Studies in Contemporary Antisemitism – serie

The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century is about the rise of antizionism and antisemitism in the first two decades of the 21st century, with a focus on the UK.It is written by the activist-intellectuals, both Jewish and not, who led the opposition to the campaign for an academic boycott of Israel. Their experiences convinced them that the boycott movement, and the antizionism upon which it was based, was fuelled by, and in turn fuelled, antisemitism. The book shows how the level of hostility towards Israel exceeded the hostility which is levelled against other states. And it shows how the quality of that hostility tended to resonate with antisemitic tropes, images and emotions. Antizionism positioned Israel as symbolic of everything that good people oppose, it made Palestinians into an abstract symbol of the oppressed, and it positioned most Jews as saboteurs of social ‘progress’. The book shows how antisemitism broke into mainstream politics and how it contaminated the Labour Party as it made a bid for Downing Street.This book will be of interest to scholars and students researching antizionism, antisemitism and the Labour Party in the UK.

The Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century is about the rise of antizionism and antisemitism in the first two decades of the 21st century, with a focus on the UK.It is written by the activist-intellectuals, both Jewish and not, who led the opposition to the campaign for an academic boycott of Israel. Their experiences convinced them that the boycott movement, and the antizionism upon which it was based, was fuelled by, and in turn fuelled, antisemitism. The book shows how the level of hostility towards Israel exceeded the hostility which is levelled against other states. And it shows how the quality of that hostility tended to resonate with antisemitic tropes, images and emotions. Antizionism positioned Israel as symbolic of everything that good people oppose, it made Palestinians into an abstract symbol of the oppressed, and it positioned most Jews as saboteurs of social ‘progress’. The book shows how antisemitism broke into mainstream politics and how it contaminated the Labour Party as it made a bid for Downing Street.This book will be of interest to scholars and students researching antizionism, antisemitism and the Labour Party in the UK.

Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays provides a comprehensive guide to contemporary Left antisemitism.The rise of a new and largely left-wing form of antisemitism in the era of the Jewish state and the distinction between it and legitimate criticism of Israel are now roiling progressive politics in the West and causing alarming spikes in antisemitic incitement and incidents. Fathom journal has examined these questions relentlessly in the first decade of its existence, earning a reputation for careful textual analysis and cogent advocacy. In this book, the Fathom essays are contextualised by three new contributions: Lesley Klaff provides a map of contemporary antisemitic forms of antizionism, Dave Rich writes on the oft-neglected lived experience of the Jewish victims of contemporary antisemitism and David Hirsh assesses the intellectual history of the left from which both Fathom and his own London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, as well as this book series, have emerged. Topics covered by the contributors include antisemitic antizionism and its underappreciated Soviet roots; the impact of analogies with the Nazis; the rise of antisemitism on the European continent, exploring the hybrid forms emerging from a cross-fertilisation between new left, Christian and Islamist antisemitism; the impact of antizionist activism on higher education; and the bitter debates over the adoption of the oft-misrepresented International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.This work will be of considerable appeal to scholars and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays provides a comprehensive guide to contemporary Left antisemitism.The rise of a new and largely left-wing form of antisemitism in the era of the Jewish state and the distinction between it and legitimate criticism of Israel are now roiling progressive politics in the West and causing alarming spikes in antisemitic incitement and incidents. Fathom journal has examined these questions relentlessly in the first decade of its existence, earning a reputation for careful textual analysis and cogent advocacy. In this book, the Fathom essays are contextualised by three new contributions: Lesley Klaff provides a map of contemporary antisemitic forms of antizionism, Dave Rich writes on the oft-neglected lived experience of the Jewish victims of contemporary antisemitism and David Hirsh assesses the intellectual history of the left from which both Fathom and his own London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, as well as this book series, have emerged. Topics covered by the contributors include antisemitic antizionism and its underappreciated Soviet roots; the impact of analogies with the Nazis; the rise of antisemitism on the European continent, exploring the hybrid forms emerging from a cross-fertilisation between new left, Christian and Islamist antisemitism; the impact of antizionist activism on higher education; and the bitter debates over the adoption of the oft-misrepresented International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.This work will be of considerable appeal to scholars and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

Nazis, Islamic Antisemitism and the Middle Eastdemonstrates the impact on the Arab world of Nazi ideology and propaganda in the 1930s and beyond.In 1937, with the brochure “Islam and Judaism,” a new form of Jew-hatred came into the world: Islamic antisemitism. The Nazis did everything they could to anchor this new message of hate through their Arabic-language radio propaganda. The book sheds light on this hitherto unknown chapter of Germany’s past. It presents new archive findings that show how the image of Jews in Islam changed between 1937 and 1948 under the influence of this propaganda and other Nazi activities. This fresh look at Middle East history allows for a more precise assessment of the present: What exactly is “Islamic antisemitism”? How is it currently manifesting itself in Germany and France? What makes it particularly dangerous? Only when we understand how strongly modern Middle East history is shaped by the aftermath of National Socialism will we be able to correctly interpret the hatred of Jews in this region and its echo among Muslims in Europe and develop adequate countermeasures.This volume will be of interest to those researching antisemitism, Nazi foreign policy and the political history of the Middle East.This book is nominated for the 2023 book prize for the best book on contemporary antisemitism, awarded annually by the London Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism.

