Confronting Antisemitism from the Perspectives of Christianity, Islam, and Judaism (original) (raw)
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On the Origins and Deployment of Semitic and Antisemitic Tropes
This Week in Palestine , 2024
“Semitic” and “antisemitic” are both fundamentally defective concepts, as is made clear by analyzing their biblical origins and their applications. As a label, “antisemitism” is bandied about so much these days, and even against the backdrop of the rampage in Gaza, it is still employed along with other propaganda and deceptive rumors to justify Israel’s genocidal campaign, to silence and intimidate any criticism of Israeli practices. I question the terminology altogether, and suggest replacing it. Its mythic underpinnings also raise questions about associated elements in the Zionist claim system, based on narratives adapted from regional antecedents that should be seen as traditions to be respected as such, not as literal facts. Though questioned as unhistorical by scholarship and discoveries, some narratives are aggressively employed in Zionist ideology, as they were in earlier colonial projects, to justify notions of entitlement to a land long inhabited by its indigenous people over many millennia.
Comprehending Antisemitism through the Ages: Introduction
An End to Antisemitism, vol.3, 2021
'sd efinition of antisemitism as the "longest hatred"¹ carries as much weight now as it did thirty years ago, when Wistrich published his landmark study. Today, in our contemporary societies and culture, antisemitism is on the rise, and its manifestations are manifold. Antisemitic hate crimes have spiked in recent decades, and antisemitic stereotypes, sentiments, and hate speech have permeated all parts of the political spectrum. In order to effectively counteract the ever-growingJew-hatred of our times, it is important to recognise the traditions thath avef ed antisemitism throughout history.A ntisemitism is an age-old hatredd eeplye mbeddedi ns ocieties around the globe. While the internet and modern media have contributed beyond measure to the increase of Jewhatred in all parts of the world, the transformation processes thata ntisemitism has been undergoing through the ages remain the same. Acorecondition of antisemitism is its versatile nature and adaptability,b oth of which can be traced through all periods of time. Current-day antisemitism is shaped and sustained not onlyb yp owerful precedents but also reflects common fears and anxieties that our societies are faced with in aw orld that is ever changinga nd where the changes run even faster todayt hane verb efore. Historical awareness of the nature of antisemitism, therefore, is more important than ever.The present volume, thus, wantst oh elp raise this awareness.I ts articles tracet he history of antisemitisma nd the tradition of antisemitic stereotypes through the ages. It documents various manifestations of antisemitism over time and reflects on the varyingm otivations for antisemitism.A ss uch, these contributions shed light on socio-culturala nd socio-psychological processes that have led to the spike of antisemitism in various periods of time and in varyingi ntensity.I n this way, they can help to establish methods and policies to not onlyt ocounter current antisemitic manifestations but also to combat them. Terminologya nd Historiographical Delineation The usageo ft he term antisemitism is much debated in historical scholarship. Various scholars claim thatt he term reflectsac onceptualisation of Judaism as
Adam Katz and Eric Gans, The First Shall Be the Last: Rethinking Antisemitism (review)
Shofar: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Jewish Studies, 2018
This book by Adam Katz and Eric Gans makes a significant and original contribution to the study of antisemitism. It serves as a new stage in the development of the theory and method of generative anthropology developed by Gans and his school, as well as of philosophical anthropology as the study of the mechanisms of sign and culture origination in general. At the foundation of Gans’s theory lies the idea that the human collective is formed at the moment when the “gesture of appropriation” in relation to the object of desire characteristic of the “pecking order” is aborted and deferred, is transformed into an originary sign, a symbol of this object. The sacral is the object that is designated as unassignable. The aborted gesture becomes the first sign of both language and morality, which henceforth transforms from a tribal codex into a universal correlative of the sacral as such.
How Jews and Muslims Became Races: A Genealogy of Antisemitism and Islamophobia
It was during the Protestant Reformation when terms such as faith and religion became contested that Judaism and Islam were first identified as ‘religions’ in relation to Christianity, which was defined as the ‘true religion’. What is however less well known is how Judaism and Islam became ‘races’. While this claim is itself highly, and rightfully, contested – it is clear that there is an ambiguous link between racism and antisemitism as well as racism and islamophobia. The goal of this essay is to explore the genealogy, to tell the convoluted story, of this shift from religion to race with regard to Judaism and Islam.
