Rebirth of Antisemitism in the 21st Century

David Hirsh is Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and Academic Director of the London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism. His previous books include Contemporary Left Antisemitism (Routledge, 2017) and Law against Genocide: Cosmopolitan Trials (2003).

• (i) First Preface: Esprit d’escalier: reminiscences of a silent observer of the UCU conference (ii) Second Preface: I guess it doesn't matter any more (iii) Introduction 1. Demonization Blueprints: Soviet Conspiracist Antizionism in Contemporary Leftwing Discourse 2. Turning Full Circle: From the Anti-Nazi League to Corbynism - how so much of the radical left in the UK abandoned Jews and embraced antisemitism 3. Durban antizionism 4. Demystifying Antisemitism: A Return to Critical Theory 5. Is Palestine a Feminist Issue? Intersectionality and Its Discontents 6. Cancelling Israel and Displacing Palestine: Narratives of a Boycott 7. The legal construction of Jewish identity as a ‘protected characteristic’ through an examination of Fraser v UCU (2013), Parker v Sheffield Hallam University 2016, and the Report of the EHRC into Antisemitism in the Labour Party 2020 8. Seven Jewish Children and Definitions of Antisemitism 9. Learning and teaching about antisemitism 10. Climate Catastrophe, the ‘Zionist Entity’ and ‘The German guy’: an Anatomy of the Malm-Jappe Dispute 11. Wither Liberal Zionism?

"The contributors to this book, in their political beliefs, their lived experiences and their academic rigour, give key intellectual insights into the antisemitic impacts, heritage and resonances of so-called ‘antizionism’."Mark Gardner MBE, Chief Executive, Community Security Trust (CST), UK"Far from being a fringe phenomenon, antisemitism is today an increasingly troubling presence in mainstream British society, especially in its often stri- dent anti-Zionist manifestations. In this timely and insightful book, David Hirsch and his colleagues address the pertinent issues head-on and offer valuable explanations for the nature of this hostility and the threats it poses. The latter are serious and warrant the detailed scrutiny readers will find in this clarifying volume."Alvin H. Rosenfeld, Professor of English and Jewish Studies, Director of the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University, USA"Tracking Jew-hatred through its labyrinths of lies is not thought to make easy reading, but this unmasking of anti-Zionism’s falsity and dishonour is so exhilaratingly assured and eagle-eyed you cannot put it down. An indispensable work."Howard Jacobson, novelist and essayist"Few relationships are as bitterly contested on the left as that between antizionism and antisemitism. No one has done more to clarify that relationship, and what is at stake in seeing it plain, than David Hirsh and the writers, mostly from the democratic and ‘two-state’ left, whose work is collected in this volume. It should be required reading for anyone seeking to enter the debate in the future."Alan Johnson, Founder and Editor of Fathom"These are thoughtful essays by scholars, Jewish and non-Jewish, who were first connected by their opposition to the academic boycott of Israeli academics. They are connected anew in this publication by a bold central argument – that hostility towards the state of Israel exceeds that towards other states and does so in ways that bristle with tropes and feelings that are familiar from older forms of antisemitic hate and violence. Many will disagree, but the real freshness of this book is the connection it proposes between certain political construals of Israel and the real and awful reality of antisemitism, as it is increasingly lived every day. In this it is an important book, the very writing of which is an act of courage – and potentially, of hope."Frances Corner, Warden, Goldsmiths, University of London, UK"This compelling book shows definitively how an ancient, abiding and often murderous hatred, antisemitism, has found, in recent decades, a new and politically-acceptable, even fashionable, way to attack Jews--antizionism."Walter Reich, Yitzhak Rabin Memorial Professor of International Affairs, Ethics and Human Behavior, The George Washington University, USA"David Hirsh, a leading sociologist of contemporary antisemitism, and eleven other authors at the forefront of the struggle against it show how Jews pay the price for redemption when Israel becomes the symbol of ultimate evil. Their book is indispensable for understanding the startling revival of antisemitism in our time."Chad Alan Goldberg, Martindale-Bascom Professor of Sociology, University of Wisconsin–Madison, USA; award-winning author of Citizens and Paupers: Relief, Rights, Race, from the Freedmen’s Bureau to Workfare (2008) and Modernity and the Jews in Western Social Thought (2017)