Nazis, Islamic Antisemitism and the Middle Eastdemonstrates the impact on the Arab world of Nazi ideology and propaganda in the 1930s and beyond.In 1937, with the brochure “Islam and Judaism,” a new form of Jew-hatred came into the world: Islamic antisemitism. The Nazis did everything they could to anchor this new message of hate through their Arabic-language radio propaganda. The book sheds light on this hitherto unknown chapter of Germany’s past. It presents new archive findings that show how the image of Jews in Islam changed between 1937 and 1948 under the influence of this propaganda and other Nazi activities. This fresh look at Middle East history allows for a more precise assessment of the present: What exactly is “Islamic antisemitism”? How is it currently manifesting itself in Germany and France? What makes it particularly dangerous? Only when we understand how strongly modern Middle East history is shaped by the aftermath of National Socialism will we be able to correctly interpret the hatred of Jews in this region and its echo among Muslims in Europe and develop adequate countermeasures.This volume will be of interest to those researching antisemitism, Nazi foreign policy and the political history of the Middle East.This book is nominated for the 2023 book prize for the best book on contemporary antisemitism, awarded annually by the London Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism.

Three Faces of Antisemitism examines the three primary forms of antisemitism as they emerged in modern and contemporary Germany, and then in other countries.The chapters draw on the author’s historical scholarship over the years on the form antisemitism assumed on the far right in Weimar and Nazi Germany, in the Communist regime in East Germany, and in the West German radical left, and in Islamist organizations during World War II and the Holocaust, and afterward in the Middle East. The resurgence of antisemitism since the attacks of September 11, 2001, has origins in the ideas, events, and circumstances in Europe and the Middle East in the half century from the 1920s to the 1970s. This book covers the period since 1945 when neo-Nazism was on the fringes of Western and world politics, and the persistence of antisemitism took place primarily when its leftist and Islamist forms combined antisemitism with anti-Zionism in attacks on the state of Israel. The collection includes recent essays of commentary that draw attention to the simultaneous presence of antisemitism’s three faces. While scholarship on the antisemitism of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust remains crucial, the scholarly, intellectual, and political effort to fight antisemitism in our times requires the examination of antisemitism’s leftist and Islamist forms as well.This book will be of interest to scholars researching antisemitism, racism, conspiracy theories, the far right, the far left, and Islamism.

Three Faces of Antisemitism examines the three primary forms of antisemitism as they emerged in modern and contemporary Germany, and then in other countries.The chapters draw on the author’s historical scholarship over the years on the form antisemitism assumed on the far right in Weimar and Nazi Germany, in the Communist regime in East Germany, and in the West German radical left, and in Islamist organizations during World War II and the Holocaust, and afterward in the Middle East. The resurgence of antisemitism since the attacks of September 11, 2001, has origins in the ideas, events, and circumstances in Europe and the Middle East in the half century from the 1920s to the 1970s. This book covers the period since 1945 when neo-Nazism was on the fringes of Western and world politics, and the persistence of antisemitism took place primarily when its leftist and Islamist forms combined antisemitism with anti-Zionism in attacks on the state of Israel. The collection includes recent essays of commentary that draw attention to the simultaneous presence of antisemitism’s three faces. While scholarship on the antisemitism of the Nazi regime and the Holocaust remains crucial, the scholarly, intellectual, and political effort to fight antisemitism in our times requires the examination of antisemitism’s leftist and Islamist forms as well.This book will be of interest to scholars researching antisemitism, racism, conspiracy theories, the far right, the far left, and Islamism.

