Antony Lerman
Encyclopedia
Antony Lerman is a British writer who specializes in the study of antisemitism, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
, multiculturalism, and the place of religion in society. From 2006 to early 2009, he was Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research
, a think tank on issues affecting Jewish communities in Europe. From December 1999 to 2006, he was Chief Executive of the Hanadiv Charitable Foundation, renamed the Rothschild Foundation Europe in 2007. He is a founding member of the Jewish Forum for Justice and Human Rights, and a former editor of Patterns of Prejudice, a quarterly academic journal focusing on the sociology of race and ethnicity.
Lerman served on the Runnymede Trust
's Commission on Antisemitism in the early 1990s, and was appointed in 1998 to its Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain. He also sits on the advisory committee of the Imperial War Museum
's Holocaust exhibition. He has regularly written for The Guardian.
Lerman argues that this redefinition has had unfortunate repercussions. He writes that serious scholarly research into contemporary antisemitism has become "virtually non-existent", and that the subject is now most frequently studied and analyzed by "people lacking any serious expertise in the subject, whose principal aim is to excoriate Jewish critics of Israel and to promote the "anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism" equation. Lerman concludes that this redefinition has ultimately served to stifle legitimate discussion, and that it cannot create a basis on which to fight antisemitism.
When Yale decided to close the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, many charged it was was political in nature, owing to the Initiative's controversial focus on Muslim antisemitism. Abby Wisse Schachter, a commentator at the New York Post
wrote that Yale "almost certainly" terminated the program because it "refused to ignore the most virulent, genocidal and common form of Jew-hatred today: Muslim anti-Semitism." But Lerman welcomed the decision, and argued that the organization was politicized and that its demise should be welcomed by those who "genuinely support the principle of the objective, dispassionate study of contemporary antisemitism."
Lerman believes claims that London is the "hub of international efforts to delegitimize Israel and that British Jews are subject to a constant barrage of media-driven anti-Zionist propaganda that borders on, or overlaps with, antisemitism" are grossly exaggerated. .
On gauging the threat of antisemitism, Lerman quoted Rabbi David Goldberg: "at the present time, it is far easier and safer to be a Jew than a Muslim, a black person or an east European asylum seeker."
Lerman was critical of an attack by the Jewish Chronicle on the Pears Foundation accusing them of "blindness towards jihadi propagandists". He considered obsessiveness against attempts to open a dialogue with Hamas as "actively encouraging their racism, antisemitism and terrorism", and regarded it as a generalised anti-Muslim discourse.
Papers
Opinion pieces
Israeli-Palestinian conflict
The Israeli–Palestinian conflict is the ongoing conflict between Israelis and Palestinians. The conflict is wide-ranging, and the term is also used in reference to the earlier phases of the same conflict, between Jewish and Zionist yishuv and the Arab population living in Palestine under Ottoman or...
, multiculturalism, and the place of religion in society. From 2006 to early 2009, he was Director of the Institute for Jewish Policy Research
Institute for Jewish Policy Research
The Institute for Jewish Policy Research , founded as the Institute of Jewish Affairs, is a London-based research institute and think tank. It specializes in contemporary Jewish affairs, with a particular focus on Jews in Britain and across Europe...
, a think tank on issues affecting Jewish communities in Europe. From December 1999 to 2006, he was Chief Executive of the Hanadiv Charitable Foundation, renamed the Rothschild Foundation Europe in 2007. He is a founding member of the Jewish Forum for Justice and Human Rights, and a former editor of Patterns of Prejudice, a quarterly academic journal focusing on the sociology of race and ethnicity.
Lerman served on the Runnymede Trust
Runnymede Trust
The Runnymede Trust is a leading pro-multiculturalism think tank., Its aim is to generate intelligence for a "multi-ethnic" Britain through research, network building and policy engagement...
's Commission on Antisemitism in the early 1990s, and was appointed in 1998 to its Commission on the Future of Multi-Ethnic Britain. He also sits on the advisory committee of the Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum
Imperial War Museum is a British national museum organisation with branches at five locations in England, three of which are in London. The museum was founded during the First World War in 1917 and intended as a record of the war effort and sacrifice of Britain and her Empire...
's Holocaust exhibition. He has regularly written for The Guardian.
