Ran Greenstein

Ran Greenstein is an associate professor of sociology at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa. Among his publications are Zionism and its Discontents: A Century of Radical Dissent in Israel/Palestine (Pluto, 2014), and Anti-Colonial Resistance in South Africa and Israel/Palestine: Identity, Nationalism, and Race (Routledge, 2022)

Recent Articles

Thousands of Palestinians rally in solidarity with the hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, Nelson Mandela Square, Ramallah, West Bank, May 03, 2017. (Ahmad Al-Bazz/Activestills)

What lessons can Palestinians really take from the struggle of Black South Africans?

With comparisons growing between Israeli and South African apartheid, we must consider the different strategies adopted by both resistance movements.

By Ran Greenstein September 11, 2022

Ruth Gavison, Israeli law professor at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. February 22, 2016. (Nati Shohat/Flash90)

For renowned legal scholar, Israeli democracy meant Jewish dominance

Ruth Gavison, who died last month, was seen as a civil rights pioneer in Israel — yet her views justified overriding those rights to preserve a Jewish majority.

By Ran Greenstein September 2, 2020

David Ben-Gurion publicly pronouncing the Declaration of the State of Israel, May 14 1948, beneath a large portrait of Theodor Herzl, founder of modern political Zionism, in the old Tel Aviv Museum of Art building on Rothschild St. (Rudi Weissenstein / Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs)

Anti-Zionism is about correcting historical wrongs, not encouraging anti-Semitism

The debate around Zionism is vital, but also must not become a purity test that weakens solidarity where it can be built.

By Ran Greenstein December 23, 2019