Islamic Antisemitism: Characteristics, Origins, and Current Effects
Israel Journal of Foreign Affairs, 2020
Muslims and non-Muslims generally use the same tropes to express aversion to Jews. In both cases we find the classic conspiracy myths; the blood libel, which is rooted in Christian sources; Holocaust denial; and vilification of Israel. There is, however, one variant of antisemitism that is specific to Muslim communities and that plays an important role in shaping opinions in the Middle East: Islamic antisemitism. This term is not meant as a general attack on Islam (whose holy texts include passages that cast Jews in a positive light), nor as a general accusation against Muslims, many of whom oppose antisemitism. Instead, it refers to a specific form of antisemitism that has distinct characteristics and consequences and therefore must be combated in a specific way-particularly within the Muslim world. In this article, I will first discuss the background and prominent features of Islamic antisemitism and what distinguishes it from other forms of antipathy to Jews. In the second half, I will focus on the role played by Nazi Germany in its development. I will conclude by addressing some current consequences of this phenomenon. A New Expression of Jew-Hatred Islamic antisemitism is a religiously motivated form of modern antisemitism and a specific expression of Jew-hatred that draws upon two very different sources: the 1
The American Journal of Psychoanalysis, 2017
This impressive book, offering essays by 19 authors on the topic of the recent upsurge in virulent anti-Jewish hostility, is daunting, not by sheer size, which is considerable, but by the very fact of its existence, the very fact of what must be its focus the worldwide rise of a pernicious, persistent anti-Semitism. The topic of course must be explored, and is explored with painstaking scholarship, intensive scrutiny of the subject itself, commitment, eloquence, and passion. The book is the outgrowth of a four-day conference involving 45 scholars from 10 countries at Indiana University's Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism (ISCA) in April 2014. The 19 authors represented in the book live in, and/or are affiliated with colleges and universities in Austria, England, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, and the United States. It is important, and impressive, that the contributors to the book are international, because anti-Semitism is a burgeoning international problem. The book is organized into four parts, (I) Defining and Assessing Antisemitism, (II) Intellectual and Ideological Contexts, (III) Holocaust Denial, Evasion, Minimization, and (IV) Regional Manifestations. The second chapter, ''The Ideology of the New Antisemitism,'' by Kenneth Marcus, is useful in identifying some key psychoanalytic issues. He sets the stage by underscoring that antisemitism is an ideology, quoting Sartre, who described antisemitism as a ''conception of the world'' (p. 21), giving us a broad, inclusive perspective to consider. He identifies the irrationality of otherwise educated, knowledgeable people who accept an ideology that includes the infamous blood libel, that Jews murder Christian babies to use their blood in making Passover matzoh. He continues by citing Holocaust-denial statements that Jews invented stories about a Holocaust that never happened, and by citing the belief that the antisemitic forgery, ''The Protocols of the Elders of Zion,'' is true. He anchors his discourse in an acknowledgment of Freudian thought, that ''the ideology of hatred is a symptom of repressed desire'' (p. 25). Marcus discusses trauma as underlying antisemitic ideology, citing projection and displacement as essential to further understanding how people deal with the conflicts generated by repressed desire, in an attempt to rid themselves of forbidden desires. He delineates various ways in which Jews are blamed for everything, quoting a 19th century CE (Common Era) tract that traces everything evil to Jews, and contemporary Islamic thought that attributes every ''catastrophe'' to Jews (p. 37).
Antisemitism in the American Religious Landscape: The Present Twenty-First Century Moment
Socio-Historical Examination of Religion and Ministry, 2021
PREVIEW ONLY - READ THE FULL ARTICLE HERE: https://doi.org/10.33929/sherm.2021.vol3.no2.06 This contribution is an examination of so-called “religious antisemitism” vis-à-vis the various Christian religious communities and/or denominations at the present time, framed by the recognition that, over the last several years, an increase in antisemitism in the United States has been shown by figures compiled by both the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Anti-Defamation League (ADL). It is further framed by examining the 2015 Pew Research Center Report “America’s Changing Religious Landscape,” and its 2016 “If the U.S. had 100 people: Charting America’s Religious Affiliations.”
"On the Origin and Deployment of Semitic and Antisemitic Tropes," TWIP Mar
March, 2024
It has been a pleasure to guest-edit this issue of TWiP. It was an honor to fill in for Tina Basem, TWiP's longtime and wizardly content editor who needed a break, and when Sani approached me to fill in for her, I couldn't pass up the opportunity to do something, however small and insignificant, to help raise and amplify Palestinian voices.