New Anti-Semitism
In the Israeli newspaper Ha'aretz Lerman argues that the concept of a "new antisemitism" has brought about "a revolutionary change in the discourse about anti-Semitism". He writes that most contemporary discussions concerning antisemitism have become focused on issues concerning Israel and Zionism, and that the equation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism has become for many a "new orthodoxy". He adds that this redefinition has often resulted in "Jews attacking other Jews for their alleged anti-Semitic anti-Zionism". While Lerman accepts that exposing alleged Jewish antisemitism is "legitimate in principle", he adds that the growing literature in this field "exceeds all reason"; the attacks are often vitriolic, and encompass views that are not inherently anti-Zionist.Lerman argues that this redefinition has had unfortunate repercussions. He writes that serious scholarly research into contemporary antisemitism has become "virtually non-existent", and that the subject is now most frequently studied and analyzed by "people lacking any serious expertise in the subject, whose principal aim is to excoriate Jewish critics of Israel and to promote the "anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism" equation. Lerman concludes that this redefinition has ultimately served to stifle legitimate discussion, and that it cannot create a basis on which to fight antisemitism.
When Yale decided to close the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, many charged it was was political in nature, owing to the Initiative's controversial focus on Muslim antisemitism. Abby Wisse Schachter, a commentator at the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
wrote that Yale "almost certainly" terminated the program because it "refused to ignore the most virulent, genocidal and common form of Jew-hatred today: Muslim anti-Semitism." But Lerman welcomed the decision, and argued that the organization was politicized and that its demise should be welcomed by those who "genuinely support the principle of the objective, dispassionate study of contemporary antisemitism."
Lerman believes claims that London is the "hub of international efforts to delegitimize Israel and that British Jews are subject to a constant barrage of media-driven anti-Zionist propaganda that borders on, or overlaps with, antisemitism" are grossly exaggerated. .
Anti-Muslim sentiment
Lerman see links between the Israeli far right and Islamophobic groups in Europe such as Geert Wilders and his anti-Islam Party for Freedom. He and leaders of four other far right parties have visited Israel, despite their antisemitic roots. He has noted that since 9/11, Israel has sought to identify itself with the US as a "fellow victim of Islamist terror". As Al Qaeda demonised America and Israel, the "Zionist right" began to argue a "new antisemitism" was a rising threat, thus recasting antisemitism as principally anti-Israel rhetoric from Muslim groups.On gauging the threat of antisemitism, Lerman quoted Rabbi David Goldberg: "at the present time, it is far easier and safer to be a Jew than a Muslim, a black person or an east European asylum seeker."
Lerman was critical of an attack by the Jewish Chronicle on the Pears Foundation accusing them of "blindness towards jihadi propagandists". He considered obsessiveness against attempts to open a dialogue with Hamas as "actively encouraging their racism, antisemitism and terrorism", and regarded it as a generalised anti-Muslim discourse.
Selected publications
Books- (ed.) Antisemitism World Report. Institute of Jewish Affairs/Institute for Jewish Policy Research, published annually from 1992 to 1998.
- (ed.) The Jewish Communities of the World. A Comprehensive Guide. Macmillan, 1989.
Papers
- with Kosmin, Barry and Goldberg, Jacqueline. "The attachment of British Jews to Israel," JPR Report No. 5, Institute for Jewish Policy Research, 1997.
- with Miller, Stephen and Schmool, Marlena. Social and political attitudes of British Jews. Institute for Jewish Policy Research, 1996.
- "Fictive anti-Zionism: Third World, Arab and Muslim Variations," in Wistrich, Robert S. (ed.) Anti-Zionism and Antisemitism in the Contemporary World. Macmillan in association with the Institute of Jewish Affairs, 1990.
- "The Art of Holocaust Remembering," in Jewish Quarterly, Autumn 1989.
- "Le Pen and LaRouche: Political Extremism in Democratic Societies" in Frankel, William. Survey of Jewish Affairs, 1987. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, 1988.
Opinion pieces
- Legitimizing Lieberman, The Guardian, August 4, 2009.
- Must Jews always see themselves as victims?, The Independent, March 7, 2009.
- Misdirected passion, New Statesman, December 11, 2008.
- Jews attacking Jews, Haaretz, October 7, 2008.
- Sense on antisemitism, Prospect, issue 77, August 2002.
External links
- Jewish Forum for Justice and Human Rights
- Institute for Jewish Policy Research
- CQ Global Researcher Anti-Semitism in Europe v.2-6, a 2008 report from Congressional Quarterly on anti-Semitism in Europe, contains a debate between Lerman and Ben Cohen.
- Hirsch, David. Do not confine Jews to the couch, The Jewish Chronicle, April 7, 2009.