Gil Hochberg

Overview

Gil Hochberg [Gil Z. Hochberg] has demonized Israel and is also a supporter of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement.

As of May 2023, Hochberg had been a professor of Hebrew and visual studies, comparative literature and Middle East studies at Columbia University (Columbia) since 2017. 

As of the same date, Hochberg had been department chair of Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies (MESAAS) at Columbia since 2020.

Hochberg received a PhD in comparative literature from the University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley), in 2002.

Demonizing Israel

In 2015, Hochberg published a book titled “Visual Occupations.” According to the book’s description, Hochberg claimed that “Israel maintains [its] unequal balance by erasing the history and denying the existence of Palestinians, and by carefully concealing its own militarization. Israeli surveillance of Palestinians, combined with the militarized gaze of Israeli soldiers at places like roadside checkpoints, also serve as tools of dominance.”

On April 21, 2016, Hochberg gave a lecture on her book titled: “The Visual Politics of Israeli Occupation.” In the lecture, Hochberg discussed “how the Israeli occupation of Palestine is driven by the unequal access to visual rights, or the right to control what can be seen, how, and from which position.”

On August 13, 2014, Hochberg co-authored an article with fellow anti-Israel academic Mark LeVine. The authors slammed Hollywood actor Jon Voight in their article for publicly defending Israel.

The authors described the establishment of Israel as “coordinated Zionist attacks on Palestinian villages aimed at Judaising strategic parts of the country.”

In the same article, the authors concluded: “Israel's actions... have become so intense that the genocide accusation can no longer be dismissed out of hand.”

On April 1, 2009, Hochberg gave an interview titled: “Queer Politics and the Question of Palestine.”

In the interview, Hochberg demonized Israeli soldiers, stating: “It is very clear that there is a power inequality between armed and uniformed soldiers blocking the movement of unarmed Palestinians.”

In January 2009, Hochberg signed a petition titled: “In Support of the Palestinian Human Rights Community Call for International Action: A Call from Within — Signed by Israeli Citizens.”

The petition stated that “Israel’s destructive criminal policy will not cease without a massive intervention by the international community… This international backing must stop. That is the only way to stop the insatiable Israeli violence.”

The petition concluded with a call to action: “We are calling on the world to stop Israeli violence and not allow the continuation of the brutal occupation. We call on the world to Condemn and not become an accomplice in Israel’s crimes.”

Supporting BDS

On January 7, 2016, Hochberg was a featured speaker on a panel called “Boycotting Israeli Academic Institutions.”

The panel was part of a program to push for the “proposed MLA resolution to endorse the Palestinian call for a boycott of Israeli academic institutions.”

During the annual Modern Language Association (MLA) meeting in January 2017, MLA’s delegate council rejected the resolution and instead voted to support Resolution 2017-1, which urged the MLA to refrain from endorsing an Israeli boycott.