Isi Leibler on The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City
A Timely Warning on Jerusalem
The Fight for Jerusalem: Radical Islam, the West, and the Future of the Holy City by Dore Gold, Regnery, 2007, 371 pp.
Reviewed by Isi Leibler_
Asaf Romirowsky on Lessons from the Palestinian ‘War’ against Israel
A Clear Perspective on Conflict
"Lessons from the Palestinian ‘War’ against Israel," Policy Focus No. 64, by Moshe Yaalon, Washington Institute for Near East Policy, 2007, 35 pp.
Reviewed by Asaf Romirowsky
Alexander Arndt on Demokratie und Judenbild: Antisemitismus in der politischen Kultur der Bundesrepublik Deutschland
The Truth Hurts: Anti-Semitism Debates in Reunified Germany
Demokratie und Judenbild: Antisemitismus in der politischen Kultur der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Democracy and the Image of the Jew: Anti-Semitism in the Political Culture of Germany), by Lars Rensmann, VS Verlag für Sozialwissenschaften, 2005, 540 pp. [German]
Reviewed by Alexander Arndt
Malcolm F. Lowe on Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History
A Fierce Debate
Beyond Chutzpah: On the Misuse of Anti-Semitism and the Abuse of History by Norman Finkelstein, University of California Press, 2005, 332 pp.
Reviewed by Malcolm F. Lowe
Malcolm F. Lowe on Les Habits neufs de l’antisémitisme en Europe
Old-New Anti-Semitism in Europe
Les Habits neufs de l’antisémitisme en Europe edited by Manfred Gerstenfeld and Shmuel Trigano, Editions Café Noir, 2004, 286 pp. [French]
Review by Malcolm F. Lowe
Michelle Mazel on Notes sur le Coran et autres textes sur les religions
A Modest Contribution
Notes sur le Coran et autres textes sur les religions (Notes on the Koran and other Texts on Religions), by Alexis de Tocqueville, with introduction and commentary by Jean-Louis Benoît, Bayard, 2007, 175 pp. [French]
Reviewed by Michelle Mazel
Shalom Freedman on Anti-semitism Today: How It Is the Same, How It Is Different, and How to Fight It
Overview of a Crisis
Antisemitism Today: How It Is the Same, How It Is Different, and How to Fight It by Kenneth S. Stern, American Jewish Committee, 2006, 216 pp.
Reviewed by Shalom Freedman
A Distant Affinity: The History of Australian-Israeli Relations
Australian-Israeli relations have been almost consistently warm and robust since before Israeli independence. Neither geopolitics, common political and economic interests, historical accidents, nor the role of Australia’s Jewish community can fully explain the importance Australia and Israel have had to one another over decades. Only by including certain affinities of national personalities and values can the ongoing vigor of the relationship be fully explained.
Canadian Jews and Multiculturalism: Myths and Realities
Since the British conquest in 1759, Canada has experienced multiculturalism in three phases: (1) a period of multiculturalism manqué from 1759 to 1971; (2) a period of official multiculturalism that began in 1971 and is still running its course; and (3) the beginning of an open society paying only mild lip service to multiculturalism that has been emerging since the late 1990s. Each period has had advantages and disadvantages for the Jewish collective and for individual Jews. Often the interests
Britain’s Respect Party: The Leftist-Islamist Alliance and Its Attitude toward Israel
The Respect Party has introduced a fresh example of sectarianism and communalist politics into mainstream British politics. Respect comprises a coalition of the Socialist Workers Party and elements associated with the Muslim Association of Britain, along with antiglobalization activists and antiwar protesters. Its ideology is thus an amalgamation of radical international socialism and Islamism and offers a basis for cooperation around a shared agenda. Although Respect preaches peace and social j
A 1981 Meeting with Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
A meeting with Indira Gandhi in 1981 touched on such delicate issues as India’s relations with Israel and Jews in the face of Muslim pressures, Gandhi’s image in the U.S. media, her views of U.S. policies, and the situation of Soviet Jewry. At the meeting’s conclusion Gandhi gave mixed indications as to continuing the dialogue in the future.
A 1991 Meeting with Prime Minister Narasimha Rao
A meeting between an international Jewish leader, an Australian diplomat, and the then Indian prime minister set the stage for major progress in Indian-Israeli relations. Matters discussed included the improved international climate regarding Israel, India’s position on the United Nations’ "Zionism is racism" resolution, India’s diplomatic constraints, and the possibility of convening an Indo-Jewish colloquium.
The Jews as Contested Ground in Postmodern Conspiracy Theory
Normally conspiracy theories remain at the margins of a culture. But when conspiracism moves from the margins to the center, and from passive responses to active ones-Nazis and communists in the twentieth century-it can produce convulsions of paranoia and violence that leave tens of millions dead. After World War II, Western culture appeared to have definitively marginalized conspiracy theory. And yet, at the turn of the twenty-first century, there has been an aggressive rise in (traditional) Mu
The Multiple Distortions of Holocaust Memory
Recent years have seen greatly increased attempts to manipulate Holocaust history and its memory. For several decades much attention has been devoted to Holocaust denial. Distortions of the Holocaust past, however, occur in many other ways. The number of mutations of such distortions is also expanding. Manipulations belong to several groupings, such as: Holocaust Promotion, Holocaust Denial, Holocaust Depreciation, Holocaust Deflection, Prewar and Wartime Holocaust Equivalence, Postwar Holocaust
The Final Exodus of the Libyan Jews in 1967
The Libyan Jewish community, which went back 2,500 years, has ceased to exist. Its decline began in the 1940s with the application of Italy’s Racial Laws, Libyan Jews’ internment in concentration camps, and pogroms under the British administration. This led the large majority of Libyan Jews to emigrate to Israel after its establishment. The community’s situation continued to deteriorate after Libya’s independence in 1952. The country’s fierce nationalism expressed itself in anti-Israeli and
