Sorry, @Mondoweiss, but the "new antisemitism" is exactly the same as the old

An article in Mondoweiss makes the claim that the idea of the "new antisemitism" was a ploy by Zionists to conflate anti-Zionism with antisemitism:

This article briefly examines the pre-history of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, and how a combination of domestic and international challenges to Zionism in the late 1960s and early 1970s led to a concerted effort to redefine antisemitism in a way that prioritized the defense of Israel while identifying the political Left as the primary antagonist. It positions the IHRA definition not as a grassroots response to antisemitism, but rather as a coordinated, institutional form of counterinsurgency aimed at snuffing out transnational solidarity with Palestine.

...Where, how, and why does this shifting definition of antisemitism originate?  While attempts to establish Zionism as a core component of Jewish identity have a long history, it was during the late 1960s and early 1970s that we first see a sustained campaign by Zionist intellectuals and activists to codify this link through an expanded definition of antisemitism focused specifically on Israel and combatting criticism from the Left. In 1969, Austrian intellectual Jean Améry published an essay entitled “Virtuous Antisemitism” in which he argued that “today’s anti-Israelism and anti-Zionism and the antisemitism of yesteryear find themselves in absolute agreement. . . . What certainly is new, however, is that this form of antisemitism, now dressed up as anti-Israelism, is located firmly on the left.” By the early 1970s, American Zionist organizations and even elements of the Israeli government had begun to embrace this revised definition. In 1971, David A. Rose, chair of the ADL’s national executive committee, warned that “the anti-Israel hate campaign by these extremists not only poses a serious threat to Israel’s survival, but is, in its broadest sense, anti-Jewish.”7 The following year, at a gathering sponsored by the American Jewish Committee (AJC), Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban identified this phenomenon as the “new anti-Semitism” aimed at Israel, one specifically associated with “the rise of the new left.” Staking a claim that would define the shape of Zionist efforts to silence criticism of Israel for the next 50 years, Eban asserted that “the distinction between anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism is not a distinction at all. Anti-Zionism is merely the new anti-Semitism.”

Time to go down memory lane.

Did the idea that anti-Zionism is antisemitism arise only in the late 1960s? Not at all. Before that, everyone knew that anti-Zionism was a form of antisemitism. 

For example, the Westralian Judean, Dec 01, 1953:

However, the main protagonists who conflated anti-Zionism and antisemitism were the countries behind the Iron Curtain. The Communist far-left always were antisemitic - and they, along with the Arabs they were advising, were the first ones to try to hide their antisemitism behind "anti-Zionism."

From the Oakland Tribune, Jan 25, 1959:

Do we really have to convince people that the Soviets had been virulently antisemitic? 

It is true that while the Communists were antisemitic throughout the 20th century, the Left in the West was not generally antisemitic, nor was it anti-Israel, before the Six Day War. Mondoweiss doesn't want you to know that so it whitewashes that part of history and begins it conveniently to 1969.

This August 23, 1967 article by syndicated columnist John Chamberlain explains the sudden change perfectly:

Suddenly, the Left Turns Anti-Semitic

By JOHN CHAMBERLAIN

King Features Columnist

NEW YORK — It does beat all. The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee has been around for a long time. Before the advent of Stokely Carmichael and Rap Brown and the rest of the "black power" boys, it never had it in for Jews.  Indeed, it gladly accepted the help of such sensitive young Jewish people as Andrew Goodman and Michael Schwerner, who were murdered in Mississippi on a SNCC mission. 

That was just the day before yesterday, as time runs in our benighted age. Today's SNCC has gone anti-Semitic. Nineteen years after the founding of Israel, it has chosen to denounce those "famous European Jews, the Rothschilds," for "conspiracy with the British to create the 'state of Israel.'" Query: if SNCC was truly perturbed about the 1948 Israeli-Arab confrontation, why didn't it say so long ago? 

Curiously — or maybe it is not so curious — the explosion of SNCC's new anti-Jewish racism was timed to the very week to coincide with the eruption of an openly virulent anti-Semitism in Soviet Russia. The Soviet press is all "turned on" about alleged Israeli atrocities in the recent Mideast war. There have been anti-Jewish riots in Tashkent. And a dispatch from London tells about the murder of the rabbi of Sukhumi, a town in the Caucasus, who was hanged by his feet like Mussolini. 

