An analysis of the effective methods to combat anti-Semitism as well as ineffective methods. In recent years, there has been a surge in anti-Semitic violence in the United States. The most attention was focused on the murders at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, on October 27, 2018, in which 11 worshippers were killed, the shooting… Continue reading “How To And How Not to Fight Anti-Semitic Violence In The US”
For Donald Trump, evangelicals represent a crucial electorate — one which he cannot afford to affront. Now in the final year of his first — or only? — presidential term, Donald Trump is in trouble. Haunted time and again by new revelations of shady, if not criminal, behavior, and ridiculed by his political peers, even… Continue reading “Evangelical Blues, or How Supporting Trump Discredits Christianity”
*This was given as Keynote Speech at the 2nd Meeting of the Working Group on the Implementation of the Council Declaration on the Fight against Antisemitism European Commission to the Working Group on Antisemitism & European Jewish Congress December 2019, Brussels.* Antisemitism is not just one form of discrimination among others. It is not just… Continue reading “Antisemitism in Schools”
It may be that, unlike what Europe saw in the 1930s, resistance to a long drift to the right is swelling. In a remarkable confluence of events, the right-wing national leaders of the United States, the United Kingdom and Israel find themselves, at least for a brief historical moment, besieged by criticism and stark political… Continue reading “New Cracks in the Global Far Right?”
On July 10, 2019, a landmark BBC Panorama investigation documenting the Labour Party’s antisemitism crisis aired in the United Kingdom. The report primarily highlighted cases where member criticisms of Israel and Zionism by Party members had crossed the line into bigotry and racism. Jeremy Corbyn and his allies in Labour are now being probed by… Continue reading “Israel in the Eyes of the Contemporary Right”
Racism and anti-Semitism remain problems in global soccer. At the 2018 World Cup in Russia supporters of the Moroccan national soccer team fought with fans holding Israeli flags at the end of Morocco’s loss to Portugal. David Whelan, the former owner of Wigan Athletic, was also accused of making anti-Semitic statements (He repeated a common… Continue reading “Anti-Semitism in global soccer”
The Jewish Octopus trope has 19th century roots but was most fully exploited in Nazi Germany. This article is dedicated to the memory of Paul R. Weinstein. A January issue of The Times of Israel reproduced, as an example of “recent anti-Semitic memes around George Soros,” a caricature of Soros as a tentacled monster hovering over North… Continue reading “George Soros Targeted By Anti-Semitic Meme That Predates The Nazis”
The relatively new party known as the Alternative for Germany (Alternative für Deutschland, AfD) and its relationship to right-wing extremism have been the subject of a great deal of intensive discussion among political and social scientists. While one stream of research focuses primarily on the strategic aspects of the AfD, such as its populist rhetoric… Continue reading “The antisemitic turn of the “Alternative for Germany” party”
Anti-Semitism is dangerous because of what it reveals about people and systems, not just in and of itself. In 2010, a British journalist born in Poland, Ewa Jasiewicz, spray-painted the words, “Free Gaza and Palestine” on part of the wall of the old Warsaw Ghetto, together with Yonatan Shapira, a former captain in the Israel Defense… Continue reading “What’s Wrong with Anti-Semitism?”