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.

### 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_:

### 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:

## 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.

#### 2020s

||Publications|
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|* 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|
| --- | --- |
|* 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|
| --- | --- |
|* 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.||

#### 2020s

||Publications|
| --- | --- |
|* 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|
| --- | --- |
|* 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|
| --- | --- |
|* Hirsh, D. _Cosmopolitan Law, Agency and Narrative,_ Oxford University Press, 2006.||

## Related pages

- Jan Grabowski
- Shimon Redlich
- Jeffrey Kopstein
- Saul Friedländer
- Izabella Tabarovsky