Antisemitism and Hatred of Israel

A Lecture with Moshe Zimmermann

Is there an overlap between antisemitism and opposition to Zionism and the State of Israel?

The current debate around the world concerns the question of whether criticism of the State of Israel is tantamount to antisemitism. To answer this question, which has political significance, it is first necessary to clarify the system of concepts: What is antisemitism, and what is not? Does the term “hatred of Israel” conflate an old meaning—hatred of Jews—with a new meaning—hostility toward the State of Israel? Once the concepts have been clarified, it is possible to discuss the main question: the interface between hatred of Jews and varying degrees of hostility toward the State of Israel and what it represents.

Moshe Zimmermann is professor emeritus of history at the Hebrew University and a specialist in German history. His books for Hebrew-language readers include Wilhelm Marr: The Patriarch of Antisemitism (1982), A German Past—An Israeli Memory (2002), and Germans Against Germans: The Fate of the Jews, 1938–1945 (2013).