Israelophobia: The Newest Version of the Oldest Hatred and What To Do About It

From 50,000 feet it may seem that Israel is a good thing; they are a vibrant democracy, increasingly economically successful, technologically advanced including in some areas vital to humanity's future, have a freeish healthcare system yielding one of the highest life expectancies, and are quite progressive in terms of their attitudes to LGBTQ rights, abortion, divorce, capital punishment. All this in the context of a difficult neighbourhood where none of these things can be taken for granted.Yet at closer examination it is all a lie; Palestinian leaders may have swindled billions from their population but Netanyahu is on trial for taking a few bottles of Champagne, Abbas may have suspended democratic elections indefinitely but look Israelis themselves are saying that democracy in Israel is flawed, Israel may be appear a gay friendly country but clearly its Gay Pride events are just pink-washing with Mossad agents in hot-pants. And so on and so on.What JWS examines in his book is why this "double-think" is so popular today. What are its origins and what drives people to want to believe this so much. The book is both well-structured and researched; it explores in detail the demonisation of Israel and the campaign to create an alternative truth.For me it proves beyond reasonable doubt that the hatred of Israel, that he labels Israelophobia, is not just another random criticism of a sovereign countrie's policies but is the continuation and evolution of the longest hatred. From a statistical and non-legal viewpoint its is statistically significant that something else is at play here.Despite following the subject all my life there was some material that was completely new to me, particularly on how the Soviet Union and the Left flipped against Israel (they were supportive in the early days) and the state-sponsored disinformation propaganda that ensued.I think many people feel that whatever the history, a just solution to the region's problem's is more important. I too would like to see peace with all parties free, autonomous and prosperous. But to achieve this we need to start from a point of truth and not demonisation and rhetoric. This book assists in that and I thoroughly recommend it.

This book gets five stars. It is a much-needed exposure of how much today’s criticism and hatred of Israel is based on falsehoods and ignorance; in many cases a rehash of long-standing antisemitism so that it fixates on the Jewish state, rather than the Jewish race or religion.It is also short, well written, and easy to read.One criticism! Its main chapters are entitled “Demonisation”, “Weaponisation”, and “Falsification” which means a major issue gets mentioned under these different headings and by virtue of being covered in a fragmented way or set alongside lots of other matters does not stand out in the way it should. The author may, of course, have a different views on what counts as major issues!He has a lot to say about how badly Israel is viewed compared with other countries involved in violent population movements, oppression, war, and revolutionary conflicts. He gives numerous historical and present examples that have been and are many times worse than those involving Israel, yet criticism of Israel is far more frequent and far greater than any criticism those counties have had or receive.He asks “Why is [Israel] not judged by the standards applied to all other nations? Why is it pilloried, boycotted, undermined, vilified and abused? And how to separate reasonable criticism from hatred?”It might be that the book is aimed only at those who have the same concerns as the author and it confirms and explains those concerns. It does end by giving advice on how to debate with Israelophobes.In the opinion of this reviewer, if the book is to influence Israelophobes it would be better to have “major issue” oriented chapters. Emphasis on major issues would also much better prepare those concerned about Israelophobia for debates with Israelophobes.For example, have chapters such as:Chapter – An Independent Israel and the Two State SolutionThe author discusses the 1947 UN partition plan, which gave Israel 56% of Palestine and Arabs 43%. He mentions reasons and justifications why there should be an independent Jewish state (such as the Palestine Jewish population since ancient times, and how other parts of the Middle East became independent) but it is an issue that warrants greater focus and far more examination.Chapter – The Israeli Population Today - Who are the Israelis?One of the many aspersions cast on Israel by Israelophobes is that it is a white population country (making it easier to it accuse it of colonialism and apartheid!).The author points out “… about half of Israel’s Jewish population are from Middle Eastern families, most of whom were refugees from Islamic lands, losing their homes, communities, heritage and possessions in the process.”Chapter - Is Israel an Apartheid State?The author says controversy surrounds the 2018 Nation State Law, which enshrines Israel’s Jewish character but this is nothing like apartheid. He mentions a UN appointed investigator who said the accusation of apartheid is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel.He gives examples of Arab citizens of Israel holding important public posts and their involvement in the political process. In May 2022, Israel’s Supreme Court appointed its first Arab Muslim judge. Israel is a democratic country that protects the rights of women, gay people and minorities.He might have also referred to the Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index. On a scale of 0.0 to 10.0 Israel gets 7.93 (close to Portugal at 7.95, the United States 7.85, Italy 7.69 – UK gets 8.28). Its neighbours score as follows, Jordan 3.17, Egypt 2.93, Saudi Arabia 2.08, and Syria 1.43.The author points out numerous times that in defending Israel against outrageous criticism he is not trying to say Israel is perfect, that it has done no wrong, but he gives no examples of such imperfections and wrongs. He only briefly states that since 2022 the government coalition has included several extremists and Israel’s flaws have become particularly visible, with rallies across the land amid a crisis of its democratic system. There is at least one case in particular that he should have discussed.Yes, democracies are not perfect, they can and do sometimes take the wrong road. Israel’s voting system makes it difficult for any one party to gain a majority. In order to govern the leading party often has to form a coalition with small parties that consequently have a hugely disproportionate influence. The present right-wing government, formed by the Likud party led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is in coalition with a number of far-right and pro-settler parties and they have agreed to expand West Bank settlements and they openly talk about annexing the West Bank. That would lead to apartheid and colonialism on a grand scale!

