Antisemitism: History and Myth

Why the ancient evil of antisemitism has returned—and how to counter it. “Had we listened to Robert Spencer and taken heed twenty years ago or even ten years ago, the impact of the Islamists driven antisemitism would not have caught us by surprise. We would have had in place an institutional effort to counter it. “Here is another opportunity to pay attention to his important work. Read this book!” –Ayaan Hirsi Ali The Hamas attack upon Israel on October 7, 2023, was one of the most inhuman jihad attacks ever. The attackers gloried in their savagery and vied to outdo one another in cruelty. Yet despite—or perhaps because of—its brutality, that attack unleashed expressions of hatred for Jews that shocked those who assumed such hate was a thing of the past. Global public opinion turned sharply against Israel. One campus protester carried a sign calling for a “Final Solution.” Another published a video saying, “Be glad—be grateful—that I’m not just going out and murdering Zionists.” Synagogues all over the US received bomb threats. Jews in Europe and the US were attacked. October 7 also led to a large-scale reappearance of claims about the Jews’ secret power and malevolence. Claims that Jews are enemies of all that is good have become mainstream as they have not been since Hitler put a bullet in his brain. The record needs to be set straight for anyone who is willing to see the truth. Historian Robert Spencer does just that. He reveals the sources of today’s Jew-hatred in pre-Christian paganism, Christianity, Islam, and national and international socialism, and rebuts the most common claims against Jews. The resurgence of antisemitism should worry everyone, Jewish and non-Jewish, who is concerned about the recurrence of one of the darkest chapters in human history. The world today is on the brink of returning to such barbarism. Antisemitism: History and Myth is an attempt to keep that from happening.