Professor Yehuda Bauer and anti-Semitism
Earlier this week, I went along to the London School of Economics for a session with Professor Yehuda Bauer who made some introductory remarks on anti-Semitism and then took questions. Born in what was then Czechoslovakia and partially educated in Cardiff, Bauer is a distinguished Israeli academic and historian. This amazing guy is now 90 and spoke with great fluency and erudition, and even some humour, as he presented his liberal and humanistic views and analysis.
He began by arguing that “Anti-Semtism is ancient but the term is wrong … The term is misleading.” because “There is no Semitism against which you can be anti.” He pointed out that “The term was coined by a racist.”
He was clear that “The origin of the hatred of Jews is theological.” He argued that anti-Semitism essentially exists in monotheistic (Christian and Muslim) societies where Jews are believed to be worshipping the wrong god and insisted that really there is no established anti-Semitism in China or India where the god of the Jews is just another just another god).
He proclaimed that “The history of the Jews is not the history of anti-semitism. In most places in most times, Jews were not persecuted.” As well as China and India which comprise about a third of the world’s population, he instanced countries like Morrocco, Georgia, Tunisia & Holland where Jews have long lived without persecution .
In the Q & A session, Professor Bauer was asked about the distinction between criticism of the Israeli Government and anti-Semitism. As a strong and public critic of many of the policies of the current government in Israel, he was clear that one can criticise a government without denigrating a religion or ethnicity. Indeed he pointed out that, in the democracy that is Israel, most Israeli academics are critical of the Israeli Government’s policies and that, even in the Israeli Parliament, there is only a majority of six in support of the government.
On the other hand, he insisted that the actions of the Israeli Defence Force in the occupied territories and Gaza are not as bad as the actions of military forces in many other countries, so to focus exclusively or predominately on the actions IDF can be anti-Semitic.
In Israel itself, he acknowledged that “There is discrimination against Arabs in Israel but it is getting less” and he suggested that, in areas like health and law, there have been advances by Arabs in Israel but Arabs are still not equal.
Bauer denied that there is anything like apartheid in Israel or anything like colonialism by Israel. But he recognised abuses in the occupied territories which he saw as motivated by nationalism. On the other side of the conflict, he was sure that, even if there was no conflict in the Middle East, there will be anti-Semitism.
As he answered various questions, he took a global view and instanced the situation in many different countries. He referred to alleged anti-Semitism in the British Labour Party, the populism of Donald Trump in the USA, India, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Poland, Hungary, Burma, and what he called “the Muddle East”.
He asserted that liberalism is under attack worldwide and characterised China as a modern capitalist, imperialist, illiberal society. He was clear that “Radical Islam is a danger to the whole world” and insisted that ultimately only moderate Muslims can defeat radical Islam.
Professor Yehuda Bauer is a truly impressive figure – just the kind of person I would love to have at a dinner party.