SNCC would naturally deny getting any "line" from Moscow, where cultural and racial anti-Semitism, long a part of the Soviet climate, has suddenly become political anti-Semitism. In a lame attempt to clarify himself, Ralph Featherstone, the program head of SNCC, has tried to differentiate between Jews in general and "Jewish oppressors" in particular. But he jumps right back to a blanket indictment when he says "it is the Jews who are doing the exploiting of black people in the ghettos. They own the little corner groceries that gouge our people... And there is a parallel between this and the oppression of Arabs by the Israelis." 

Okay, if "parallels" are to be invoked, there is a "parallel" between SNCC's "line" on the Jews and Moscow's "line" on the same. There is a "parallel," too, between SNCC's and the Kremlin's newly emergent political anti-Semitism and that of Red China. There is even a further startling parallel with the arguments expressed by the National States Rights party, a white supremacist organization which is now pro-Arab as well as anti-Semitic. 

...

This column doesn't believe in secret conspiracies under the bed. But there is obviously an "open conspiracy," to use H. G. Wells's old phrase, among many Leftists today to gang up on the Jews. The Nazi practice turns out to be the Communist practice. This is hardly surprising when you consider the 50 members of the Communist East German parliament, as of the most recent available count made by the foreign editor of the Jewish Chronicle in England, were once members of the Nazi party. Communists will do anything to gain their ends, and what's a little genocide among Commie friends? As for SNCC, we can take the word of its Ralph Featherstone that it isn't following a "Soviet line." But Featherstone can't say that his organization isn't running a "parallel" course on the Jews to that of both Moscow and Peking.  

The "new antisemitism" is the Western Left choosing to side with the Arabs in concert with the Soviets' framing of Israel as the aggressor in 1967. As you can see from their quotes in 1967, they had not quite gotten the hang of separating Israel from Jews. 

It isn't the Jews who conflated Leftist anti-Zionism with antisemitism. It was the Leftists themselves. 

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

 

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04/28 Links Pt2: Oct. 7 was the Kristallnacht moment of our time; Boycotts, Bus Bombs, and Blind Spots: The Truth About BDS; Canada failed the Jews, election is opportunity for change

From Ian:

The Price

How a Muslim National Guardsman, a pastor’s daughter and a shomer Shabbat Jew joined together in a fantasy of redeeming inner hurts and perceived global wrongs through symbolic violence against Pittsburgh’s Jewish community—and building bombs.

The line between fantasy and self-actualization is inherently thin and is often difficult to spot within this or any other set of facts. For instance, the criminal charges are careful not to make any overt reference to any specific plan on Lubit, Hamad, or Collins’s part to bomb anyone or anything, and prosecutors have not tried to establish any operational link between the defendants and any militant group. Nevertheless, in their search of Hamad’s devices last fall, FBI agents found an image of a man who is very likely Hamad posing in a black sweater and mask and a green Hamas headband, gripping a combination American-Israeli lawn flag while holding up an index finger in likely reference to the Tawhid salute, an assertion of the oneness of God associated with a range of violent Islamist movements.

“Imagine the terror they saw if they had cams,” Hamad told a group text, in reference to the stolen banner. “Hamas operative ripping off their flags in white suburbia.” In another photo, which appeared in the April filing, Hamad’s eyes peer out from between a balaclava and a green Hamas headband—he’s in the passenger seat of a car in broad daylight, his seatbelt dutifully buckled over a fake blue Gucci t-shirt.

Behavior like this quickly reaches a point where the intent of the individual in question, which may be ironic or playacting or dead serious, doesn’t explain very much and may even be unknowable to the person. “Hamas operative” could be Hamad’s aspiration or fantasy or a description of his physical appearance or an expression of guilt at fighting the enemy in Squirrel Hill rather than in Gaza City. It is legal to obtain Indian Black powder and potassium perchlorate, both of which can be bought online for about $20 a pound.

In the courtroom, Lubit and Hamad appeared smaller and more delusional as the sunless afternoon dragged on. They had committed boneheaded errors at every turn while creating a rich archival record of their potential crimes. “How far you from Walmart,” Lubit texted at roughly the moment Hamad purchased what the complaint described as “one can of Rust-Oleum ‘Strawberry Fields’ red, high-gloss spray paint,” an object that investigators were able to identify down to the serial number even before they found it in Hamad’s bedroom at his parents’ house. Lubit reverted her phone to factory settings on July 7, erasing its contents the day the FBI executed its search warrant on Hamad. But her lack of care won out. “Is the resistance chat still around?” Lubit texted activist friends of hers on September 11, the day before a judge authorized a search of her apartment.

