Anti-Zionism doesn’t top Michelle Goldberg’s list of fears.

“When I think about my future in the country, my family’s future in this country, I am so much more threatened by people who are opposed to pluralism,” said The New York Times columnist who describes herself as a secular Jew. “Our traditions of liberal pluralism are why Jews have thrived in the United States.”

Goldberg was on campus earlier this month for the 2025 Doft Lecture, hosted annually by the Center for Jewish Studies. Her wide-ranging conversation with center Director Derek J. Penslar, William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, covered everything from free speech to hate speech at an event titled “Authoritarianism, Antisemitism & the Future of America.”

Goldberg explained that she doesn’t necessarily equate anti-Zionism with antisemitism.

As she has noted in her work, trying to force Jewish Americans, with their deep cultural and religious attachments to Israel, to disavow the movement for a Jewish nation is unquestionably antisemitic. But some Israel critics like New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani have been unfairly tarred as antisemites, she said.

They can’t reconcile the Jewish state with their commitments to pluralism, Goldberg said. “They basically say every state should be a state for all of its citizens. You can argue with that. You can say it’s naïve. But I fundamentally do not find it threatening.”

Penslar observed how adept partisans are at identifying antisemitism in their political opponents. “Do you honestly believe that antisemitism is primarily on one side or the other?” he asked.

“I deeply, honestly believe it’s worse on the right,” Goldberg replied, citing Politico’s recent report on a leaked chat of Young Republicans leaders praising Hitler.

Goldberg later amended that. “I just think the antisemites on the left have dramatically less power,” she said.

Penslar asked where Goldberg draws the line between embracing viewpoint diversity and disavowing reprehensible ideas.