Efrat Aviv – författare

The Jewish community in Turkey today is very diverse with extremely different views as to whether Jews are reluctant or enthusiastic about living in Turkey. Many see themselves primarily as Turks and only then as Jews, while some believe quite the opposite. Some deny there are any expressions of antisemitism in Turkey while others would call it xenophobia and would claim that the other non-Muslim communities in Turkey share the same antagonism.‘Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in Turkey’ provides a comprehensive history of the extent of antisemitism in Turkey, from the time of the Ottomans, through the establishing of the Turkish Republic, and up to recent times and the AK Party. It also provides an in-depth analysis of the effect of Israeli military operations on antisemitism, from the Second Lebanon War in 2006 to Operation Protective Edge in 2014. Much emphasis is given to the last decade, as scholars and local Jews assert that antisemitism has increased during this period. An illustrated overview of antisemitism in Turkish media, covering newspapers, books, entertainment, and education, is provided. The book also analyses Turkish society’s attitude towards Jews in contrast with other minorities, and examines how the other minorities see the Jews according to their experience with Turkish society and government.A unique poll, data collected from personal interviews and the use of both Turkish and Israeli research resources, all help to provide a fresh insight into antisemitism in Turkey. This book will therefore be a key resource for students and scholars of antisemitism and anti-zionism studies, Turkish Studies and Middle East Studies.

It has been one of Zionism’s foremost credos that so long as Jews continued their millenarian dispersal as small minorities in countless countries around the globe, antisemitism would remain unabated. Only by reinstating the Jewish people as an equal member of the comity of nations through reestablishment of its own independent state in the ancestral homeland would Jews be able to regain normalcy and respectability, and to ameliorate, if not eliminate, this long hatred. What this buoyant prognosis failed to consider, however, is that the prejudice and obsession that had hitherto been reserved for Jewish individuals and communities would be redirected to the Jewish state. Hence nearly 80 years after its establishment by an internationally recognized act of self-determination, Israel remains the only state in the world whose right to self-defence, indeed to national existence, is constantly challenged not only by its Arab enemies but by segments of advanced opinion in the West.The chapters in this volume by a distinguished group of international scholars discusses the origins of this hateful phenomenon and its implications for the state of Israel and world Jewry, including the social psychology of contemporary antisemitism; the Israelization of Jew-hatred and the concept of ‘antisemitism light’; the anti-Israel apartheid and racism calumnies; international media delegitimization campaigns; and manifestations of antisemitism in the Middle East and East Asia.The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of Israel Affairs.