Israeli perceptions of anti-semitism and anti-zionism

Anita Shapira*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

Abstract

Zionist thinkers assumed that the establishment of a Jewish state, which entailed a fundamental change in traits that non-Jews found contemptible, would bring an end to anti-Semitism. Yet after the 1967 war, the Soviet Union, the Western left and Third World governments, previously supportive of Israel, placed Israel in the camp of Western imperialism, while the emerging New Left identified Israel as imperialistic and racist. Against the background of the change in the international climate, debates in Israel over anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism were shaped by domestic politics. While the right saw anti-Semitism as the cause of hostility to Israel, the left argued that anti-Zionism, rooted in political arguments about the Middle East conflict, fanned the flames of anti-Semitism. The attitude to anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism became a cultural code, highlighting the divide between left and right, and between religious and secular.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)245-266
Number of pages22
JournalInternational Journal of Phytoremediation
Volume21
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - 2006

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