Abstract:

The resurgence of antisemitism worldwide in the wake of the Second Intifada in September 2000 and the September 11, 2001 attacks on the U.S. led to the proliferation of new publications on antisemitism in general, and its Muslim variant in particular. Most of these new publications challenged the conventional approach among scholars of Arab antisemitism that it was a new phenomenon, which developed out of the Arab-Israeli conflict, and contended that it stemmed from a long religious and cultural tradition, and that Arab nationalism and Islamic fundamentalism bore inherent fascist traits. The books reviewed are in different degrees part of this trend. This article demonstrates that the debates over the origins of Muslim antisemitism are debates of the deaf, and shows that this field of research has become highly politicized, mixing scholarship and advocacy