Volume 1 No. 3

The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism
Newsletter
Volume 1 No. 3
10 November 2006

Seminar Series

The Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism currently runs a seminar series entitled Antisemitism in Comparative Perspective that is open to all.

Milton Shain presented an excellent seminar paper yesterday entitled “Continuities, Discontinuities and Contingencies: Anti-Alienism, Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in 20th Century Africa.” Please note that his paper is available on line. The video of the seminar will also be available during the next few days.

Matthias Kuntzel will provide the next seminar presentation on Thursday, November 30 at 4:15. His seminar is entitled “Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic Antisemitism in the Middle East. Kuntzel is a professor at Technical College, Hamburg. Please note that his paper will be made available soon on the seminar website at our www.yale.edu/isps.

On December 7, Guy Raz, NPR journalist, and former senior reporter for CNN-Jerusalem will be the present a seminar entitled “Nazism to Islamism: How the Media Discounts the Impact of Antisemitism ” . He recently completed a five-part series on NPR entitled “Exploring the Language of Post 9/11 US Policy” You can access the radio documentaries – Click here to listen

Visiting Professor David Hirsh of Goldsmiths College, University of London will be back at YIISA for the remainder of the academic semester. He will also return during the Spring Semester.

On November 9, Charles Small, the Director of YIISA, was interviewed about the new Yale University Initiative on Antisemitism. He was on Connecticut Public Radio (NPR) “Where We Live” program. Click here to listen (start at minute 38)

Upcoming Yale Seminars of Interest

Tuesday, Nov. 14, 5:30
“Judaism and Ecology–Land and Law”
ISPS, 77 Prospect Street, Room B012

Wednesday, Nov. 15, 12:00 CMES Luncheon
“Hamas and the Future of the Israeli-Palestinian Dispute”
Shaul Mishal, Tel Aviv University and Yale University
ISPS, 77 Prospect Street, Room A001
Hosted by the Council of Middle East Studies
To reserve a lunch, contact amy.young@yale.edu

Relevant Articles

Argentina’s La Nacion Interviews Ed Kaplan on his research on “Anti-Israel Sentiment Predicts Antisemitism” that he co-authored with Charles Small. (La Nacion-Argentina) Read complete article here

Chavez Major Factor in Venezuela’s Rising anti-Semitism
When Nathalie Mizrahi left Israel to visit her hometown in Venezuela, she found something entirely new: widespread anti-Semitism. Rhetoric attacking Israel abounded in public demonstrations and the media. On walls she saw scrawled “Death to the Jews!” “It’s disturbing, because it didn’t use to be like this at all,” said the 26-year-old Hebrew University student. (Jerusalem Post)
Read complete article here

Far-Right Views Established Across German Society
Far-right views are not just the domain of skinheads and neo-Nazis but are firmly anchored throughout German society, regardless of social class or age, according to a study of attitudes towards foreigners, Jewish people and the Nazi period. The term ‘right-wing extremism’ is misleading because it describes the problem as a peripheral phenomenon. But right-wing extremism is a political problem at the center of society,” says the report commissioned by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, a think-tank linked to the center-left Social Democrat party. (Spiegel) Read complete article here

Arsonists Attack French Jewish School
Arsonists set fire Thursday to a Jewish school north of Paris that had been badly damaged in another arson attack in 2003, police said. No one was injured. The overnight fire, which targeted a ground floor office at the Merkaz Hatorah school in suburban Gagny, was quickly extinguished, police said. Two other small fires were set nearby. (Jerusalem Post) Read complete article here

Dual Loyalty and the “Israel Lobby”
In late August, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) hosted an event in Washington, D.C. entitled “The Israel Lobby and the U.S. Response to the War in Lebanon.” It featured two political scientists, John J. Mearsheimer, a professor at the University of Chicago, and Stephen M. Walt, a professor at Harvard. (Commentary) Read complete article here
Countering Holocaust Denial in Arab Countries
Of all the forms of anti-Semitism in Arab societies, Holocaust denial is one of the most pernicious and widespread. Generally it takes one of three forms: outright denial, Holocaust glorification, and Holocaust minimization or trivialization. (Washington Institute)
Read complete article here

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Radio Address on October 20, 2006
“The Western Countries Should Pick Up the Zionist Regime by the Arms and Legs and Remove It from the Region; U.N. Resolutions Are Illegitimate; America and England Are the Enemies of the Iranian Nation.” (MEMRI) Read radio address here

