197: From Soviet Shadows to Today’s Campus Hate: Izabella Tabarovsky on How Anti-Zionism Targets All Jews Today

2026-01-31

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Find all of Jonny's podcasts, personal appearances and writing on Substack and support him with a coffee here. Parents, if you're about to send your child to university, how are you preparing them for it? Western campuses aren't all what they used to be. In this powerful conversation, I meet the brilliant Izabella Tabarovsky — a leading scholar on Soviet antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and author of Be a Refusenik: A Jewish Student’s Survival Guide. Izabella grew up under the Soviet sys...

Find all of Jonny's podcasts, personal appearances and writing on Substack and support him with a coffee here.

Parents, if you're about to send your child to university, how are you preparing them for it?

Western campuses aren't all what they used to be.

In this powerful conversation, I meet the brilliant Izabella Tabarovsky — a leading scholar on Soviet antisemitism and anti-Zionism, and author of Be a Refusenik: A Jewish Student’s Survival Guide.

Izabella grew up under the Soviet system, where 'anti-Zionism' was the official line — and it quickly turned into suspicion of all Jews, Zionist or not.

"Jews who grew up in the Soviet Union know well their copybook is being repeated here", says Izabella.

And Israel hate doesn’t distinguish between the Jewish State or its diaspora or your child, the institutions become anti-Zionist, so all Jews are suspect.

It doesn’t matter whether you are a Zionist or not.

They don’t even understand what Zionists are. When they speak about Zionists they mean you and me.

The Iron Curtain hate of the Cold War-era has resurfaced in universities in the UK, US, Europe, and beyond — dressed up in modern language, but delivering the same chilling results: isolation, hostility, and erasure of Jewish identity.

What does this mean for your son or daughter heading off in their first weeks away from home? How can families prepare? What lessons from Soviet refuseniks can help Jewish students thrive — or simply survive — in today's environment?

Izabella breaks it down with unflinching clarity: the patterns, the propaganda echoes, and practical steps parents and students must take now.

This isn't just history repeating — it's a wake-up call for the present.

This is Izabella Tabarovsky.

Jonny Gould's Jewish State is proudly supported by Dangoor Education and UK Toremet, promoting philanthropy.

Find all of Jonny's podcasts, personal appearances and writing on ⁠Substack⁠ and support him with a ⁠coffee here⁠.

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