In court, the two were in a shock so deep that it often seemed as if they were watching someone else’s criminal hearing and not their own. Hamad often wedged his thumbs together, and he rubbed his eyes when Derbish described the one explosive test-run then known to prosecutors. At one point Lubit seemed in danger of sobbing. She then swallowed any oncoming tears and settled back into sphinxlike impassiveness, while avoiding eye contact with Hamad.

A federal courtroom is an environment of merciless linguistic and emotional economy. It is objectively funny to hear an FBI agent say the words “fuck Zionits,” as Derbish had to in the course of reading other people’s text messages, but in court the humor and sadness is served flavorless and cold. Derbish elucidated Lubit and Hamad’s most private struggles in public, in the robotic legalese of a highly competent law enforcement agent.

In the run-up to the vandalism of the Chabad house on July 29, Lubit was a sympathetic listener to what Hamad said were his deepest hopes and dreams. “My ultimate goal in life is Shaheed,” Hamad texted Lubit, words that Derbish read out in court. A martyr in an Islamic holy war is called a “shaheed.” The agent continued through Hamad’s messages to Lubit: “Everything else doesn’t matter nearly as much … My goal sets are very different from the average person.” Hamad told Lubit, “I don’t see myself living long. … It’s really hard to think long term.”

In a July 4 Instagram story included in the April 8 prosecution filing, Hamad posted an image of a Hamas funeral, with masked fighters crowded around a casket draped in a green flag. “Ya Allah, I can’t take this anymore, I want to fight and die,” Hamad wrote over the image. “I don’t want to live here anymore. I’m jealous of these fighters, they got to fight in the way of Allah and have achieved the highest level of Jannah,” the Islamic concept of paradise. “I want to die fighting,” he’d texted Micaiah Collins on that same Independence Day, according to the April 22 superseding indictment. “I want it now so bad!!”

Israeli antisemitism envoy: Oct. 7 was the Kristallnacht moment of our time

Oct. 7, 2023, was the Kristallnacht moment of our time, Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s envoy for combating antisemitism, said on Sunday at the JNS International Policy Summit in Jerusalem, warning that the world’s failure to respond mirrors the blindness to rising threats in the 1930s.

“Antisemitism is not the problem of the Jews, but of the antisemites and the places that allow them to infect and spread lethal hate,” Cotler-Wunsh said. “It is not a Jewish issue, but an issue for all who cherish our shared life and liberties. The sirens are blaring.”

She expressed deep concern over the normalization of antisemitism, particularly during the current period between Israel’s Holocaust Remembrance Day and Remembrance Day for the Fallen of Israel’s Wars and Victims of Terrorism, noting that atrocities, war crimes and genocide are always preceded by a gradual normalization of lethal hate.

Following the Hamas-led Oct. 7 massacre of some 1,200 Israelis and the subsequent war in Gaza, antisemitism has surged across the Western world. The Anti-Defamation League reported a record 9,354 antisemitic incidents of assault, harassment and vandalism in 2024—the fourth consecutive year of increases.

“Antisemitism mutates. New resilient strains, like anti-Zionism, deny Israel’s right to exist, demonize the Jewish people, and have become so mainstream that they have unleashed all forms of antisemitism,” Cotler-Wunsh said.

She warned that antisemitism now festers in international institutions, human rights organizations, universities and online platforms—spaces originally intended to uphold “Never again” values.

“Silence, denial, justification and outright attacks on Jews and Zionists—you need not be Jewish to be targeted, just believe in Israel’s right to exist,” Cotler-Wunsh said. “The tsunami of antisemitism sweeping the world, including the United States, is proof of the normalization of this ever-lethal, ever-mutating hatred.”

Boycotts, Bus Bombs, and Blind Spots: The Truth About BDS

The Real Victims: Students and Academic Integrity
The most immediate harm from BDS campaigns isn't felt thousands of miles away in Tel Aviv or Ramallah, but locally, by Jewish students forced into defensive postures, made to feel alienated, isolated, and targeted on their own campuses. Universities, once bastions of free thought and academic rigor, now find themselves reduced to ideological battlegrounds, where nuance is discarded in favor of dogmatic zeal.