Lawsuit Against Iranian President Ahmadinejad Will Be Lodged with the International Criminal Court at the Hague
Likud Knesset Member Danny Naveh has teamed up with a group of former top Israeli officials, among them former Ambassador to the Dore Gold and former Foreign Ministry Director-General Eytan Bentsur, to draft a lawsuit against Iranian President. (YNetNews) Read article here

Hezbollah Uses Influence to Jockey for Power in Lebanon
Not long before Hezbollah set off a war with Israel last summer, it found itself under pressure in talks with other Lebanese political groups those aligned with the United States to give up its weapons and help remove the pro-Syrian president from office. (New York Times)
Read complete article here

Arab Media Cartoons Depict “Jewish Control” of U.N. and U.S
Editorial cartoonists in the Arab world have returned to rehashing and reinventing their tired conspiracy that portrays Israelis and Jews as controlling the United Nations and U.S. foreign policy. (ADL) Read complete article here

Moroccan Wins First Place in Holocaust Cartoon Contest
Iran awarded a Moroccan artist Wednesday the top prize in an exhibition of cartoons on the Holocaust that has received international condemnation, including from UN chief Kofi Annan. Meant to be a response to the Danish cartoons of Islam’s Prophet Mohammed that sparked rage among Muslims around the world, the exhibit appears inspired by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s tirades calling for Israel to be destroyed. (Ha’aretz) Read complete article here

Islam, Terror and the Second Nuclear Stage
For nearly 50 years, worries about a nuclear Middle East centered on Israel. Arab leaders resented the fact that Israel was the only atomic power in the region, a resentment heightened by America’s tacit approval of the situation. But they were also pretty certain that Israel (which has never explicitly acknowledged having nuclear weapons) would not drop the bomb except as a very last resort. That is why Egypt and Syria were unafraid to attack Israel during the October 1973 Yom Kippur War. “Israel will not be the first country in the region to use nuclear weapons,” went the Israelis’ coy formula. “Nor will it be the second.” (NY Times) Read complete article here

Getting Serious About Iran: A Military Option
As the impasse over Iran’s nuclear-weapons program grows inexorably into a crisis, a kind of consensus has taken root in the minds of America’s foreign-policy elite. This is that military action against Iran is a sure formula for disaster. (Commentary)
Read complete article here

Iran Test Fires Nuclear-Capable Missile That Could Reach Israel
By The Associated Press– Iranian state-run television said Thursday the country had opened military maneuvers by test-firing the long-range Shihab-3 missile, believed capable of firing nuclear warheads at Israel and U.S. troops in the Middle East. (Ha’aretz)
Read complete article here

The Case of Tony Judt: An Open Letter to the ADL (New York Review of Books) Read letter here

The Shahid
“I am now in a catastrophic personal situation. Several death threats have been sent to me. … On the websites condemning me there is a map showing how to get to my house to kill me, they have my photo, the places where I work, the telephone numbers, and the death warrant. … There is no safe place for me, I have to beg two nights here, two nights there. … I must cancel all scheduled events. The authorities urge me to keep moving.” (New Republic) Read complete article here

Egypt Poll: 92% of Egyptians See Israel as Enemy; Over 50% View Denmark and US in Same Light.
It’s been 27 years since the Camp David accords were signed, but the vast majority of Egyptians still see Israel as an enemy state. A poll conducted by an Egyptian state institute determined that Israel and Denmark were not only the least poplar foreign countries among the Egyptian public, but that they were also considered enemy nations. (YNetNews) Read complete article here

Is That Funny in Your Country?: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
Ali G picked on celebrities, but Borat goes for easier targets–with uncomfortable results.
Read complete article here

Book Reviews
Tribute to Hannah Arendt , edited by Ben Naparstek
On the 100th anniversary of her birth, Hannah Arendt’s influence has never been greater. Yet within the Jewish world, Arendt’s status remains contested. Her critique of Zionism as an exclusory ideology is celebrated for its prescience by the Jewish Left. But for most Jewish intellectuals, Arendt’s legacy remains tainted by her relationship with the Nazi-affiliated philosopher Martin Heidegger, her criticism of Jewish complicity in the Final Solution, and her depiction of Adolf Eichmann as a banal desk-murderer, rather than a demonic stereotype. (Tikkun November/December 2006). Read More-

Review Essay: “The Jew Hater,” by Robert O. Paxton
Bad Faith: A Forgotten History of Family, Fatherland and Vichy France
by Carmen Callil Knopf, 607 pp., $30.00

