Amanda Berman

Amanda Berman is an American civil rights attorney. She is the founder and executive director of the Zioness Movement, also known as Zioness,^[1][2] a progressive Zionist organization.^[3]

Early life and education

Berman graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a major in diplomatic history, and the Cardozo School of Law.^[4] She was the director of legal affairs at the Lawfare Project before founding Zioness.^[4]

Zioness Movement

Pride flag with a Star of David

In 2017, Berman founded Zioness with a dozen friends following an incident in which three Jewish participants were removed from the Chicago Dyke March for carrying Pride flags featuring the Star of David. She organized the group’s first public action at SlutWalk Chicago, where participants displayed symbols incorporating the Star of David.^[5] She stated that the group’s mission is to support Jewish activists across a range of social justice movements.

In 2017, Berman founded Zioness with a dozen friends after three Jewish participants at the Chicago Dyke March were ejected for carrying Pride flags adorned with the Star of David. Berman mobilized the new group to march in SlutWalk Chicago, a demonstration against sexual violence, bearing Star of David symbols. In 2019, stated that the group’s goal is to "empower Jewish activists in the future in every variety of social justice movement.”^[6] That year, she was interviewed by NBC News for an article discussing divisions within the LGBTQ community regarding Zionism.^[7]

The Zioness board includes Elisha Wiesel.^[8] In her 2019 book How to Fight Anti-Semitism, Bari Weiss cited Berman’s position that antisemitism must be confronted equally, whether it comes from political allies or opponents.^[9]

Berman has expressed the view that it is possible to be both Zionist and politically progressive.^[10] She describes Zionism as a progressive liberation movement, and argues that Zionists have made longstanding contributions to progressive movements. She has called antisemitism in the British Labour Party harmful and has noted that white supremacist ideologies often target Jews for supporting other minority groups.^[11]

In 2020, Zioness issued a statement condemning the murder of George Floyd and released a guide aimed at addressing antisemitism while supporting the Black Lives Matter movement.^[12][13]

In late 2023, Berman criticized the comparison of racism in the United States to Israeli apartheid. She expressed concern over skepticism among feminists regarding reports of sexual violence committed by Hamas as argued against portraying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in terms of Israel as the oppressor and Palestinians as the oppressed.^[3][14] She also opposed intersectional efforts that treat antisemitism and Islamophobia as equivalent or inseparable.^[15]

In August 2024, Berman stated in an interview with The Washington Post that American Jews largely still identify with the Democratic Party and believed anti-Zionism on the political left has grown since the October 7 Hamas-led attack on Israel.^[16] On the sidelines at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, she moderated a Zioness panel on freedom of speech and antisemitism at universities featuring Erwin Chemerinsky and Catherine E. Lhamon.^[17][18]

In September 2024, Berman served as emcee at a Rosh Hashanah ceremony held at the Israeli embassy in Washington, D.C. Attendees included Michael Herzog, Deborah Lipstadt, and Anne Neuberger.^[19]

Views on pro-Palestinian campus protests

In April 2024, Berman stated in an interview with NewsNation that Columbia University was not doing enough to protect Zionist Jewish students during the Columbia University pro-Palestinian campus occupations.^[20]

In November 2024, she told Moment magazine that targeting Hillel organizations on college campuses constitutes an attack on Jewish campus life.^[21]

Selected articles

• Berman, Amanda. "Jamaal Bowman’s Defeat Is a Fatal Blow to Anti-Israel Left". The Daily Beast, 2024.^[22]
• Berman, Amanda. "Weaponizing ‘genocide’ against Jews & the truth". The New York Daily News, 2023.^[23]
• Berman, Amanda. "Reclaiming the real progressive movement". AM New York, 2023.^[24]