“Gaza, Hamas, and the Return of Antisemitism”,

In the summer of 2014, the third war over Gaza between Israel and Hamas

erupted, bringing in its wake a new explosion of global Jew-hatred that has been

arguably more intense than any previous wave of hostility since 1945. At the end

of May 2014, shortly before the outbreak of this latest round of fighting, I had

convened a major three-day international conference at the HebrewUniversity of

Jerusalem on the theme of Anti-Judaism, Antisemitism, and the Delegitimization

of Israel. Nearly forty participants from four continents addressed the manifold

and varied manifestations of a resurgent global anti-Jewish hostility, particularly

noticeable in Europe and the Middle East. The jihadi-inspired murder of four

people (including two Israelis) at the Jewish Museum in Brussels earlier that

month was fresh in all our minds, as was the awareness that this was but the tip of

the iceberg. Still, the emergence of this latest outburst of antisemitism took even

seasoned observers of this phenomenon by surprise.

One of the striking features of this latest wave is the primary role of Islamist and

Muslim demonstrators along with pro-Palestine groups on the left. Moreover, the

indignation directed against Israel appeared stronger in the West than in leading

Arab nations such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or the Gulf States, except for Qatar.

Indeed, there were many signs that these countries (as well as the Palestinian

Authority) shared a common interest with Israel in seeing the defeat of Hamas

and of Islamic radicalism more generally. It is too early to know whether this will

constitute a major break in the hitherto implacable hostility of the Muslim-Arab

world toward the Jewish State but it is certainly a significant development.

The conflict in Gaza has once more underlined the spearhead role played by

Islamist “anti-Zionism” and antisemitism in stirring up antagonism toward Israel

and encouraging Western moves to boycott and isolate the Jewish State. Despite

the frightening religious bigotry, homophobia, misogyny, violent persecution

of Christians in the Middle East, and the chilling Judeophobia, Islamists have

In the summer of 2014, the third war over Gaza between Israel and Hamas

erupted, bringing in its wake a new explosion of global Jew-hatred that has been

arguably more intense than any previous wave of hostility since 1945. At the end

of May 2014, shortly before the outbreak of this latest round of fighting, I had

convened a major three-day international conference at the HebrewUniversity of

Jerusalem on the theme of Anti-Judaism, Antisemitism, and the Delegitimization

of Israel. Nearly forty participants from four continents addressed the manifold

and varied manifestations of a resurgent global anti-Jewish hostility, particularly

noticeable in Europe and the Middle East. The jihadi-inspired murder of four

people (including two Israelis) at the Jewish Museum in Brussels earlier that

month was fresh in all our minds, as was the awareness that this was but the tip of

the iceberg. Still, the emergence of this latest outburst of antisemitism took even

seasoned observers of this phenomenon by surprise.

One of the striking features of this latest wave is the primary role of Islamist and

Muslim demonstrators along with pro-Palestine groups on the left. Moreover, the

indignation directed against Israel appeared stronger in the West than in leading

Arab nations such as Egypt, Saudi Arabia, or the Gulf States, except for Qatar.

Indeed, there were many signs that these countries (as well as the Palestinian

Authority) shared a common interest with Israel in seeing the defeat of Hamas

and of Islamic radicalism more generally. It is too early to know whether this will

constitute a major break in the hitherto implacable hostility of the Muslim-Arab

world toward the Jewish State but it is certainly a significant development.

The conflict in Gaza has once more underlined the spearhead role played by

Islamist “anti-Zionism” and antisemitism in stirring up antagonism toward Israel

and encouraging Western moves to boycott and isolate the Jewish State. Despite

the frightening religious bigotry, homophobia, misogyny, violent persecution

of Christians in the Middle East, and the chilling Judeophobia, Islamists have…