ABSTRACT

Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays provides a comprehensive guide to contemporary Left antisemitism.

The rise of a new and largely left-wing form of antisemitism in the era of the Jewish state and the distinction between it and legitimate criticism of Israel are now roiling progressive politics in the West and causing alarming spikes in antisemitic incitement and incidents. Fathom journal has examined these questions relentlessly in the first decade of its existence, earning a reputation for careful textual analysis and cogent advocacy. In this book, the Fathom essays are contextualised by three new contributions: Lesley Klaff provides a map of contemporary antisemitic forms of antizionism, Dave Rich writes on the oft-neglected lived experience of the Jewish victims of contemporary antisemitism and David Hirsh assesses the intellectual history of the left from which both Fathom and his own London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, as well as this book series, have emerged. Topics covered by the contributors include antisemitic antizionism and its underappreciated Soviet roots; the impact of analogies with the Nazis; the rise of antisemitism on the European continent, exploring the hybrid forms emerging from a cross-fertilisation between new left, Christian and Islamist antisemitism; the impact of antizionist activism on higher education; and the bitter debates over the adoption of the oft-misrepresented International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.

This work will be of considerable appeal to scholars and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

part 1|46 pages

Introduction and Contexts

chapter 1|10 pages

Introduction to Mapping Left Antisemitism

The Fathom Essays

chapter 2|15 pages

A New Form of the Oldest Hatred

Mapping Antisemitism Today

chapter 3|12 pages

The Jewish Experience of Antisemitism

chapter 4|7 pages

The Left and the Jews

Time for a Rethink

part 2|60 pages

Contemporary Left Antisemitism

chapter 5|8 pages

What Is Left Antisemitism?

chapter 6|8 pages

Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism

chapter 7|7 pages

Alibi Antisemitism

chapter 8|7 pages

Like a Cloud Contains a Storm

Jean Améry's Critique of Anti-Zionism

chapter 10|7 pages

Antisemitism and the Left

A Memoir

chapter 11|8 pages

Denial

Norman Finkelstein and the New Antisemitism

chapter 12|7 pages

‘Toxic Gifts’

Israel and the Anti-Zionist Left. An Interview With Susie Linfield

part 3|32 pages

The Soviet Roots of Contemporary Left Antisemitism

chapter 14|9 pages

Communists Against Jews

The Anti-Zionist Campaign in Poland in 1968

chapter 15|8 pages

The German Left's Undeclared Wars on Israel

An Interview With Jeffrey Herf

part 4|26 pages

Left Antisemitism and the Holocaust

chapter 17|3 pages

Hitler and the Nazis' Anti-Zionism

chapter 18|17 pages

Holocaust Falsifiers

Blaming ‘Zionists’ for the Crimes of the Nazis

part 5|41 pages

Left Antisemitism in Europe and the United States

chapter 20|4 pages

The Unwelcome Arrival of the Quenelle

chapter 21|9 pages

A Modern Orthodox-Christian Ritual Murder Libel

St. Philoumenos of Jacob's Well

chapter 22|13 pages

We Shall Be as a City on a Hill

Trump, ‘Progressive’ Anti-Semitism, and the Loss of American Jewish Exceptionalism

part 6|32 pages

Left Antisemitism and Academia

part 7|17 pages

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance

chapter 27|8 pages

Political Antisemitism

A Defence of the IHRA Definition

part 8|63 pages

Theory and Left Antisemitism

chapter 28|15 pages

Misreading Hannah Arendt

Judith Butler's Anti-Zionism and the Eichmann Trial

chapter 29|8 pages

The Pleasures of Antisemitism

chapter 30|11 pages

Intersectionality and Antisemitism

A New Approach

chapter 31|27 pages

Left Alternatives to Left Antisemitism

A Conversation Between Alan Johnson and Philip Spencer