Thursday, June 16, 2005

European antisemitism reinvents itself

The Australia Israel Jewish Affairs Council's current issue of The Review includes an essay entitled Old Wine, New Bottles, by Robert Wistrich, Neuberger Professor of Modern European and Jewish History at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He eloquently reinforces the (rather obvious) point that "...antisemitism - has returned to haunt the European continent. Once considered the preserve of reactionary clerics, conservative nationalists, fascist bigots, and ultra-radical leftists, Judeophobia has undergone a radical mutation .... Since the start of the second Palestinian intifada in September 2000, reinforced by the impact of 9/11 and the war against Iraq, antisemitism has become a central feature of the violent Islamic jihadism that has spread from the Middle East to parts of the Muslim diaspora in Europe."

"The new antisemitism has also been enthusiastically embraced by broad sectors of the anti-globalisation movement, which, like the Islamists, fervently believe in the existence of an American-Zionist conspiracy to dominate the world. This new 'red-green alliance' reviles Israel and 'Jewish-controlled' America, even as it opposes the exercise of Western military power abroad and the export of its democratic ideals to non-Western countries. ..."

This is a "must-read"........

Click here for the AIJAC essay, exerpted from an American Jewish Committee report by the same author.

The full 35-page report can be downloaded at the following AJC download link.

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