Description:
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.
Brief description: Lesley D. Klaff is a senior lecturer in law at Sheffield Hallam University and an affiliate professor of law at Haifa University. She is editor-in-chief of the Journal of Contemporary Antisemitism and is a member of the editorial board 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 is a member of UK Lawyers for Israel. She has published widely on holocaust inversion, campus antisemitism, and antisemitism in British politics and gave evidence to the 2016 Chakrabarti Inquiry into Antisemitism and Other Forms of Racism in the Labour Party. In 2018 she was included in The Algemeiner's 5th annual "J100" list as one of the top 100 people "positively influencing Jewish life."
Review Quotes: "The eleven chapters included in this important book explain... worrisome developments in impressively detailed and revealing ways. ... Several common themes run through many of the chapters. One is that, despite the spread of virulent strains of anti-Jewish hostility, there is still a general reluctance within governments and the general public to regard antisemitism as a serious problem, one whose distinctive features need to be recognized if it is to be properly understood and effectively combatted. ... Much of this book's focus is on antisemitism within Great Britain, but the problems treated here are part of a global phenomenon, making Unity and Diversity in Contemporary Antisemitism an eye-opening collection of essays for anyone wishing to learn about today's widespread and growing anti-Jewish hostility."
-- Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Journal of Modern Jewish Studies