Anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism in historical perspective : convergency and divergence

296 Pages·2007·7.309 MB·English

by  Herf, Jeffrey

Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism in
Historical Perspective
Convergence and Divergence
Edited by
Jeffrey Herf
Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism in Historical
Perspective
This book presents the reflections of historians from Israel, Europe, Canada and the United States
concerning the similarities and differences between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism primarily in
Europe and the Middle East.
Spanning the past century, the essays explore the continuum of critique from early challenges to
Zionism and they offer criteria to ascertain when criticism with particular policies has and has
not coalesced into an “ism” of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.
Including studies of England, France, Germany, Poland, the United States, Iran and Israel, the
volume also examines the elements of continuity and break in European traditions of anti-
Semitism and anti-Zionism when they diffused to the Arab and Islamic.
This book was previously published as a special issue of The Journal of Israeli History.
Jeffrey Herf is Professor of Modern European History at the University of Maryland in College Park.
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Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism
in Historical Perspective
Convergence and Divergence
Edited by
Jeffrey Herf
0 Routledge
1 % Taylor & Francis Group
LONDON AND NEW YORK
First published 2007 by Routledge
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© 2007 Taylor & Francis Ltd
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Printed and bound in Great Britain by
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All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
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publishers.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
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A catalog record for this book has been requested
ISBN 10 0-415-40069-4
ISBN 13 978-0-415-40069-5
C O N T E N T S
Convergence and Divergence: Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism in Historical Perspective
Editor: Jeffrey here
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction
JEFFREY H ERF X
1 Anti-Semites on Zionism: From Indifference to Obsession
DEREK J. PENSLAR 1
2 Can There Be a Principled Anti-Zionism? On the Nexus between
Anti-Historicism and Anti-Zionism in Modern Jewish Thought
DAVID N. MYERS 20
3 Readjusting Cultural Codes: Reflections on Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism
SHU I.AM IT VOLKOV 38
4 Convergence: The Classic Case Nazi Germany, Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism during World War II
JEFFREY HERF 50
5 An Inseparable Tandem of European Identity? Anti-Americanism and
Anti-Semitism in the Short and Long Run
ANDREI S. MARKOVITS 71
6 From Cowards and Subversives to Aggressors and Questionable Allies:
US Army Perceptions of Zionism since World War I
JOSEPH W. BENDERSKY 92
7 Anti-Zionism in Britain, 1922-2002: Continuities and Discontinuities
DAVID CESARAN I 115
8 The French Radical Right: From Anti-Semitic Zionism to Anti-Semitic
Anti-Zionism
PIERRE BIRNBAUM 145
V
vi Contents
9 Anti-Zionism as a Multipurpose Policy Instrument: The Anti-Zionist
Campaign in Poland, 1967-1968
DARIUSZ STOLA 159
10 Ideology and Realpolitik: East German Attitudes towards Zionism and
Israel
ANGELIKA TIMM 186
11 Israel and the International Legal Arena
ARIEH I. KOCH AV I 206
12 Israeli Perceptions of Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism
ANITA SHAPIRA 228
13 The Islamic Republic of Iran and the Holocaust: Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism
MEIR LITVAK 250
Index 269
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following people and institutions who contributed to the
conference entitled “Convergence and Divergence: Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism
in Historical Perspective”, held from 24 to 25 March 2004 at Brandeis University. It has
been a pleasure to work with Anita Shapira and Derek Penslar in shaping the themes
and inviting contributors to the conference. The conference was made possible with
financial and institutional support from the Chaim Weizmann Institute for the Study
of Zionism and Israel at Tel Aviv University, the Sarnat Center for the Study of Anti-
Jewishness at Brandeis University, and the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
Professors Susannah Heschel, Jerry Muller and Anson Rabinbach served as moderators
on several panels and made valuable contributions to conference discussions. Thanks
are also due to Steven Bayme of the AJC for his comments at the conference, as well as
for facilitating support from the AJC. Sylvia Fuks Fried, executive director of the
Tauber Institute at Brandeis, superbly handled the details of the conference. Philippa
Shimrat, the assistant editor of this journal, has expertly guided this volume on its way
to completion. Thanks most of all to the contributors to this conference, who wrote
fine papers and responded quickly and thoughtfully to this editor’s suggestions and
comments.
Jeffrey Herf
viii
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