This sounds like a very interesting book:
Bernard Harrison, a philosophy professor at the University of Utah, has done something unusual. In today’s climate of fearful academic inquiry, which often wavers between conspiracy theories and a refusal to acknowledge harmful trends, Harrison has written a sane, balanced book on the growing anti-Semitism in Left-influenced liberal circles…
He approaches the topic by exploring the fashion de jour, in which both individuals and institutions on the cultural Left carry criticism of Israel into the realm of caustic attack, calling Israel an apartheid state and comparing IDF operations to Nazi aktions. His essential question is: When and how do such statements – which have become common in many otherwise reputable media sources – constitute anti-Semitism?
To answer, Harrison, like any worthy scholar, sets about defining terms. He separates what he calls “social anti-Semitism” from the more dangerous form, which he dubs “political anti-Semitism.” Taking up the case of a 2002 cover story in the New Statesman about the influence of Jews on British foreign policy called “The Kosher Conspiracy,” Harrison explicates the text of the article. He notes that it both describes the great power and influence of “Big Jewry,” and at the same time ridicules the “wealthy Jewish business leaders,” comparing the fragmented nature of pro-Israel British organizations to “Woody Allen films, where a dozen or more members of a family sit around the dinner table all shouting different things.” This dual edge, says Harrison (quoting British Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks), bemoaning the “disproportionate” power of the Jew while minimizing and dehumanizing him, is one telltale sign of anti-Semitism.
Incisively, Harrison also exposes the internal contradictions and inconsistencies in the “apology” written by New Statesman editor Peter Wilby and published in response to negative reader response. Guided by the author, one becomes aware of the rhetorical tricks played by those who use the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a springboard for covert anti-Jewish statements. Harrison is equipped with a kind of academic lie detector, able to isolate the ways that the educated and well-spoken fall into a pernicious form of racism.
Read the entire review at the Jerusalem Post and after that, well, do as I do: go and get the book.
A more progressive friend of mine who is Jewish, is worried about this issue as well: growing anti-semitism… coming from the left. Once, the extreme right had a monopoly on anti-Semitism but those times are no more. Now, most anti-Semitism seems to be coming from the Left. Note, not all those who criticize Israel are anti-Semites, but quite often, one gets the impression that there is more going on than just criticism.
Honest, reasonable ‘liberals’ would acknowledge that. As of now, quite some of them seem to choose the attack once one tries to address this issue.
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