At the core of the book are three pivotal chapters: ‘Demonisation’, ‘Weaponisation’ and ‘Falsification’.
Israelophobia: The newest version of the oldest hatred and what to do about it, by Jake Wallis Simon
Author: Jake Wallis Simon. Review by Ol Rappaport
Jake Wallis Simons was Middle East security correspondent for – and is now editor of – the Jewish Chronicle, so his credentials for writing this book are peerless; he knows whereof he writes. He argues, convincingly, that the latest manifestation of antisemitism is different enough from historical manifestations that it deserves its own name, hence ‘Israelophobia’.
At the core of the book are three pivotal chapters: ‘Demonisation’, ‘Weaponisation’ and ‘Falsification’. Demonisation is self-explanatory. The author details the way that Israel is singled out for exceptional treatment, and compares that with the treatment of all other nations. Wallis Simons does not defend Israel – he openly acknowledges its failings – but he does point out how, in so many ways, it is treated differently, discriminatorily, not just a little more harshly but hugely so.
The chapter on falsification is perhaps the most revealing, detailing how the Nazis courted the grand mufti of Jerusalem, who in turn spread their form of antisemitism throughout the Middle East. Nazis found a welcome and a refuge in the region following their defeat in 1945. The torch was taken up by the USSR in a bid to undermine the democratic west’s influence in the region. This antisemitism, cloaked as antizionism, took root in the west’s ‘progressive’ institutions, including sections of the Labour Party and the universities, both places where it has thrived. Most of the accusations thrown at Israel today date from the Nazi and Soviet era.
(The book is scrupulously referenced but it does lack an index, which for me is a serious omission.)
Friends became involved in the Middle East in the wake of world war two, as the state of Israel was forming. Initially they attempted ‘religious diplomacy’ and failed. This was probably because interference by the Nazis, some of whom had taken refuge in the region, ensured that Arabs were in no mood to compromise. Friends were then asked to carry out relief work among Palestinians, a role they have carried out ever since, and which has perhaps shaped many Friends’ perceptions of Palestine/Israel.
One thing I have learnt in the last year is how few Friends have sought to study antisemitism. This is a good start. I commend the book to Friends not for your comfort but rather for your discomfort, much as Advices & queries is. In pursuit of justice, Friends may have chosen a cause that was selected by players with sinister intentions, and whose ambitions were not justice for Palestinians but fulfilment of the oldest hatred of all.