Moreover, these resolutions do nothing tangible to improve Palestinian lives. Not one Palestinian has benefited economically, politically, or socially from BDS campaigns on American campuses. Instead, Palestinian aspirations are cynically weaponized for ideological ends, ignoring the complexities of the conflict and damaging opportunities for genuine dialogue, coexistence, and peace.

Confronting Reality: Challenging BDS Honestly
We may disagree profoundly on the plight and the legitimate aspirations of Palestinians, but this strategy does their cause no good. Holding Israel accountable through discriminatory campaigns that ignore broader global injustices and realities is neither ethical nor effective. BDS thrives not on truth or justice, but on simplistic narratives, selective outrage, and emotional manipulation.

Jewish communities, university administrators, and ethical observers must recognize BDS campaigns for what they are: attacks not just on Israeli policies, but fundamentally on the legitimacy of Jewish identity and Jewish presence in academia.

In standing against BDS and its manifestations, we affirm not only Jewish dignity but the universal values of fairness, honesty, and genuine dialogue—values truly deserving of our commitment and defense. BDS must be stopped at its roots before it becomes the disease it truly is, undermining the integrity and values of academic institutions and the broader society. So, what do we do next?

We must actively educate and engage campus administrators, student leaders, faculty, and the broader community about the true nature and harmful impacts of BDS. Vigilance, thoughtful dialogue, and clear policy enforcement are essential. By promoting transparency and informed discussions, we can prevent misinformation and extremism from taking root. Above all, we must continue to build strong, principled coalitions across diverse communities, reaffirming our collective commitment to coexistence, academic freedom, and genuine human rights advocacy.

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04/28 Links Pt1: Herzog: The 2005 disengagement from Gaza was a mistake; Guterres ‘personally accountable’ for UNRWA crimes; The Muslim Brotherhood, Like Nazism And Fascism, Must Be Defeated

From Ian:

Seth Mandel: Terrible Ideas Have Terrible Consequences

On April 22, Islamic terrorists stormed across a tourist spot in Jammu and Kashmir and killed 26 people, often confirming the victims were Hindu before executing them in front of their families.

The reaction from a range of anti-Semitic influencers and campus groups was instantaneous: They took a brief holiday from Jew-baiting to justify the Muslim slaughter of Hindus under the blood-soaked catchall of decolonization. Some blamed Israel directly, in classic Protocols of the Elders of Zion fashion, others reveled in the fact that both Jews and Indians have shed blood at the hands of Islamists. A chapter of Students for Justice in Palestine, one of the more extreme and violent campus groups, attacked Indian students for objecting to the massacre of Hindus.

In general, as some commentators noticed, the pattern followed Oct. 7 step-for-step, as left-leaning activists celebrated the mass murder of innocents and then immediately began protesting against the victims.

Welcome to the world made and sustained in no small part by Western academia.

Oct. 7 exposed the broad support for Hamas’s genocidal mission among university administrations, students and faculty. The intellectual scaffolding for this bloodlust was the barbaric pseudo-discipline of decolonization/anticolonialism, an extremely violent blood-and-soil nationalism cobbled together into a circus freakshow of discredited grifters.

Decolonization or settler-colonial “studies” is the political arm of a global death cult, with universities providing some connective tissue to otherwise disparate terrorist gangs.

“For the field called settler colonial studies,” Adam Kirsch notes in On Settler Colonialism, “the goal of learning about settlement in America and elsewhere is not to understand it, as a historian would, but to combat it.” In this view of the world, there is no such thing as an immigrant, strictly speaking: “Because settlement is not a past event but a present structure, every inhabitant of a settler colonial society who is not descended from the original indigenous population is, and always will be, a settler.” Therefore, “Settler, in this view, is not a description of the actions of an individual but a heritable identity.”

The result is a firm belief that lots and lots and lots of people must be murdered. That’s how you get the shocking results of a poll conducted after Oct. 7, which found that of those aged 18-24, 66 percent said Hamas’s slaughter could be characterized as “genocidal in nature” but 60 percent said it “can be justified by the grievances of the Palestinians.” As Kirsch notes, this means “more than half of college-age Americans seem to believe that it would be justified for Palestinians to commit a genocide of Israeli Jews.”

MEMRI: Following Pahalgam Terror Attack In Jammu & Kashmir, India, The International Community Must Take Concrete Action To Rein In The Rogue Behavior Of Pakistan

In the afternoon of April 22, 2025, a heinous jihadi terror attack took place in Pahalgam, a popular tourist destination in Jammu & Kashmir, India. The terrorists singled out their victims based on their religion. The main target were Hindu men. In certain cases, the terrorists even stripped some of their victims to ascertain their religion. The victims were also asked to recite the Kalma, or Shahada, which is the foundational declaration of faith in Islam.

