The New York Public Library hosted an event for an Israel-bashing Jewish author who likened the Jewish state to a “dog shelter,” according to a recording of the event.
Benjamin Moser got a platform to plug his book, “Anti-Zionism, a Jewish History,” at the library’s main branch on 42nd Street on Sept. 22, claiming American Jews with no deep connections to Israel treat the country like a “dog shelter” that needs support.
“Israel was like a dog shelter … Isn’t it nice there’s a dog shelter?” Moser said at the event, held in the NYPL’s Stephen A. Schwarzman Building.
There was no serious counterpoint to his controversial anti-Zionist views at the event.
The person Moser chose to question him about his book was retired Columbia University history professor Rashid Khalidi, also an anti-Zionist, who asked him friendly softball questions and expressed agreement with much of what he said.
The author, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his biography of writer Susan Sontag, accused Israel supporters of whipping up hysteria with claims that America is not safe for Jews.
Moser called it a “‘poor me’ thing” where Jews are walking “down Madison Avenue” and complaining that “‘I couldn’t get a croissant and it’s like [Polish Nazi concentration camp] Treblinka,’” Moser said. “This is really stuff you see on social media every day.”
Both the author and interviewer called Zionists “intellectual thugs” who want to silence dissent about the Israeli government and its “genocide” in Gaza.
He claimed history will not treat pro-Israeli American Jewish organizations kindly.
Moser states that “the leadership of almost all of the main Jewish institutions” in America “have supported this genocide” in Gaza and said “nothing has made Jews look worse in history…than Zionism.”
He said Israel was created when Zionists ethnically cleansed the native Palestinian and then instituted apartheid.
The author also called the spiritual founder of Zionism, Theodor Herzl, “weird.”
The pair glossed over Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023 terrorist attacks against Israel and focused on the Jewish state’s retaliatory response in Gaza.
One pro-Israel activist slammed the library — which received public subsidies — for giving Moser a forum.
“You have a right to free speech. But don’t use our taxpayer dollars to give this Jew hater a platform,” said former Brooklyn Assemblyman Dov Hikind, founder of the group Americans Against Antisemitism.
City Council Speaker Julie Menin’s office said it fielded complaints and is in contact with the Library to learn more about the event.
NYPL defended the Moser event.
“The Library abides by an overarching principle to host speakers, programs, and public discussions that offer a diversity of viewpoints and cultural perspectives,” NYPL spokesperson Melissa Grace said. “We host over 100,000 events a year.
“Programming is never an institutional endorsement, but rather an opportunity to let people come to their own conclusions, debate, or even change their minds,” Grace added. “We do not police speech, which is consistent with our commitment to intellectual freedom and the protections of the First Amendment.”
Brent Reidy, director of research libraries at the NYPL, opened the event by saying that many at the library and beyond have “strong and differing feelings on Zionism, antii-Zionism and rising antisemitism and Islamophobia.”
“We hold complex and often difficult conversations,” he said.
The Moser book forum was one of them.
Moser was a fellow at the NYPL Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at NYPL last year.
The library is not partisan and not one-sided.
It annually celebrates Jewish American Heritage Month, including with curated book lists to help patrons find books that capture the richness of Jewish experience and history.
NYPL has held prior events with pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian activists.
Earlier this year, NYPL an event with that focused on the life of Holocaust survivor Gary “Pips” Phillips.
In May, the lIbrary hosted an event with two lifelong peace activists and guides to Israel/Palestine, both of whom lost family in the Israel/Palestine conflict.
Last year, the NYPL hosted Democrat Sen. Chuck Schumer for a discussion with Franklin Foer about the politician’s book, “Antisemitism in America: A Warning.”
In 2020, it hosted David Remnick in conversation with Natan Sharansky, a political prisoner, Israeli politician and human rights activist.
