Judeophobia - by Shlomo Sand (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Throughout the history of the Western world, Jews have suffered various forms of exclusion, stigmatization, and discrimination that have forced them always to be aware of their very particular situation. The Jews became a community under siege and, as Shlomo Sand argues, Judaism was shaped by the hostile gaze of Christian civilization. While the forms of hostility endured by the Jews have varied over the centuries, it is impossible to understand twentieth-century anti-Judaism, or Jewish identity itself, without taking account of the sediments of mental hatred, fuelled by religious belief, which have survived the passage of time.

While anti-semitism is the term commonly used today, Sand prefers 'Judeophobia', which predates the appearance of anti-semitismand is more precise. Looking back over the centuries, he seeks to identify some of the stages in the age-old, incandescent hatred of the Jews, and tries to understand what remains today of this trenchant hostility. He also questions whether Zionism, born as a distressed response to modern Judeophobia, has ended up mirroring it. To what extent has Zionism inherited the ideological foundations that have always been characteristic of the persecutors of the Jews?

This concise history of anti-Jewish hatred will be of great interest to anyone concerned with one of the most insidious and persistent features of Western civilization.

Now available as an audiobook.

Review Quotes

"Startling and revelatory - Shlomo Sand shows how centuries of Christian persecution and the Zionist myth of Jewish exile have driven Israeli Jews to embrace absurd racialist doctrines that doomed the Jews of Europe and now threaten a new version of Jew hatred spawned by the behaviour of the state that calls itself Jewish."
Ian Lustick, University of Pennsylvania

"A highly informative book, bolstered by facts, which polemically dismantles idées reçues. This is the kind of history we need, particularly at a time like the present, when accusations of anti-semitism are levelled against anyone who criticizes Israel."
Donald Sassoon, Queen Mary University of London

"Informed and remarkable... This is an important book and Sand's arguments deserve to be heard."
The Irish Times

"A fascinating and convincing outline of the continuum between European pre-modern religious Christian Judeophobia, modern racialist Judeophobia and Zionism/Israel."
Jewish Voice for Labour

About the Author

Shlomo Sand is Emeritus Professor of History at Tel Aviv University.