ISRAELOPHOBIA: The Newest Version of the Oldest Hatred & What to do about it
A book review by Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen
Jake Wallis Simons recently became the editor at the (London) Jewish Chronicle- one of the major Jewish Presses in the world today. He is a highly respected journalist.
Over the past decade or so, there has been a debate about the distinction {many would argue a rather artificial distinction} between antisemitism and anti-Zionism. What Wallis Simons does in this book is, for me, synthesise reality by accepting a term that is less than 50 years old. Which Wallis Simons suggests was first used by the historian Raphael Israeli in the nineties.
Before Wallis Simons became Editor of the Jewish Chronicle, he spent some time observing the antisemitism of Jeremy Corbyn and the British Labor Party, which pretended it was only anti-Zionism. He also focuses on the United Nations, which has some seven different commissions focused on the issues of Palestine and which are all anti-Israel. Looking at the events around the world, Wallis Simons observes that “if we were to apply the same level of hysteria towards all countries that some direct against Israel, we would be hysterical about everything all the time.”
The underlying purpose of this book is “seeking to pinpoint the moment where debaters depart from the rounded facts, leave honest discussion behind and stray into the realms of conspiracy theory, bigotry and demonisation.” One only has to observe how the world ‘filled in the blanks’ when an explosion occurred in Gaza at a hospital and hundreds were killed. All the Arab world automatically blamed Israel long before any forensic evidence was available.
Israelophobia has three characteristics:
- Demonisation, through which Israel is smeared as evil and a threat to the world;
- Weaponisation of social justice as a Trojan horse for hatred of Jews and their national home; and
- Falsification, or parroting the lies of say Nazi, Soviet or Arab propaganda.
A chapter is devoted to explaining and illustrating each of these characteristics. The points Wallis Simons makes in each are poignant and pertinent.
In reading this book, I am reminded of the number of universities that have struggled, and, in several cases, rejected the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism. How many universities and colleges have representatives of Israel been screamed down and forced to cut short or even abandon talks? How many universities and colleges have Jewish students felt unsafe? How many cities and towns are observant Jewish males advised not to be seen wearing a kippah in the street? This all owes its origins to Israelophobia.
Between 2015 and 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted 140 resolutions on Israel and only 68 on all other countries. In addition, between 2006 and 2022, the UN Human Rights Council has adopted 99 resolutions against Israel, 41 against Syria, 13 against Iran, 4 against Russia, and 3 against Venezuela. Beginning in 1975, the UN adopted a resolution whereby “Zionism equals racism.” This was taken to the extreme in the UN’s Durban Conference in 2011, which was hijacked by some NGOs and Arab states that not only demonised Israel but also used many old antisemitic canards.
The final chapter in this book is entitled ‘The Eight Giveaways and the Five Pressure Points.” As Wallis Simons suggests, the challenge “begins with identifying it. Since it masquerades so insistently as anti-racism or social justice, this can be tricky.” The purpose of the five pressure points is to “expose the soft body of unexamined assumptions.”
The book can be summarised by its final paragraph: “What we must work towards is a future in which Israel is neither demonised nor fetishised but treated for what it is: remarkable in many ways, troubling in many others, but ultimately with its heroes and its villains, just another country.”
For most readers of J-Wire, there will be little, if anything, which the reader does not already know. Wallis Simons has pulled it all together in a coherent, easy-to-read text. This belongs on the bookshelf of anybody who cares about the subject next to Deborah Lipstadt’s Antisemitism: Here and Now and Prager and Telushkin’s Why the Jews?
ISRAELOPHOBIA: The Newest Version of the Oldest Hatred & What to Do About It
Author: Jake Wallis Simons
Published by Constable
Rabbi Jeffrey Cohen is associated with Notre Dame Australia’s School of Medicine and St. Vincent’s Private Hospital, Sydney. Previously he was associated with UNSWMedicine; University of Ballarat (now Federation University); and St. Louis University. He served as CEO of the Sydney Jewish Museum for 5 years.
