What happened in this episode?
Coleman Hughes interviews novelist and Jewish-literature scholar Dara Horn about antisemitism in the US after 7 October 2023 and the arguments in her book, The Final Solution to the Jewish Question. Horn describes becoming a frequent point of contact for people reporting antisemitic incidents and says the issue became “institutionalised” after 7 October, including her participation in a Harvard antisemitism advisory group and her later role as a witness in a congressional investigation.
Horn disputes common framings of antisemitism as a standard prejudice that can be addressed mainly through empathy or “debunking”. She argues antisemitism functions as a recurring, adaptable “lie” used to gain or maintain power, typically alleging that Jews are destroying whatever a society most values; she recommends “pre-bunking” tactics that prepare audiences to recognise the pattern rather than litigate each allegation on its merits.
The conversation also covers why Jewish history and identity can be difficult for non-Jewish audiences to categorise, and Horn argues that Holocaust education in US schools—while necessary—often becomes the only formal teaching about Jews, creating what she calls a “null curriculum” that leaves a vacuum filled by social media. Horn says she has launched the Tell Institute to deliver an eight-lesson curriculum on antisemitism, which she claims has already run in 13 public high schools and is expanding to about 50, alongside a version designed for b’nai mitzvah students. The episode closes with Horn presenting moral courage and refusal to “bow to tyrants” as a central through-line in Jewish history and survival.
