‘The Oldest Prejudice in Modern Garb: Essays on Today’s Antisemitism’ is a new collection of essays by David Hirsh, Norman Geras and Eve Garrard. It’s online here.
Defining Antisemitism Down by the sociologist David Hirsh of Goldsmiths College, University of London, argues that when the academics union rejected the European Union’s official definition of anti-Semitism (The EUMC Working Definition of Antisemitism) which states that some kinds of criticism of Israel may be anti-Semitic while others are legitimate, it opened up a loophole in the union’s guarantees against racism and bigotry.
Alibi Antisemitism by the political theorist Norman Geras describes how Israel has been made an alibi for a new climate of antisemitism on the left. (This is the text of a presentation by Norman Geras to the YIVO Conference on Jews and the Left held in May 2012 in New York City.)
The Pleasures of Antisemitism by the moral philosopher Eve Garrard claims that antisemitism is much more than a cognitive error. It attracts by providing the deep emotional satisfactions of hatred, tradition, and moral purity.
“These three impressive authors have written major statements on anti-Semitism as an ever-present scourge that — alas — is growing in legitimacy and attractiveness among the “good guys” of history, i.e. the left.”
Andrei S. Markovits, Karl W. Deutsch Collegiate Professor of Comparative Politics and German Studies, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.