In the attack, at least 26 people were killed and many were wounded. The armed terrorists executed their victims at gun point. The male victims were executed in front of their families, in many cases newlyweds. The attack was claimed by the Resistance Force (TRF), which is a proxy of Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), a Pakistan-based Salafi-jihadi organization and UN-proscribed terror outfit. The TRF and its alias Peoples' Anti-Fascist Front (PAFF) are acknowledged as a rebranding of the LeT to evade the sanctions imposed on the latter. This has been standard practice by the Pakistani establishment for plausible deniability for its involvement with terror entities and to safeguard them from international scrutiny and sanctions.

The Pahalgam attack is perhaps the biggest terror attack in Kashmir since August 5, 2019, when India quashed Article 370 of the Constitution, which accorded greater autonomy to Jammu & Kashmir.[1] After India abrogated Article 370, there was a concerted effort by Pakistan to rebrand the established terror outfits such as LeT and Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM; a Pakistan-based Deobandi Islamist militant group) in order to present these new outfits as indigenous resistance groups active in India.

Meanwhile, tensions are growing between India and Pakistan. The Indian media outlet The Hindu reported that Pakistani troops are continuing to violate the ceasefire along the Line of Control (LoC) by resorting to unprovoked firing in Jammu & Kashmir's Poonch and Kupwara districts.[2] As tensions flare, Pakistan Minister Hanif Abbasi threatened India with nuclear retaliation, stating that Pakistan's 130 nuclear warheads have been kept "only for India."[3]

MEMRI: Senior Saudi Journalist Mamdouh Al-Muhaini: The Muslim Brotherhood, Like Nazism And Fascism, Must Be Defeated On The Security, Cultural And Economic Fronts

In an April 25, 2025 article, Saudi media figure Mamdouh Al-Muhaini, director-general of the Saudi Al-Arabiya and Al-Hadath television channels, welcomed Jordan's decision to ban the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) movement, which, he said, has for years incited against the Jordanian state and stirred unrest within the kingdom. He noted, however, that the MB is an idea, and that a legal ban is never enough to eliminate an idea that has become deeply entrenched in society.

Al-Muhaini argued that there are several reasons that the MB and its extremist ideology have persisted and flourished for decades. First, because regimes failed to confront it, using it instead to gain religious legitimacy and to mobilize their people against their rivals. Second, because regime corruption and economic mismanagement, leading to poverty, allowed the MB to present itself as an alternative and gain considerable support among the people. And third, because the regimes failed to fight the MB intellectually, but instead allowed it to dominate the education system and the religious establishment and turn them into a tool for spreading extremism and hate within society.

However, said Al-Muhaini, extremist ideas can be effectively fought and eliminated – by defeating them on all fronts at once: security, cultural, and economic. This is evident from the example of Nazism in Germany after World War II. The victors didn’t just defeat the Nazis militarily and ban their ideology, but also presented a successful economic and cultural alternative that rendered Nazism obsolete. This, he argued, "is exactly what must happen with the Muslim Brotherhood’s ideology, which has lasted far longer than it should have."

The following is the English version of his article as published on the Al-Arabiya website.[1]
"The Jordanian government had long shown patience and tolerance toward the Muslim Brotherhood, giving it ample time. Since October 7, 2023, there has been a continuous [Muslim Brotherhood] campaign of incitement [against the Jordanian state, which involved] questioning its legitimacy, attacking its symbols, and stirring unrest to push society toward turning against the state. So, it’s no surprise that extremist groups have intensely targeted Jordan for years – both Sunni and Shia Islamist groups – trying to turn it into another chaotic arena for weapons smuggling, clandestine cells, and logistical support.

"Jordan is closing an important chapter in its history. But the question remains: Will the idea of the Muslim Brotherhood die after the ban? The Muslim Brotherhood is not just a political organization – it’s also an ideological and doctrinal one. Defenders of extremist groups like the Muslim Brotherhood argue that such ideas don’t die and instead are passed down from generation to generation. And they’re not entirely wrong. The Muslim Brotherhood is a concept that began nearly 100 years ago when Hassan al-Banna founded it in 1928, and it has persisted until today. Why? For several reasons.

