Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays(Studies in Contemporary Antisemitism)

Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays provides a comprehensive guide to contemporary Left antisemitism. The rise of a new and largely left-wing form of antisemitism in the era of the Jewish state and the distinction between it and legitimate criticism of Israel are now roiling progressive politics in the West and causing alarming spikes in antisemitic incitement and incidents. Fathom journal has examined these questions relentlessly in the first decade of its existence, earning a reputation for careful textual analysis and cogent advocacy. In this book, the Fathom essays are contextualised by three new contributions: Lesley Klaff provides a map of contemporary antisemitic forms of antizionism, Dave Rich writes on the oft-neglected lived experience of the Jewish victims of contemporary antisemitism and David Hirsh assesses the intellectual history of the left from which both Fathom and his own London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, as well as this book series, have emerged. Topics covered by the contributors include antisemitic antizionism and its underappreciated Soviet roots; the impact of analogies with the Nazis; the rise of antisemitism on the European continent, exploring the hybrid forms emerging from a cross-fertilisation between new left, Christian and Islamist antisemitism; the impact of antizionist activism on higher education; and the bitter debates over the adoption of the oft-misrepresented International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. This work will be of considerable appeal to scholars and activists with an interest in antisemitism, Jewish studies and the politics of Israel.

Table of Contents:
Part 1: Introduction and Contexts 1. Introduction to Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays 2. A New Form of the Oldest Hatred: Mapping Antisemitism Today 3. The Jewish Experience of Antisemitism 4. The Left and the Jews: Time for a Rethink Part 2: Contemporary Left Antisemitism 5. What is Left Antisemitism? 6. Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism 7. Alibi Antisemitism 8. Like a Cloud Contains a Storm: Jean Améry’s Critique of Anti-Zionism 9. What Corbyn’s favourite sociologists Greg Philo and Mike Berry get wrong about contemporary antisemitism 10. Antisemitism and the Left: A Memoir 11. Denial: Norman Finkelstein and the New Antisemitism 12. ‘Toxic Gifts’: Israel and the Anti-Zionist Left. An interview with Susie Linfield Part 3: The Soviet Roots of Contemporary Left Antisemitism 13. Soviet Anti-Zionism and Contemporary Left Antisemitism 14. Communists Against Jews: The Anti-Zionist Campaign in Poland in 1968 15. The German Left’s Undeclared Wars on Israel. An Interview with Jeffrey Herf Part 4: Left Antisemitism and the Holocaust 16. Holocaust Inversion and Contemporary Antisemitism 17. Hitler and the Nazis’ Anti-Zionism 18. Holocaust Falsifiers: Blaming ‘Zionists’ for the Crimes of the Nazis Part 5: Left Antisemitism in Europe and the United States 19. Reflections on Contemporary Antisemitism in Europe 20. The unwelcome arrival of the quenelle 21. A Modern Orthodox-Christian Ritual Murder Libel: St. Philoumenos of Jacob’s Well 22. We Shall Be as a City on a Hill: Trump, ‘Progressive’ Antisemitism, and the Loss of American Jewish Exceptionalism Part 6: Left Antisemitism and Academia 23. The Meaning of David Miller 24. From Scholarship to Polemic? A case study of the emerging crisis in academic publishing on Israel 25. Pathologising ‘Jewish Being and Thinking’: Oren Ben-Dor and Academic Antisemitism Part 7: The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance 26. On Misrepresentations of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism 27. Political Antisemitism: A Defence of the IHRA Definition Part 8: Theory and Left Antisemitism 28. Misreading Hannah Arendt: Judith Butler’s Anti-Zionism and the Eichmann Trial 29. The Pleasures of Antisemitism 30. Intersectionality and Antisemitism: A New Approach 31. Left Alternatives to Left Antisemitism: a conversation between Alan Johnson and Philip Spencer

About the Author :
Alan Johnson is the founder and editor of Fathom journal. A professor of democratic theory and practice, he has served on the editorial boards of Socialist Organiser, Historical Materialism and the US socialist journals New Politics and Dissent. His writings on the left, and on antisemitism, include ‘Aurum de Stercore: anti-totalitarianism in the thought of Primo Levi’, in Thinking Towards Humanity. Themes From Norman Geras, edited by Stephen De Wijze and Eve Garrard (2012), and the report Institutionally Antisemitic: Contemporary Left Antisemitism and the Crisis in the British Labour Party (2019).

Review :
‘Antisemitism has often presented itself as a satisfactory explanation for what is wrong with the world, and repeatedly offered tragic recipes for how to improve that world. Do our moral and political ideals today reproduce past prejudice and projection? We cannot know without reflection, and it is difficult to imagine a better stimulus to reflection than the essays gathered in this informative, wide-ranging, and important volume’. David Nirenberg, author of Anti-Judaism: The Western Tradition ‘This is an indispensable volume on an unignorable subject’. Anthony Julius, author of Trials of the Diaspora: The History of Anti-Semitism in England ‘Written by many of this generation’s leading scholars, Mapping the New Left Antisemitism: The Fathom Essays is a valuable compilation of learned, deeply insightful analyses of contemporary anti-Jewish hostility prevalent in significant strains of western political thought. An eye-opening, much-needed collection, it offers critically important reflections on a phenomenon too often overlooked or denied: the pernicious links between “anti-Zionism” and antisemitism within the political left’. Alvin Rosenfeld, Professor of English and Jewish Studies and Irving M. Glazer Chair, Jewish Studies Director, Center for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University at Bloomington, USA ‘Fathom has played an invaluable role challenging some dangerous myths concerning Jews and Zionism that have corrupted parts of the left. This wide-ranging collection will compel anyone concerned with a future left to worry about intellectually and historically simplistic formulas’. Mitchell Cohen, Professor of Political Science at Baruch College of the City University of New York and the CUNY Graduate Center. 1991-2009 co-editor of Dissent, one of the United States' leading intellectual quarterlies, now an Editor Emeritus ‘Mapping the New Left Antisemitism is essential reading for anyone interested in one of the most destructive ideologies of the 21st century. It includes essays by some of the most pertinent scholars on antisemitism from the political left and makes the case for the urgency of combating antisemitism in its most modern forms’. Gunther Jikeli, Erna B. Rosenfeld Professor in Jewish Studies and Associate Director at the Institute for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, Indiana University Bloomington, USA ‘This collection of essays on contemporary left antisemitism showcases the best qualities of Alan Johnson’s Fathom, which focuses relentlessly on the heart of the problem of how people relate to Israel. People who consider themselves to be well-informed and anti-racist are too often confused about the facts and prone to stumbling into antisemitic ways of thinking. Johnson is attentive to the temptation to use an invented notion of Jews or Zionism to make sense of a frightening world. He educates about the situation and provides a platform (through Fathom) for smart people writing from diverse viewpoints’. Rosa Freedman, inaugural Professor of Law, Conflict and Global Development at the University of Reading, and a Research Fellow at The London Centre for the Study of Contemporary Antisemitism, UK ‘In 10 years Fathom has already published half a century's worth of critically important essays and reviews’. Michael Walzer, Professor (Emeritus) of Social Science at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, NJ; author of Just and Unjust Wars (1977), among other books; former co-editor of Dissent magazine for twenty years