Contending with Antisemitism in a Rapidly Changing Political Climate

425 Pages·2021·4.772 MB·English

by  Alvin H. Rosenfeld (editor)

CONTENDING WITH ANTISEMITISM IN A
RAPIDLY CHANGING POLITICAL CLIMATE
STUDIES IN ANTISEMITISM
Alvin H. Rosenfeld, editor
Edited by Alvin H. Rosenfeld
CONTENDING WITH
ANTISEMITISM
IN A
RAPIDLY CHANGING

POLITICAL CLIMATE
INDIANA UNIVERSITY PRESS
This book is a publication of
Indiana University Press
Office of Scholarly Publishing
Herman B Wells Library 350
1320 East 10th Street
Bloomington, Indiana 47405 USA
iupress . org
© 2021 by Indiana University Press
All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any
means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by
any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing
from the publisher. The paper used in this publication meets the minimum
requirements of the American National Standard for Information Sciences—
Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI Z39.48-1992.
Manufactured in the United States of America
Cataloging information is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN 978-0-253-05811-9 (hardback)
ISBN 978-0-253-05812-6 (paperback)
ISBN 978-0-253-05814-0 (ebook)
First printing 2021
This book is dedicated, with gratitude and appreciation,
to
Dr. David Pfenninger,
who keenly understands the lethal character of antisemitism
and the threats it poses,
and also to the memory of
Louis Mervis
and
Gerald Paul,
cherished friends
and longtime supporters of the work
of Indiana University’s
Borns Jewish Studies Program and
the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism

CONTENTS
Foreword / Dina Porat ix
Introduction / Alvin H. Rosenfeld 1
I. The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism and Its Ramifications
1. The IHRA Definition and Its Critics / Bernard Harrison and
Lesley Klaff 9
2. Applying the IHRA Working Definition to the UN and
Human Rights NGOs / Gerald M. Steinberg 44
II. Intellectual and Ideological Currents of Antisemitism
3. Israel as a White Colonial-Settler State in Activist Social Science /
Balázs Berkovits 75
4. Traditionalism or the Perennial Philosophy: Religionism, Politics,
and the New Right / Mark Weitzman 96
5. Antisemitism on the Left: The Case of Jewish Voice for Peace /
Miriam F. Elman 113
III. Antisemitism on College and University Campuses
6. Contending with Antisemitism in Its Many Forms on
American Campuses / Kenneth Waltzer 137
7. In the Context of a Coarsened Climate: Campus Antisemitism and
the Alt-Right, Alt-Lite, and Far Left / Linda Maizels 158
8. Rethinking Campus Antisemitism in America and How to Address It /
Tammi Rossman-Benjamin 185
IV. The Global Reach of Antisemitism
9. Orchestrating Public Blindness in Contemporary France /
Daniel Dayan 211
viii | Contents
10. Legislating and Distorting the History of the Holocaust:
The Polish Case / Jan Grabowski 231
11. The Changing Faces of European Antisemitism—the Hungarian Case:
Attitudes toward Jews in Viktor Orbán’s Semiauthoritarian Regime /
János Gadó 249
12. Contradiction as Program: The German AfD between the Rejection
of the Memory of the Holocaust and a Self-Proclaimed Political
Home for Jews / Marc Grimm 267
13. A “Serious Attack on Jewish Life”: Antisemitic Stereotypes in the
Public Debate about Ritual Male Circumcision in Germany in 2012 /
Dana Ionescu 287
14. What Role Does Antisemitism Play in Jeremy Corbyn’s
Labour Party? / Dave Rich 313
15. Antisemitism and the Left in the UK and the Global Significance of
the Return of the “Jewish Question” / Philip Spencer 325
16. Rethinking the Role of Religion in the Arab-Israeli Conflict and Its
Reflection on Arab Antisemitic Discourse / Esther Webman 344
17. Can the European Institutions Combat Antisemitism Effectively? /
Michael Whine 367
Index 383
FOREWORD
Dina Porat
In March 2016, the president of Indiana University, Professor
Michael McRobbie, received a letter from Juli Edelstein, the Speaker of the
Israeli Knesset, or Parliament. It referred to a conference, “Anti-Zionism,
Antisemitism, and the Dynamics of Delegitimization,” which was about to
take place on Indiana University’s Bloomington campus.1 “As the Speaker
of the Israeli Knesset,” Edelstein remarked, “I write to express my deep
appreciation of your principled stand on these matters. . . . Your coura-
geous position . . . is highly appreciated. . . . I would also like to express my
appreciation to Indiana University for nurturing one of the world’s leading
research institutes for the study of antisemitism,” referring to the Institute
for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, founded and led by Professor
Alvin H. Rosenfeld.
More words of appreciation were included in an additional letter, this
one from Professor Judea Pearl, the father of Daniel Pearl. Addressed to the
organizers of the conference and to the “distinguished scholars from across
the globe” who would be participating in it, the letter acknowledged that
“this conference is noble, timely and crucial” and concluded with this wish:
“May the spirit of Daniel strengthen yours.”2 Daniel Pearl, a talented young
Jewish journalist, was brutally murdered in 2002 in Pakistan.
President McRobbie also addressed the participants of the conference,
emphasizing that antisemitic incidents of all kinds were on the rise around
the world, including hate speech, the spread of neo-Nazi graffiti and other
forms of verbal and written threats, the defacement of synagogues and Jew-
ish cemeteries, and even acts of murderous terror. During the previous year,
for instance, Jews were killed in Paris and Copenhagen. Referring pointedly
to aggressive rhetoric spreading on American campuses, President McRob-
bie warned that “dangerous rhetoric often is the precursor of tragedy and
must be unconditionally condemned before it can take root and spread.”3
Among North American universities, in some of which anti-Zionism
and antisemitic utterances and behavior have become a notable and dis-
turbing presence, the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism
at Indiana University and the overall tolerant atmosphere of this university
are a welcome oasis. The institute is the only one of its kind in the United
ix