Category Archives: Antisemitism

No, it isn’t time for the Jews to leave Europe

Posted on 26/03/2015 by Antony Lerman

“Is it time for the Jews to leave Europe?” is the title of the 11,000-word cover story in the latest issue of the Atlantic magazine written by the American Jewish journalist Jeffrey Goldberg. His answer? “Yes”. Why, while purporting to write … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism, Europe | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Muslim hostility to Israel and Jews in Europe: is it antisemitism as we know it?

Posted on 17/09/2014 by Antony Lerman

On 4 August I posted a piece by the Washington-based historian and independent scholar Dr Steven Beller in which he discussed the question: ‘Anti-Jewish hostility provoked by the Gaza offensive: is antisemitism the right word for it?’ It generated a lively response in … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism, Middle East | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Combating antisemitism and defending Israel: a potentially explosive mix

Posted on 08/08/2014 by Antony Lerman

If any more evidence were required to demonstrate that the Community Security Trust (CST), the private charity that describes its mission as monitoring and combating antisemitism on behalf of the British Jewish Community, is abusing its mandate by providing political … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism, British Jews, Middle East | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Another faulty, pseudo-academic antisemitism initiative

Posted on 29/11/2012 by Antony Lerman

It was inevitable. Another Gaza offensive by Israel begins, ostensibly to stop Hamas from firing rockets into southern Israel, and within a couple of days accusations of antisemitism were flying around. Two particularly caught my attention. The first was the … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 33 Comments

Gunter Grass, antisemitism and the inflation of evil

Posted on 17/04/2012 by Antony Lerman

My post on openDemocracy, published on 16 April 2012: The Israel factor has politicised the business of assessing antisemitism such that the vitriolic disagreement surrounding it has become about far more than just facts, intelligent judgment and expertise. What does … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism, Europe | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Muslims and Jews: beyond clichés and mutual demonisation

Posted on 27/02/2012 by Antony Lerman

A fascinating and important workshop on relations between Muslims and Jews, organized by the Pears Institute for the Study of Antisemitism at Birkbeck University of London, began with a nuanced account of the treatment of Jews and Muslims in English … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

9/11 and the destruction of the shared understanding of antisemitism

Posted on 16/09/2011 by Antony Lerman

This piece is cross-posted from openDemocracy Even before 9/11, the redefinition of antisemitism as essentially left-wing and Islamic prejudice and discrimination against the Jewish state of Israel—‘the Jew among the nations’—was well underway. But the popularity of this reformulation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism, Far right | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Former Canadian Minister of Justice Cotler: ‘Calling Israel an Apartheid State is Not Antisemitic’

Posted on 06/07/2011 by Antony Lerman

Professor Irwin Cotler, the former Canadian Minister of Justice and Chairman of the Inter-Parliamentary Commission for Combatting Antisemitism, recently told Ha’aretz journalist David Sheen: ‘You can criticize an Israeli policy or action as having been not only a violation of … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Leading Holocaust Scholar Lipstadt Accepts Advocacy Sometimes Trumped Scholarship at Axed Yale Antisemitism Centre

Posted on 17/06/2011 by Antony Lerman

Critics of Yale’s decision to close the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism (YIISA) were dealt a severe blow on 16 June when the highly respected Holocaust scholar and expert on antisemitism, Professor Deborah Lipstadt of Emory University, … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism | 3 Comments

How Feelings of Jewish Insecurity are Aggravated by the Community Security Trust

Posted on 13/06/2011 by Antony Lerman

I have always given credit to the Community Security Trust, the private charity that monitors and combats antisemitism in the UK, for its efforts to record expressions of antisemitism as diligently and rigorously as possible. Some accuse CST of deliberately … Continue reading →

Posted in Antisemitism, British Jews | 4 Comments