June 29, 2026 | “Why You should Stop Fighting Antisemitism” with Joel Finkelstein
“Why You should Stop Fighting Antisemitism” with Joel Finkelstein
Antisemitism is rising across Western societies, but many of the institutions created to combat it remain trapped in a narrow and defensive framework. By treating antisemitism as an isolated form of hatred, they risk overlooking the broader forces driving it: grievance politics, moral inversion, mob behavior, and the weaponization of human-rights language.
Joel Finkelstein will examine how the rhetoric of justice, tolerance, and “fighting hate” can be used to legitimize hostility rather than restrain it. He will discuss why conventional approaches often reinforce the adversary’s framing, weaken the broader coalition needed to confront the threat, and leave institutions responding too slowly to rapidly spreading falsehoods. The discussion will explore a different strategy—one that treats truth as an offensive weapon, challenges distorted narratives before they take hold, and builds more effective systems for confronting the deeper ideological conflict.
Joel Finkelstein, Ph.D., is a Princeton-trained psychologist and Co-Founder and Founding Director of the Network Contagion Research Institute (NCRI), where he leads affiliated research labs at Rutgers University, the University of Maryland, and the University of Miami. His work examines malicious narrative networks, including foreign influence operations, coordinated inauthentic behavior, AI alignment, large language model poisoning, and narrative-driven financial manipulation. NCRI’s research has been cited by Congress, referenced by the U.S. Supreme Court, and adopted by the UK government. He moonlights as a children’s puppeteer and storyteller.
