Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism in Historical Perspective: Convergence and Divergence

296 Pages·2006·3.45 MB·English

by  Jeffrey Herf

Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism in Historical
Perspective
ThisbookpresentsthereflectionsofhistoriansfromIsrael,Europe,CanadaandtheUnitedStates
concerning the similarities and differences between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism primarily in
Europe and the Middle East.
Spanning the past century, the essays explore the continuum of critique from early challenges to
Zionism and they offer criteria to ascertain when criticism with particular policies has and has
not coalesced into an “ism” of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism.
Including studies of England, France, Germany, Poland, the United States, Iran and Israel, the
volume also examines the elements of continuity and break in European traditions of anti-
Semitism and anti-Zionism when they diffused to the Arab and Islamic.
This book was previously published as a special issue of The Journal of Israeli History.
JeffreyHerfisProfessorofModernEuropeanHistoryattheUniversityofMarylandinCollegePark.
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Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism
in Historical Perspective
Convergence and Divergence
Edited by
Jeffrey Herf
Firstpublished2007byRoutledge
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SimultaneouslypublishedintheUSAandCanada
byRoutledge
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orhereafterinvented,includingphotocopyingandrecording,orinany
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C O N T E N T S
Convergence andDivergence: Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism in Historical Perspective
Editor:JEFFREY HERF
Acknowledgments viii
Introduction
JEFFREY HERF x
1 Anti-Semites onZionism: FromIndifference to Obsession
DEREK J. PENSLAR 1
2 CanThereBe a Principled Anti-Zionism? Onthe Nexus between
Anti-Historicism and Anti-Zionism in Modern Jewish Thought
DAVID N. MYERS 20
3 Readjusting Cultural Codes: Reflectionson Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism
SHULAMIT VOLKOV 38
4 Convergence: The ClassicCase Nazi Germany, Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism during World War II
JEFFREY HERF 50
5 An Inseparable Tandem of EuropeanIdentity?Anti-Americanism and
Anti-Semitism in the Shortand Long Run
ANDREI S. MARKOVITS 71
6 FromCowardsand Subversivesto Aggressors and QuestionableAllies:
US ArmyPerceptions of Zionism sinceWorld War I
JOSEPH W. BENDERSKY 92
7 Anti-Zionism in Britain, 1922–2002: Continuitiesand Discontinuities
DAVID CESARANI 115
8 The French Radical Right:FromAnti-Semitic Zionism to Anti-Semitic
Anti-Zionism
PIERRE BIRNBAUM 145
v
vi Contents
9 Anti-Zionism as aMultipurposePolicyInstrument: The Anti-Zionist
Campaign in Poland, 1967–1968
DARIUSZ STOLA 159
10 Ideology andRealpolitik:East German Attitudes towardsZionism and
Israel
ANGELIKATIMM 186
11 Israeland the International Legal Arena
ARIEH J. KOCHAVI 206
12 Israeli Perceptions of Anti-Semitism andAnti-Zionism
ANITA SHAPIRA 228
13 The Islamic Republicof Iran andthe Holocaust:Anti-Semitism and
Anti-Zionism
MEIR LITVAK 250
Index 269
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Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the following people and institutions who contributed to the
conference entitled “Convergence and Divergence: Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism
inHistoricalPerspective”,heldfrom24to25March2004atBrandeisUniversity.Ithas
beenapleasuretoworkwithAnitaShapiraandDerekPenslarinshapingthethemes
and inviting contributors to the conference. The conference was made possible with
financialandinstitutionalsupportfromtheChaimWeizmannInstitutefortheStudy
ofZionismandIsraelatTelAvivUniversity,theSarnatCenterfor theStudyofAnti-
Jewishness at Brandeis University, and the American Jewish Committee (AJC).
ProfessorsSusannahHeschel,JerryMullerandAnsonRabinbachservedasmoderators
onseveralpanelsandmadevaluablecontributionstoconferencediscussions.Thanks
arealsoduetoStevenBaymeoftheAJCforhiscommentsattheconference,aswellas
for facilitating support from the AJC. Sylvia Fuks Fried, executive director of the
TauberInstitute atBrandeis,superblyhandledthedetailsofthe conference.Philippa
Shimrat,theassistanteditorofthisjournal,hasexpertlyguidedthisvolumeonitsway
to completion. Thanks most of all to the contributors to this conference, who wrote
fine papers and responded quickly and thoughtfully to this editor’s suggestions and
comments.
Jeffrey Herf
viii
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