Although anti-Israeli activity on campus was evident in the 1980s and 1990s, the resolutions at the notorious World Conference against Racism in Durban in August 2001 led to an upsurge in such efforts and also to the founding of three academic watch organizations in 2002. The largest of these organizations is the U.S.-based Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, which is run by the academic community itself. Campus Watch, also U.S.-based, is part of the well-established Middle East Forum and focuses on the anti-Israeli biases of Middle East courses and the academics who teach them. In the UK, Academic Friends of Israel has dealt with counteracting academic boycott attempts, particularly by the staff unions. Subsequently established organizations include Engage, also in the UK, which has concentrated on the anti-Israeli attitudes of left-wing academics; and in Israel, Israel Academia Monitor and IsraCampus, which highlight the anti-Israeli biases and actions of Israeli academics. The continuing growth of anti-Israeli activity on campus since 2002 has given all these watch organizations much to do. In this new environment, watching and monitoring may no longer be enough, and a more explicit and central campaigning role may now be necessary.
Bassam Tibi examines Islamist expansionism both in Muslim and Western societies, a phenomenon that appears in violent and deceptively peaceful guises. He presents a penetrating and analytical study of the West's inability to comprehend the underlying ideologies of Islamism, which is crucial if it hopes effectively to confront this increasingly dire situation.
These are people whose criticism of Israel, and collaterally of Jews, has a hardly deniable anti-Semitic resonance, yet who almost invariably believe, with as much sincerity as they can muster, that they are anything but anti-Semites, that they are actively opposed to all racism whether directed at Jews or anyone else. This is the phenomenon with which Harrison's book is concerned.
The broad superficial familiarity with the Holocaust makes it prone to a multitude of distortions. Its history and terminology are abused for a variety of purposes, including using it as a tool against one's enemies and, in particular, Jews and Israel. This book analyzes the categories of distortion and the responses to them. Also included are case studies that analyze Holocaust distortion in several European countries and the Muslim world.
The main recurrent motif in Arab cartoons concerning Israel is "the devilish Jew." This image conveys the idea that Jews behave like Nazis, kill children and love blood. The similarity with themes promulgated by the Nazis is evident. Many Arab cartoons praise suicide bombing or call for murder. The collective image of the Jews thus projected lays the groundwork for a possible genocide.
The anti-Zionist narrative probably has greater legitimacy in Great Britain than in any other Western society. Antisemitism of the "anti-Zionist" variety has achieved such resonance, particularly in elite opinion, that various British media are leaders in this field. The UK holds a pioneering position in promoting academic boycotts of Israel. The same is true for trade-union efforts at economic boycotts. There is also no other Western society where jihadi radicalism has proved as violent and dangerous as in the UK.
Swedish anti-Israelism and anti-Semitism have recently attracted much attention due to the Aftonbladet Organ Affair. During Israel's Operation Cast Lead in the Gaza Strip, around the turn of the year 2008/2009, there were several anti-Semitic attacks in Sweden. There is substantial anti-Israeli media bias in several Swedish papers.
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