Great treatment of a serious topic but why on earth did he feel the need to coin the nonsensical term 'Israelphobia'? There are plenty of examples out there of the misuse of the Greek suffix 'phobia' (meaning fear), but this one is downright stupid.Shame as it's a super book. At least the term doesn't seem to be catching on, no-one else is using it anywhere apart from the author in his various outlets. 'Anti-semitism' is far more accurate, and already widely understood.

This book gives a useful insight into the Nazi and Soviet origins of the hatred of Israel. It puts the accusations against Israel into perspective and gives a much more balanced perspective of the world’s only Jewish state.A book like this is especially valuable in these times when Israel is at war or under attack on many fronts.

This book isn't about absolving Israel of any wrong-doings but rather asks why some people's criticism is only ever directed towards that one country and they remain silent about the wrong-doings of all other countries. To be clear, and this is a point that is well made in the book, the author isn't saying not to criticize Israel, but rather is asking if the reason that it is only Israel that is criticized is because, as the title makes very clear, Israelophobia is the newest version of the oldest hatred [that's anti-Semitism] and Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people.

Appearing literally one month before the Hamas pogrom of October 7, 2023, the timing of this book must be called providential. The grotesque sight of college students throughout throughout the Western world demonstrating while shouting Hamas slogans (e.g. “From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be [Jew-]Free”) can only serve as smashing proof of the thesis of the book. Such negative reviews of it as I have seen online (including here, so far) are notable for their bad faith and sheer mendacity. (Sorry; recent campus demonstrations against Israel where Jewish students have been harassed, threatened, and physically attacked by Hamas groupies and wannabes give the game away.) Given the even louder volume and shriller pitch of venom and hysteria in the wake of Israel’s counterattack on Hamas, this simply shows the book to be unanswerable.Mr. Wallis Simons, a veteran British reporter and editor, is no blind partisan of Israel, and notes that country’s blind spots and failings candidly; nor is he a booster of the current Netanyahu government. He aims to show the pedigree of ideas behind current anti-Jewish attitudes prevalent on the political left. The picture he presents is not a pretty one.He carefully documents how antisemitic tropes, themes, and memes have passed down through the generations with amazing continuity, from the religious antisemitism of Christianity, to the racial antisemitism of the 19th and 20th centuries (culminating in the Holocaust), to the persistence—indeed flourishing—of Israelophobic antisemitism on the political left today. Each iteration has adopted themes from the previous varieties, sometimes wholesale. This is illustrated most clearly in the case of Soviet antisemitism.Although Stalin initially supported the nascent State of Israel with armaments, soon enough Jews in the Soviet Union were targeted in official media as “rootless cosmopolitans” (harking back to Christian stereotypes of Jews as accursed wanderers) and supporters of Western (chiefly American) imperialism. Show trials of Jews in the Soviet Union (the Doctor’s Plot) and elsewhere in the post-World War II Soviet bloc (the Slansky trial in Czechoslovakia) meant that official antisemitism would be shown in deeds as well as words.After Stalin’s death, Soviet strategy turned to supporting Arab states in their conflict with Israel. This not only included lavish quantities of arms and military advisors, it also included diplomatic support and–most crucially–vast amounts of propaganda through the hydra-headed apparatus of disinformation and active measures. The unexpected rout of Soviet-supplied Arab armies during the 1967 Six-Day War seems to have raised