campaign Into the Mainstream. Taylor & Francis, 2023.

2010s

Publications

List (year in descending order)

Hirsh, D. Contemporary struggles over defining antisemitism, Academic Studies Press, 2019. Hirsh, D. Contemporary left antisemitism, Routledge, 2017. Hirsh, D & Ornstein, J. Whitewashed: anti-semitism in the Labour Party, Independent Publishing Network, 2017. Hirsh, D. & Pollack, E. G. How raising the issue of antisemitism puts you outside the community of the progressive: The Livingstone Formulation. From Antisemitism to Anti-Zionism: The Past & Present of a Lethal Ideology, Academic Studies Press, 2016. Hirsh, D. Law against genocide: cosmopolitan trials, Routledge-Cavendish, 2012.

2000s

	Publications
List (year in descending order)	Hirsh, D. Cosmopolitan Law, Agency and Narrative, Oxford University Press, 2006.

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• Jan Grabowski
• Shimon Redlich
• Jeffrey Kopstein
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