One of three volumes responding to the 7 October attack, Antisemitic Discourse focuses on the ideology that motivated it and the antisemitism that shaped many responses to it.It examines the provenance of the Jew-hatred, from English history to Palestinian Islamism; from toxic 19th century ‘Jewish Question’ rhetoric to the perversion of the Trotskyist tradition that allowed parts of the left to embrace antisemitism. It includes Howard Jacobson’s lecture of 22 October on antisemitism and it focuses on what was significant about this attack. There is discussion from Britain, Germany, Poland, and Norway, and a linguistic account of responses.This work will appeal to scholars, students and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

One of three volumes responding to the 7 October attack, Law and Society begins with a legal and a genocide studies critique of the claim that Israel is genocidal; another reflects on the absence of an understanding of antisemitism in international legal discourse.There are reflections on experiences in the Palestine solidarity movement and on the twists that discourse there takes. Contributions draw on Judaism, feminism, and sociology to face what happened and to trace how Israelis were transported back to a quintessentially pre-Israel Jewish experience. Others survey reports of antisemitism around the globe in the wake of 7 October, including pieces about Britain and Germany.This work will appeal to scholars, students, and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies, and the politics of Israel.

One of three volumes responding to the 7 October attack, Universities focuses on the heartland of contemporary antisemitic thinking, which is scholarship; and its reflection in student discourse on campus.Contributions go back to Sartre and to debates of Marx’s time; another looks at the New Left forged in the civil rights movement, and shows how antisemitic responses to the 2023 violence were anticipated by some of the responses to the 1967 Arab League aggression. The feminist movement and ‘progressives’ more generally come under scrutiny, and there is analysis of antisemitism on campus after 7 October, showing how it is tolerated and protected there; including in archaeological attempts to deny that there is an ancient Jewish history in Israel.This work will appeal to scholars, students and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

One of three volumes responding to the 7 October attack, Antisemitic Discourse focuses on the ideology that motivated it and the antisemitism that shaped many responses to it.It examines the provenance of the Jew-hatred, from English history to Palestinian Islamism; from toxic 19th century ‘Jewish Question’ rhetoric to the perversion of the Trotskyist tradition that allowed parts of the left to embrace antisemitism. It includes Howard Jacobson’s lecture of 22 October on antisemitism and it focuses on what was significant about this attack. There is discussion from Britain, Germany, Poland, and Norway, and a linguistic account of responses.This work will appeal to scholars, students and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

One of three volumes responding to the 7 October attack, Law and Society begins with a legal and a genocide studies critique of the claim that Israel is genocidal; another reflects on the absence of an understanding of antisemitism in international legal discourse.There are reflections on experiences in the Palestine solidarity movement and on the twists that discourse there takes. Contributions draw on Judaism, feminism, and sociology to face what happened and to trace how Israelis were transported back to a quintessentially pre-Israel Jewish experience. Others survey reports of antisemitism around the globe in the wake of 7 October, including pieces about Britain and Germany.This work will appeal to scholars, students, and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies, and the politics of Israel.

One of three volumes responding to the 7 October attack, Universities focuses on the heartland of contemporary antisemitic thinking, which is scholarship; and its reflection in student discourse on campus.Contributions go back to Sartre and to debates of Marx’s time; another looks at the New Left forged in the civil rights movement, and shows how antisemitic responses to the 2023 violence were anticipated by some of the responses to the 1967 Arab League aggression. The feminist movement and ‘progressives’ more generally come under scrutiny, and there is analysis of antisemitism on campus after 7 October, showing how it is tolerated and protected there; including in archaeological attempts to deny that there is an ancient Jewish history in Israel.This work will appeal to scholars, students and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

This three-volume anthology comprises diverse intellectual responses to the Hamas-organised day of murder, sexual violence and kidnapping.Responses to 7 October: Antisemitic Discourse focuses on the ideology that motivated it and the antisemitism that shaped many responses to it. It examines the provenance of the Jew-hatred, from English history to Palestinian Islamism; from toxic 19th century ‘Jewish Question’ rhetoric to the perversion of the Trotskyist tradition that allowed parts of the left to embrace antisemitism. It includes Howard Jacobson’s lecture of 22 October on antisemitism and it focuses on what was significant about this attack. There is discussion from Britain, Germany, Poland, and Norway, and a linguistic account of responses.Responses to 7 October: Law and Society begins with a legal, and a genocide studies critique of the claim that Israel is genocidal; another reflects on the absence of an understanding of antisemitism in international legal discourse. There are reflections on experiences in the Palestine solidarity movement and on the twists that discourse there takes. Contributions draw on Judaism, feminism, and sociology to face what happened and to trace how Israelis were transported back to a quintessentially pre-Israel Jewish experience. Others survey reports of antisemitism around the globe in the wake of 7 October, including pieces about Britain and Germany.Responses to 7 October: Universities focuses on the heartland of contemporary antisemitic thinking, which is scholarship; and its reflection in student discourse on campus. Contributions go back to Sartre and to debates of Marx’s time; another looks at the New Left forged in the civil rights movement, and shows how antisemitic responses to the 2023 violence were anticipated by some of the responses to the 1967 Arab League aggression. The feminist movement and ‘progressives’ more generally come under scrutiny, and there is analysis of antisemitism on campus after 7 October, showing how it is tolerated and protected there; including in archaeological attempts to deny that there is an ancient Jewish history in Israel.As a set or individually, these important volumes will appeal to scholars, students and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