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A brief list of Arab and Muslim attacks on Jews between Mohammed and the 20th century

Every once in a while I stumble upon an article in Arabic like this one by Dr. Salem Katbi in Elaph:

Can antisemitism be considered a primarily European phenomenon that spread to the Arab and Islamic world through systematic mechanisms? Was historical coexistence between Jews and Arabs the norm before anti-Semitic ideas infiltrated Europe? A fundamental question arises here: What are the false narratives that have contributed to fueling hatred against the Jewish component in our region?

When we examine the historical landscape in depth, we find that antisemitism, in its organized and systematic sense, is indeed a European phenomenon that originated and developed on the Old Continent over centuries, before infiltrating the Arab and Islamic world during the twentieth century.

Perhaps what confirms this fact is that the relationship between Jews and Arab and Islamic societies was characterized by relative coexistence for long periods, and that organized hatred against Jews was not an integral part of our cultural and social fabric.

This is a myth that Arabs and Muslims like to tell themselves and the world. It is not true.

I have documented how the very word "Jew" was considered the worst insult any Arab could hurl at another pre-20th century. 

 But there were also quite a few major physical attacks on Jews as Jews in the Arab and Muslim worlds throughout the centuries. (This list was generated by AI.)

7th Century: Jizya and Dhimmi Status Imposed

• Description: Following the Muslim conquests, Jews in newly conquered territories (e.g., Egypt, Syria, Iraq) were designated as dhimmis (“protected” non-Muslims) under the Pact of Umar. They were required to pay the jizya tax, often in humiliating public ceremonies, and faced restrictions on building synagogues, bearing arms, or holding public office. In some cases, Jews were forced to wear distinguishing badges or clothing (e.g., yellow badges in 9th-century Baghdad under Caliph al-Mutawakkil).
• Context: Dhimmi status offered relative security compared to Christian Europe’s pogroms, but it institutionalized inferiority. Non-compliance could lead to persecution or violence. The yellow badge precedent in Baghdad was later echoed in medieval Europe and Nazi Germany.
• Location: Across the Arab world (e.g., Iraq, Egypt, Syria).

8th Century: Massacres in Morocco

• Description: Under Muslim ruler Idris I, entire Jewish communities in Morocco were wiped out, particularly in the early 8th century. Specific details are sparse, but these acts were part of consolidating power in newly conquered territories.
• Context: These massacres reflect the volatility of Jewish life under early Islamic rule, where local rulers’ policies could shift from tolerance to violence based on political needs.
• Location: Morocco.

1014, 1293–4, 1301–2: Decrees to Destroy Synagogues

• Description: Rulers in Egypt and Syria issued decrees ordering the destruction of synagogues, violating the dhimmi protections outlined in Islamic law. These acts were often justified by claims that Jews had built new synagogues, which was forbidden under certain interpretations of Islamic law.
• Context: Such decrees were sporadic but disrupted Jewish communal life and signaled the precariousness of their status.
• Location: Egypt, Syria.

1033: Fez Massacre (Morocco)

• Description: A Muslim mob attacked the Jewish quarter in Fez, killing an estimated 6,000 Jews. The violence was sparked by tensions over Jewish influence or perceived violations of dhimmi restrictions.
• Context: This massacre is one of the earliest large-scale pogroms in the Arab world, contradicting claims of uninterrupted coexistence. It highlights how economic or political tensions could escalate into violence.
• Location: Fez, Morocco.

1066: Granada Massacre (Spain under Muslim Rule)

• Description: On December 30, 1066, an Arab mob in Granada crucified Joseph HaNagid, a Jewish vizier, and massacred the Jewish quarter, killing approximately 5,000 Jews. The attack was fueled by resentment over HaNagid’s high position and perceived Jewish influence.
• Context: While Muslim-ruled Spain (Al-Andalus) is often cited as a “Golden Age” for Jews, this event underscores that tolerance was conditional and could give way to violent backlash when Jews were seen as too prominent.
• Location: Granada, Al-Andalus (modern Spain).

12th Century: Forced Conversions in North Africa

• Description: Under the Almohad dynasty (1146–1232), Jewish communities in North Africa (e.g., Morocco, Tunisia) faced forced conversions or extermination. Many Jews were killed, and others fled or outwardly converted while secretly practicing Judaism.
• Context: The Almohads’ strict interpretation of Islamic law rejected the dhimmi system, leading to severe persecution. This period marked a significant decline in Jewish populations in the region.
• Location: Morocco, Tunisia.

