Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism

The Dynamics of Delegitimization

Edited by Alvin H. Rosenfeld
Series: Studies in Antisemitism
Distribution: World
Publication date: 02/01/2019
Format: Hardback
ISBN: 978-0-253-03869-2

Description

How and why has anti-Zionism and antisemitism become so radical and widespread? This
timely and important volume argues convincingly that today’s inflamed rhetoric exceeds the
boundaries of legitimate criticism of the policies and actions of the state of Israel and conflates
anti-Zionism with antisemitism. The contributors give the dynamics of this process full
theoretical, political, legal, and educational treatment and demonstrate how these forces operate
in formal and informal political spheres as well as domestic and transnational spaces. They
offer significant historical and global perspectives of the problem, including how Holocaust
memory and meaning have been reconfigured and how a singular and distinct project of
delegitimization of the Jewish state and its people has solidified. This intensive but
extraordinarily rich contribution to the study of antisemitism stands out for its comprehensive
overview of an issue that is very much in the public eye.

Author Bio

Alvin H. Rosenfeld holds the Irving M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies and is Professor of
English and Founding Director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism at
Indiana University Bloomington. He is editor of Deciphering the New Antisemitism and
Resurgent Antisemitism: Global Perspectives and author of The End of the Holocaust.

Reviews

“Beginning with wider perspectives and then narrowing to include national perspectives from
Israel, Poland, Germany, South Africa, the Czech Republic, and South Asia, this volume
explores the origins that underlie the current reality of antisemitic anti-Zionism, and indeed, it
makes the persuasive case that anti-Zionism today is essentially one of the most prominent
and pernicious forms of current antisemitism.”
— Mark Weitzman, Simon Wiesenthal Center
“This important volume should be of interest to anyone who thinks seriously about the state of
Israel and the extraordinary levels of criticism levelled not just against the policies of particular
governments, but against the very idea and existence of the state itself. These criticisms are
being voiced with growing insistence and attract considerable attention, uncritical approval,
and adherence. This volume offers a very different and much needed set of arguments that
persuasively counter much of what passes, particularly in progressive circles, for conventional
wisdom.”
— Philip Spencer, author of, Nations and Nationalism
Table of Contents

Introduction / Alvin Rosenfeld

I. Ideological and Theoretical Sources and Implications
1. The New Replacement Theory: Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Denial of History /
James Wald
2. From Wilhelm Marr to Mavi Marmara: Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism as Forms of Anti-
Jewish Action / Thorsten Fuchshuber
3. Social Criticism and the "Jewish Problem" / Balázs Berkovits
4. New Challenges in Feminism: Intersectionality, Critical Theory and Anti-Zionism / Karin
Stögner
II. University, Legal, and Historical Frameworks
5. The Role of International Legal and Justice Discourse in Promoting the New Antisemitism
/ Gerald M. Steinberg and Anne Herzberg
6. Leaving the Post-Holocaust Period: The Effects of Anti-Israel Attitudes on Perceptions of
the Holocaust / Catherine D. Chatterley
7. Antisemitism in the Guise of Anti-Nazism: Holocaust Inversion in the UK during Operation
Protective Edge / Alan Johnson
8. Fraser v. UCU: Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and Racializing Discourse / Lesley Klaff
9. Conspiracy Pedagogy on Campus: BDS Advocacy, Antisemitism, and Academic Freedom /
Cary Nelson
III. Israeli Voices
10. "There Was No Uncorrupt Israel": The Role of Israelis in Delegitimizing Jewish Collective
Existence / Gil Ribak
11. The Appropriation of the Israeli "New Historians" Work by Anti-Zionists / Ilan
Greilsammer
12. Christian BDS: An Act of Love? / Giovanni Matteo Quer
IV. National Contexts
13. Configurations of Antisemitism: The Anti-Zionist Campaign in Poland 1968 / Simon
Gansinger
14. Germany’s Changing Discourse on Jews and Israel / Mark Grimm
15. The Roots of Anti-Zionism in South Africa and the Delegitimization of Israel / Milton
Shain
16. From Donetsk to Tel Aviv: Czech Antisemitic Movements Respond to The Russian-
Ukrainian War / Zbyněk Tarant
17. Muslim Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in South Asia: A Case Study of Lucknow / Navras
Jaat Aafreedi
Index