Feminist Antisemitism: An Intellectual History establishes the antipathy towards Jews that existed as the movement began and tracks how changes in feminist in-groups and theories manifested in new, feminist-inflected forms of antisemitic thinking.Though the feminist response to the brutal Hamas invasion on October 7, 2023 shocked onlookers, in fact, hostility towards Jews, Jewish women, and Israel has become a central feature of the feminist movement and its most important theories. As different versions of feminism competed, a feminism that does not seek mainstream feminist goals like equal rights or treatment has become predominant, particularly in academia. Newer feminist and queer theories, often related to “whiteness” and race, have migrated far outside of feminism, energizing movements like Black Lives Matter, justifying Islamist violence, and harming not just Jews, but women.This book will be of interest to scholars researching and teaching about antisemitism, feminism, feminist theory (including Black feminism, women of color feminism, and intersectionality), feminist history, and Jewish women’s history, and to the general reader who is interested in feminism, antisemitism, and contemporary debates around education reform, free speech, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Feminist Antisemitism: An Intellectual History establishes the antipathy towards Jews that existed as the movement began and tracks how changes in feminist in-groups and theories manifested in new, feminist-inflected forms of antisemitic thinking.Though the feminist response to the brutal Hamas invasion on October 7, 2023 shocked onlookers, in fact, hostility towards Jews, Jewish women, and Israel has become a central feature of the feminist movement and its most important theories. As different versions of feminism competed, a feminism that does not seek mainstream feminist goals like equal rights or treatment has become predominant, particularly in academia. Newer feminist and queer theories, often related to “whiteness” and race, have migrated far outside of feminism, energizing movements like Black Lives Matter, justifying Islamist violence, and harming not just Jews, but women.This book will be of interest to scholars researching and teaching about antisemitism, feminism, feminist theory (including Black feminism, women of color feminism, and intersectionality), feminist history, and Jewish women’s history, and to the general reader who is interested in feminism, antisemitism, and contemporary debates around education reform, free speech, and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion.

Antisemitism and Sexism: Ideological Constellations Before and After 7 October analyses the manifold ways in which antisemitism and sexism appear not as isolated ideologies but as intersecting ones, exploring their historical, social, political, economic, and psychological constellations. Drawing on Critical Theory, the book offers a comparative historical analysis of these entanglements from nineteenth-century Europe—particularly Germany and Austria—through National Socialism and its preconditions, to the historical and contemporary formations of Islamism. The sexist antisemitism of 7 October and its aftermath are examined as a contemporary eruption of these enduring ideological patterns, while Critical Theory itself is sharpened in light of these events.Structured around distinct analytical dimensions, the book opens with a theoretically dense examination of the damaged relationship between human beings and nature under modern labour society, identified by Critical Theory as a key source of both antisemitism and sexism. Subsequent chapters analyse the contradictory constructions of Judaism and femininity, the relation between body and mind, and socially regulated forms of sexuality. Conspiracy myths linking weakness and omnipotence, the psychosocial roots of authoritarian dispositions, and the embedding of these ideologies in specific formations of capitalist modernity and repressive communities are examined in turn. The book also offers a critical examination of intersectional feminist antisemitism in the aftermath of 7 October and advances a proposal to reformulate intersectionality as an ideology-critical framework for a feminist critique of antisemitism.This book will be of interest to scholars of gender studies, feminism, Critical Theory, history, and antisemitism studies.

Antisemitism and Sexism: Ideological Constellations Before and After 7 October analyses the manifold ways in which antisemitism and sexism appear not as isolated ideologies but as intersecting ones, exploring their historical, social, political, economic, and psychological constellations. Drawing on Critical Theory, the book offers a comparative historical analysis of these entanglements from nineteenth-century Europe—particularly Germany and Austria—through National Socialism and its preconditions, to the historical and contemporary formations of Islamism. The sexist antisemitism of 7 October and its aftermath are examined as a contemporary eruption of these enduring ideological patterns, while Critical Theory itself is sharpened in light of these events.Structured around distinct analytical dimensions, the book opens with a theoretically dense examination of the damaged relationship between human beings and nature under modern labour society, identified by Critical Theory as a key source of both antisemitism and sexism. Subsequent chapters analyse the contradictory constructions of Judaism and femininity, the relation between body and mind, and socially regulated forms of sexuality. Conspiracy myths linking weakness and omnipotence, the psychosocial roots of authoritarian dispositions, and the embedding of these ideologies in specific formations of capitalist modernity and repressive communities are examined in turn. The book also offers a critical examination of intersectional feminist antisemitism in the aftermath of 7 October and advances a proposal to reformulate intersectionality as an ideology-critical framework for a feminist critique of antisemitism.This book will be of interest to scholars of gender studies, feminism, Critical Theory, history, and antisemitism studies.

The massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, was the most dreadful slaughter inflicted upon the Jews since the Nazi Holocaust. In the immediate aftermath, Israel found itself fighting an existential war on seven fronts. The Western world might have been expected to rally behind Israel – the only liberal representative democracy in the Middle East. However, progressive public opinion in the West, in academia and among student bodies, the left of centre press, radio, and TV, all turned upon Israel in a tidal wave of anti-Zionism. Israel was itself accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. This was a modern form of medieval antisemitic blood libels. What was distinctive about this novel transmutation of antisemitism was that it was left-wing, post-modernist, neo-Marxist. It was the denial of the very legitimacy of the State of Israel. Hacker offers illuminating explanations of this puzzling phenomenon. The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court both condemned Israel for violations of international law – decisions that were demonstrably biassed and illicit. Hacker’s meticulously researched discussion unravels the history of the Israel/Palestinian conflict, describes the successive Israeli offers of a Palestinian state on the West Bank that were rejected by corrupt Palestinian leaders who betrayed their own people, tells the sorry history of the Gaza Strip and the death-cult ideology of its elected Hamas rulers, analyses the commonly misunderstood requirements of international law, scrutinizes the pivotal role of the Iranian theocratic state in the war, and probes beneath the glib demand for recognition of a Palestinian state. This book will appeal to those interested in the Hamas massacre, the Gaza war, the Israel/Hezbollah war, and Iran/Israel war, antisemitism and its history, anti-Zionism and left-wing intellectuals in the West.

The massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrorists on October 7, 2023, was the most dreadful slaughter inflicted upon the Jews since the Nazi Holocaust. In the immediate aftermath, Israel found itself fighting an existential war on seven fronts. The Western world might have been expected to rally behind Israel – the only liberal representative democracy in the Middle East. However, progressive public opinion in the West, in academia and among student bodies, the left of centre press, radio, and TV, all turned upon Israel in a tidal wave of anti-Zionism. Israel was itself accused of genocide and crimes against humanity. This was a modern form of medieval antisemitic blood libels. What was distinctive about this novel transmutation of antisemitism was that it was left-wing, post-modernist, neo-Marxist. It was the denial of the very legitimacy of the State of Israel. Hacker offers illuminating explanations of this puzzling phenomenon. The International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Court both condemned Israel for violations of international law – decisions that were demonstrably biassed and illicit. Hacker’s meticulously researched discussion unravels the history of the Israel/Palestinian conflict, describes the successive Israeli offers of a Palestinian state on the West Bank that were rejected by corrupt Palestinian leaders who betrayed their own people, tells the sorry history of the Gaza Strip and the death-cult ideology of its elected Hamas rulers, analyses the commonly misunderstood requirements of international law, scrutinizes the pivotal role of the Iranian theocratic state in the war, and probes beneath the glib demand for recognition of a Palestinian state. This book will appeal to those interested in the Hamas massacre, the Gaza war, the Israel/Hezbollah war, and Iran/Israel war, antisemitism and its history, anti-Zionism and left-wing intellectuals in the West.

Synthetic Hate investigates how extremists exploit artificial intelligence to modernize the world’s oldest hatred. Antisemitism - rooted in religious discrimination, medieval blood libels, Nazi propaganda, and contemporary Islamist and far-right conspiracies - has found new life through generative tools that can produce persuasive text, images, audio, and video at scale.Drawing on documented cases and controlled demonstrations, the book shows how LLMs, deepfakes, bots, and recommendation systems enable cheap, rapid, and adaptive propaganda - memes that evade moderation, fabricated “evidence,” synthetic voices, and narrative laundering that spreads across platforms and into mainstream feeds. The result is not “new” hate, but hate that is faster, more convincing, and harder to police.Crucially, Synthetic Hate goes beyond diagnosis, and it lays out a practical counterstrategy of technical safeguards, platform accountability and regulation, and education and resilience, so policymakers, researchers, and practitioners can blunt AI-amplified antisemitism and hate without sacrificing democratic values.