Holocaust denier’s works should not have ‘pride of place’ at Cambridge library, says academic

Anti-Semitism

From Cambridge News:

A Cambridge college library has moved the work of a historian branded an anti-Semite to a closed area after an academic called his books’ appearance on its shelves a ‘disgrace’.

Dr Irene Lancaster spotted that the controversial author David Irving’s books were accessible in Churchill College’s Roskill Library during a tour of its archives on February 1.

Notorious for his holocaust scepticism, Irving was branded an anti-Semite and racist by a judge in 2000 following an infamous libel case brought to trial by the historian against Penguin Books.

Read more »

Bishop condemns Israel Apartheid week

Anti-Israeli Action, Anti-Semitism, Christian Churches

From Jewish News Online:

A national Church of England leader has branded Israel Apartheid Week “neither helpful nor constructive,” in comments likely to reverberate throughout congregations across the country.

Dr Michael Ipgrave, who is the Bishop of Lichfield and Chair of the Council of Christians and Jews, made the comments this week, as events take place across British campuses highlighting perceived social injustices in Israel and the West Bank.

Read more »

Review: The New Christian Zionism

Zionism,

By Michelle Van Loon

For decades, it seemed that there were only two basic options in the Church when it came to discussions of Israel. The first, dispensationalism, objectifies the idea of Israel both now and in the future, and requires elaborate charts and the entire fictional Left Behind canon to unpack. The second, supercessionism, says that the Church has replaced Israel. The first two-thirds of the Bible, the Old Testament, becomes nothing more than a long preamble to the “real” salvation story, and the promises God gave to the Chosen People now belong to Christians. Supercessionism spiritualizes the promises regarding the land of Israel. New Perspective theologians like NT Wright express a softened version of supercessionism when it comes to the land promises…

I’ve struggled for years to articulate a thoughtful, balanced line that threads the needle between these two divergent hermeneutical approaches. But I’m just one person.

I found it takes many reasoned and faithful voices to thread that needle well. The New Christian Zionism: Fresh Perspectives on Israel and the Land (InterVarsity Press, 2016) is an excellent example of what this can look like.

Read more »

Jerusalem to Tel Aviv: How the anger shifted

Arab/Israeli Conflict,

In the wake of a terrorist attack in Tel Aviv, Michael Horesh writes about how the anger has shifted:

If I normally write about business in Israel and primarily in Jerusalem, the events of last night force me to discuss what happened in Tel Aviv.

Two young Palestinians, dressed up as orthodox Jews, ordered coffee at the popular Max Brenner restaurant in the trendy Sarona market complex in central Tel Aviv. Nothing wrong in that, except that once they had calmly finished their drinks, they slew at point blank range four fellow customers. The security camera captured the massacre.

Since the Autumn of last year, Israel, and particularly Jerusalem, has been the subject of a number of horrendous terrorist incidents. They typically involved random stabbings of innocent civilians.

However, the attack in Tel Aviv has created a new atmosphere, one that has captured the viewpoint of just about all Israelis, whatever their political or religious take. After the anguish, a feeling of deep, deep, deep anger has rushed to the surface. So what was different about last night?

Read the full article »

Anti-Semitism at Harvard Law School?

Anti-Semitism

At a recent event at Harvard Law School, an extraordinary exchange took place. This letter in the Harvard Law Record explains:

Anti-Semitism is still very real today, and it just showed itself in our community at Harvard Law School.

At the Q&A section of an event last Thursday, an HLS student asked Jewish, Israeli dignitary [former Israeli Foreign Minister and current Israeli Parliament Member] Tzipi Livni: “How is it that you are so smelly? . . . A question about the odor of Ms. Tzipi Livni, she’s very smelly, and I was just wondering.”

The letter goes on to say why this is so offensive, other than being unusally rude in a personal sense:

The stereotype of “the Jew” as “smelly” or “dirty” has been around since at least the 1800s. The Nazis promoted the idea that Jews “smell” to propagandize Jews as an inferior people. The idea that Jews can be identified by a malodor is patently offensive and stereotypes Jews as an “other” which incites further acts of discrimination. The fact that such a hate-filled and outdated stereotype reemerged at Harvard Law School is nothing short of revolting.

At this point we might expect an abject apology from the student concerned. There was a sort of non-apology apology, however, in which people were invited to “reach out” to him/her:

Many members of the Jewish community—some of whom hold strong differences of opinion with me—have reached out to me on their own to let me know that they did not interpret my words as anti-Semitic, because they know me well enough to know that that is not at all consistent with who I am as a person. I want to thank them and any others who have given me the benefit of the doubt, and I am writing this note in the hopes that more of you will do the same.

But there was no apology for calling Tzipi Livni “smelly” – three times, it seems – and no explanation of where this suggestion came from. Speculation has circulated about the organization which the student represents (as its president). So far attention has focused on Students for Justice in Palestine and the Muslim Students Association.