Soviet antisemitism—under the banner of “anti-Zionism”—to a full boil. Also that year, Yuri Andropov (himself of Jewish heritage—something carefully hidden over his lifetime) became Chairman of the Soviet KGB. This intelligent, urbane, and sinister figure would superintend a muddy torrent of “anti-Zionist” publications, films, and radio programs in over 80 languages distributed throughout the world—especially the Third World. Here is where allegations that Israel was racist, fascist, genocidal, and the rest of the litany, got their start. Interestingly, during 1990 in the dying days of the Soviet Union, Pravda published an apologia of sorts for official antisemitism, and admitted that under the guise of official “anti-Zionism”, age-old anti-Jewish stereotypes and falsehoods were revived and embroidered on by Russian ultranationalist ‘Zionologists’.By dint of ceaseless repetition and a kind of “semantic infiltration” (U.S. sociologist and defense official Fred Charles Iklé’s phrase), these themes seeped into and permeated the putatively non-Communist left throughout the world where they have since hardened into stone.Mr. Wallis Simons does not explore the ‘whys’ of this in any depth, preferring (probably wisely) to concentrate on the ‘hows’. My own idea of ‘why’ is similar to that of historian and blogger Richard Landes, who sees current antisemitic hysteria as the convergence of complimentary strains of Islamist and leftist millenarianism. Millenarianism can be defined as “the belief by a religious, social, or political group or movement in a coming fundamental transformation of society, after which ‘all things will be changed’.” (from the Wikipedia article, “Millenarianism”)Typically, millinarianist movements are bent on building absolutely good utopias—with those judged to be standing in the way deserving of absolute destruction. From medieval chiliastic sects, to Nazism, to Communism, to Islamism and beyond, Jews have typically been the scapegoats standing the way of the New Jerusalem, the Thousand Year Reich, the classless society, or the final worldwide triumph of Islam. Their obstinate refusal to surrender their particularity in the face of mounting pressure to bend to the will of their aggressors provokes frenzy (seen most recently and vividly in Hamas’ October 7th attack, with its orgiastic torture, rape and mass murder).One of the stranger—and more stomach-churning—sights of the current strange scene has been the willingness of many leftist Jews to join the chorus of delegitimization, demonization, and blatant double standards employed against Israel. With the ebbing of religious or cultural identity, secular millinarianism rushes in to fill the void.The extent to which rational argument can dent the irrationality and hatred of contemporary Israelophobia, the current expression (and explosion) of antisemitism, is unknown. This book probably does more to hearten people of good will than to cause others—lost in their sadistic and infantile fantasy of driving the Jews into the sea—to change their minds. Still, “thrice-armed are they whose quarrel is just”.

A very interesting informative book If even half of what the author says is true and I am of the opinion it all is perhaps the people demonstrating on the streets and campuses should read it and see if it changes some of there opinions.

I was utterly disappointed by the quality of the arguments presented and the sources. I was looking forward to a well structured arguments presentation especially from a journalist, but … well…If you want to know what the book says, just read/listen to the propaganda … Nothing new was presented

A very succinct history provided, which is well written and easy to understand. Great practical advice also given. This is a book that needs to be serialised in the media (preferably the printed press) so that more people can learn of the gross untruths propagated by the Boomer journalists and progressive left.

I liked it, learned a lot from it, and recommend it, especially to people unfamiliar with the history of this country and the Jewish people.