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This book springs from the Bristol-Sheffield Hallam Colloquium on Contemporary Antisemitism at the University of Bristol in September 2015 where international experts in Religious Studies, Law, Politics, Sociology, Psychology, and History came together to examine the complexities of contemporary anti-semitism.
List of contents
Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
Introduction
Jonathan G. Campbell and Lesley D. Klaff
Part 1: Defining Antisemitism
Struggles over the Contemporary Definition of Antisemitism
David Hirsh
Antisemitisms Plural: What is Understood as Antisemitism by Jews in Contemporary Europe
Daniel Staetsky
Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism
Bernard Harrison
Part 2: Responding to Antisemitism
Using S. 26 Equality Act 2010 to Combat Institutional Antisemitism: A Critical Race Perspective on Fraser v University and College Union 2013
Lesley D. Klaff
Evading Terror: the European Union’s Response to Lethal Antisemitism
Amy Elman
Denying the New Antisemitism: the Case of Norman Finkelstein
Alan Johnson
Part 3: Antisemitism and Extremism
Walking a Mile in Asghar Bukhari’s Shoes: Conspiracy Theories, Antisemitism and Extremism
Dave Rich
Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in British Muslim Communities
Rusi Jaspal
Part 4: The Role of the Intellectuals
Western Intellectual Attitudes toward Antisemitism in the Arab and Muslim World
Matthias Küntzel
A Genealogy of the Radical Tradition of Contemporary Antisemitism
David Seymour
Hannah Arendt’s Jewish Writings: Contemporary Implications
Robert Fine
Index of names and subjects
About the author
Jonathan G. Campbell was Lecturer in Jewish Studies at the University of Wales, Lampeter (1990-1996) and Senior Lecturer in Biblical Studies & Judaism at Bristol University (1996-2017) before his retirement. He has a range of teaching and research experience in Jewish Studies, with his most recent work focusing on contemporary resurgent antisemitism. He co-organized (with Lesley Klaff) two Bristol–Sheffield Hallam Colloquia on Contemporary Antisemitism in 2015 and 2016.
Lesley Klaff is Senior Lecturer in Law at the Helena Kennedy Centre for International Justice, Sheffield Hallam University, and Professor of Law (Affiliate) at the University of Haifa. She is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and an editorial board member of the International Journal of the Social Research Foundation. She serves on the advisory board of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights under Law and gives pro-bono assistance to UK Lawyers for Israel. She has published widely on contemporary antisemitism and was named in The Algemeiner's 5th annual "J100" list as one of the top 100 people "positively influencing Jewish life."
Summary
This book springs from the Bristol–Sheffield Hallam Colloquium on Contemporary Antisemitism at the University of Bristol in September 2015. International experts in Religious Studies, Law, Politics, Sociology, Psychology, and History came together to examine the complexities of contemporary antisemitism. Recent attacks on Jews in European cities have increased awareness of antisemitism and, as this collection shows, such attacks cannot be separated from wider geopolitical and ideological factors. One distinct feature of antisemitism today is its demonization of the State of Israel. Older ideas also feature Jews being blamed for all the world’s ills, thought to possess almost supernatural levels of power and wealth, and conspiring to harm the non-Jewish other. These and other ideas forming the background to antisemitism in Europe and North America are unpacked in this book with a view to understanding—and thereby combating—contemporary antisemitism. A key concern is how unifying features might be isolated amid the diverse manifestations of this oldest of hatreds.