The Unfree French: Life Under the Occupation
by Richard Vinen
Yale University Press, 460 pp., $35.00 Read review here

Review Essay: “Defiant Iran,” by Christopher de Bellaigue
Confronting Iran: The Failure of American Foreign Policy and the Next Great Crisis in the Middle East
by Ali M. Ansari
Basic Books, 280 pp., $26.00
Hidden Iran: Paradox and Power in the Islamic Republic

by Ray Takeyh

Times Books, 259 pp., $25.00 Read review here

The Wicked Son: Anti-Semitism, Self-Hatred, and the Jews
by David Mamet
Mamet’s recent book on Jewish self hatred was reviewed by David Margolick in the New York Times on November 5.                                                                                                             Read review here

Prisoners: A Muslim and a Jew across the Middle East Divide
by Jeffrey Goldberg
Goldberg’s book, published in October, is the account of his dialogue with a former PLO prisoner. The book was reviewed by Ethan Bronner of the New York Times on October 28th.                                                                Read review here

The Changing Face of Anti-Semitism: From Ancient Times to the Present Day
by Walter Laqueur
In this book, Walter Laqueur explores the history of antisemitism and the ways it manifested itself as both religious and racial. He then uses this historical context to discuss the new wave of antisemitism and how it is similar and different from past forms.
                                                                                                                     Read review here

U. N. Gang: A Memoir of Incompetence, Corruption, Anti-Semitism, and Islamic Extremism at the UN Secretariat
by Pedro A. Sanjuan
Sanjuan, a former high ranking UN official, discusses many problems with the UN, particularly issues regarding anti-Semitism and its manifestations. Review by Asaf Romirowsky in the Journal of International Security Affairs.                   Read review here

Aftershock: Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism
by David Matas
This book attempts to explain how verbal accusations against Israel over human rights have brought about physical attacks against the Jewish community worldwide.                                                                                         Read review here

QUOTES and Headlines of Relevance

Israel is a vile entity that has been planted in our soil, and has no historical, religious or cultural legitimacy. We cannot normalize our relations with this entity. The history of this region has proven [time and again] that occupation is temporary. Thousands of years ago, the Romans occupied this land and [eventually] left. The Persians, Crusaders, and English [also] came and went. The Zionists have come, and they too will leave. [We say] no to recognizing Israel, regardless of the price we may have to pay [for our refusal].”Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al-Zahar, speaking at a Hamas convention in October. (MEMRI, Special Dispatch 1351, Nov. 9)

“Israel left Gaza in order to give the Palestinians an opportunity to control terrorism and develop their own lives. Unfortunately, this has not happened. Israel is faced with constant attack by the Palestinian terror organizations, in the form of relentless firing of Kassam rockets at Israeli population centers. Israel has no desire to harm innocent people, but only to defend its citizens. Unfortunately, in the course of battle, regrettable incidents such as that which occurred this morning do happen. Israeli diplomatic missions throughout the world have been instructed to explain the Israeli position to decision-makers and the media.”Minister of Foreign Affairs Tzipi Livni, following an Israeli Army mishap during an operation in Gaza designed to halt Palestinian rocket attacks, in which IDF shells apparently misfired killing 18 civilians. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defense Minister Peretz issued an apology for the killing of innocent civilians. (Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Press Release; Jerusalem Post, Nov.
“Israel should be wiped off the face of the earth… Israel is a nation of animals that has no human values and is a disgrace to the modern world.”–Ghazi Hamed, spokesman for the Hamas-led PA government, after misfired Israeli shells hit a residential district of Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza.. “The armed struggle is free to resume, and the resistance will be dictated by local circumstances… Our reponse will be by deeds, not words… There must be a roaring reaction so that we avenge all those victims,” declared Syrian-based Hamas Chief Khaled Mashaal in a news conference in Damascus. (Jerusalem Post, International Herald Tribune, Nov.

Upcoming International Conferences

Los Angeles, November 12-15, the 75th UJC General Assembly. Featured speakers are Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Fareed Zakaria, and Irwin Cotler. Charles Small, Director of YIISA, will also be presenting on the condition of contemporary Antisemitism.

Berlin, November 20-21, The OSCE Germany Parliament Delegation Expert Meeting. “Best Practices in Combating Antisemitism.” This will held at the German Bundestag and is open to the public. Charles Small, Director of YIISA, will be speaking on aspects of hate crime legislation and the problems of understanding and combating Antisemitism in Europe today. Emphasis will be placed on developing effective policy.