Did Sephardic Jews Reject Zionism? UW Professor Says Yes. The Mike Report Says Absolutely Not.
Local Jewish blog The Mike Report just dropped a devastating critique of UW Professor Devin Naar’s June essay on Modernist Sephardic artists. If you care about academic integrity at UW or the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies’ crumbling credibility, it’s worth your time.
In “Unsupported: Rethinking Devin Naar’s Sephardic Anti-Zionism,” the Mike Report’s author (let’s call him Mike), takes apart Naar’s core argument: that early 20th-century Sephardic artists embodied a distinct Sephardic “nationalism” that rejected Zionism. It’s a bold claim that, when pressed up against Mike’s counter-evidence from the historical record, doesn’t just fall flat — it collapses.
Naar frames Kabiljo’s and Castro’s work as expressions of an anti-Zionist Sephardic worldview, arguing that their art and activism rejected Jewish nationalism in favor of something more local, diasporic, and non-Zionist. It’s the kind of thesis that plays well in certain academic circles. Turns out, it’s based on cherry-picked evidence and spin.
Mike demolishes Naar’s argument point by point, with receipts. He cites evidence of centuries of spiritual Zionism, deep communal longing for return to Zion, and even documented Sephardic participation in early Zionist movements. As for the two artists Naar leans on for his argument, Mike shows that Kabiljo in particular published in Zionist journals and was active in Zionist-aligned community groups. Their public lives point to identification with Zionist values, not rejection of them.
Mike’s article is clear, detailed, and devastating. It calls out Naar’s selective use of sources, flimsy interpretive logic, and academic sleight of hand, and it does so with respect for the Sephardic community that Naar claims to speak for.
Here’s the part that stings: Devin Naar is no lightweight. He’s one of UW’s most prominent scholars of Sephardic history and has done important work. What are the chances anyone, let alone a student, will stand up to challenge him? When a scholar with his level of influence starts bending the historical record to fit a modern ideological agenda, it raises real questions: How many students have been taught this distorted version of Sephardic identity? How many trust it because it came from someone with credentials?
The Sephardic Jewish story is rich, complex, and worth telling. It deserves better than spin.
👉 Read the full article in The Mike Report:
https://mikereport.wordpress.com/2025/07/01/unsupported-rethinking-devin-naars-sephardic-anti-zionism
Dr. Devin E. Naar
Dr. Devin E. Naar is the Isaac Alhadeff Professor in Sephardic Studies, Associate Professor of History, and faculty at the Stroum Center for Jewish Studies in the Jackson School of International Studies at the University of Washington