1165, 1678: Forced Conversions in Yemen

• Description: Jewish communities in Yemen were coerced into converting to Islam or faced death. These policies were enforced by local rulers, disrupting centuries-old Jewish settlements.
• Context: Yemen’s Jewish community faced periodic persecution, with forced conversions reflecting the use of religious policy to assert dominance.
• Location: Yemen.

1232: Marrakech Massacre (Morocco)

• Description: A massacre of Jews in Marrakech resulted in significant loss of life, driven by local tensions or political instability. Exact casualty figures are uncertain but indicate a major disruption to the Jewish community.
• Context: This event is part of a pattern of periodic violence in Morocco, where Jewish communities were vulnerable to mob attacks.
• Location: Marrakech, Morocco.

1290: Massacre of Jews in Baghdad

• Description: The Jewish community in Baghdad was massacred, with significant loss of life. The violence was likely tied to political or economic grievances, though specific triggers are debated.
• Context: Baghdad, once a center of Jewish intellectual life, saw increasing instability for Jews as Mongol invasions and local power struggles disrupted earlier coexistence.
• Location: Baghdad, Iraq.

1301: Forced Conversions in Egypt

• Description: Egyptian Jews faced forced conversions under Mamluk rule, with some communities compelled to abandon Judaism or face death.
• Context: Mamluk policies oscillated between tolerance and repression, with forced conversions reflecting religious zeal or political expediency.
• Location: Egypt.

1333, 1344: Forced Conversions in Baghdad

• Description: Jews in Baghdad were again subjected to forced conversions, with decrees requiring them to adopt Islam or face severe consequences.
• Context: These incidents reflect the intermittent enforcement of strict religious policies, often tied to local rulers’ need to assert authority.
• Location: Baghdad, Iraq.

1679: Mawza Exile (Yemen)

• Description: The Jewish community in Yemen was expelled to the desolate Mawza region, leading to significant hardship and loss of life. Many died due to harsh conditions before being allowed to return.
• Context: This exile was ordered by the Zaydi imam, reflecting religious and political motivations to marginalize Jews.
• Location: Yemen.

1785: Tripolitania Pogrom (Libya)

• Description: Ali Burzi Pasha massacred hundreds of Jews in Tripoli, targeting the Jewish community amid political instability or economic grievances.
• Context: This pogrom highlights the vulnerability of Libyan Jews to arbitrary violence by local rulers.
• Location: Tripoli, Libya.

1805, 1815, 1830: Massacres in Algiers

• Description: Jewish communities in Algiers faced repeated massacres, with significant loss of life and property. These attacks were often tied to local power struggles or economic tensions.
• Context: Algeria’s Jewish population endured frequent violence, reflecting the instability of Ottoman rule and local anti-Jewish sentiment.
• Location: Algiers, Algeria.

1850: Damascus Affair (Syria)

• Description: In Damascus, Jews were falsely accused of ritual murder (blood libel) after a Christian monk disappeared. Several Jewish leaders were arrested, tortured, and killed, and the Jewish quarter was attacked. The incident gained international attention, with European Jewish advocates securing the release of survivors.
• Context: The blood libel, a European antisemitic trope, was imported into the Arab world, possibly via Christian minorities or European influence. The affair fueled anti-Jewish sentiment and popularized blood libel in Arab literature.
• Location: Damascus, Syria.

1864–1880: Marrakech Massacres (Morocco)

• Description: Over 300 Jews were murdered in Marrakech in a series of attacks, driven by local tensions, economic resentment, or accusations of apostasy.
• Context: Morocco’s Jewish community faced increasing violence in the 19th century, with ghettos and discriminatory practices exacerbating their vulnerability.
• Location: Marrakech, Morocco.

1870: Istanbul Pogrom (Ottoman Empire)

• Description: A pogrom in Istanbul targeted the Jewish community, resulting in deaths and destruction of property. The violence was sparked by local grievances or religious tensions.
• Context: While the Ottoman Empire often provided relative stability for Jews, localized violence occurred, particularly in periods of political or economic strain.
• Location: Istanbul (modern Turkey).

Better than Europe? Perhaps. But co-existence? That's a hard no.

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Buy EoZ's books  on Amazon! "He's an Anti-Zionist Too!" cartoon book (December 2024) PROTOCOLS: Exposing Modern Antisemitism (February 2022)

 

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