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Judeophobia: A History Kindle Edition
by Shlomo Sand (Author), Robin Mackay (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
Throughout the history of the Western world, Jews have suffered various forms of exclusion, stigmatisation, 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 antisemitism is the term commonly used today, Sand prefers 'Judeophobia', which predates the appearance of 'antisemitism' and 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.
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Kafkasfriend
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Review of advance copy received from Publisher
March 4, 2026
I have an advanced copy of this this book
The author describes himself as a post Zionist Jew, my comments on this are at the bottom. The bulk of my comments refer to what is not said because the book is a justification for the state of Israel rather than a call for understanding of Judaism.
The first glaring omission is any comment on the creation of Zionism by Herzl and its condemnation by leading Jewish groups throughout Europe, who did not want a Jewish state.
Judeophobia, rather than antisemitism, is a specific reference to those who have a fear of not a hatred of Jews (phobia is not what the Nazis had, nor what caused the attacks on Jews over the centuries)
First, the author implies or believes that Palestine was unoccupied until the Jews arrived but this is contradicted by the Book of Moses. The hostility began long before Christianity and relates to how the Jews conquered and butchered the inhabitants of the region to carve out their own living space.
It was not the Christians but the Romans who forced the Jews out of Palestine. The hostility to other groups also helped. It can be seen that the warlike nature of the Jews caused problems for the Jews and for others, they were not quiet bystanders.
In Europe, where much of the book concentrates, Jews settled in their own areas, traded locally and because of their common language, were able to trade and negotiate internationally - an attribute both useful and one that caused unease as the Jews were seen as 'speaking in tongues' as well as bypassing the normal routes of business, even giving them access to monarchs. This 'otherness' is a major cause of the hostility and violence but is not discussed in the book.
Coming to the slaughter of Jews during various progroms. It is difficult to define a progrom as being specific to Jews because Europe was constantly at war with itself from civil wars to internecine to religious to the Inquisitions. There have been a few years of peace but generally there have been wars against every religious group as well as against women, Cathars, witchcraft and anything else that is 'other'. The Jews have been classes as 'other' by their living outside the national religion and conventions.
According to the author, this violence against the Jews is the reason for the need for the state of Israel (ignoring Balfour and the racist UK drive to move its small Jewish population to Palestine). There is of course no mention of the Nazi support for the creation of Israel in Palestine.
I argue that the crimes of Europe should not be settled in Palestine but in Europe, which should take a lesson from Iran, Ukraine (pre 1940), Uzbekistan and other nations that have had or still have Jewish populations not affiliated to Zionism.
Again, his history is about European persecution so the question must be asked - why is Palestine to suffer for the European treatment of Jews and the Zionist representation of Judaism
What is a post Zionist Jew? Like a post Nazi fascist, it claims that we should accept lebesraum now that it has happened as altering things would be messy. It fails to confront the atrocities and lies needed to create the state.
politics
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