Contemporary Jewish Anti-Islamism: Jewish Zionism and Jewish Influence in Western Anti-Islamism

Abstract

The present academic literature hosts volumes of information on Muslim anti-Semitism, while Jewish anti-Islamism is hardly mentioned. With the aim of filling this scholarly gap, the article deals with contemporary Jewish anti-Islamism, principally focusing on Zionism’s role in such anti-Islamism, by delving into the existing literature, news media, and online sources. Since the very birth of Zionism, Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims and, finally, Islam itself have primarily been seen as “obstacles” to Zionist goals. The “chosenness,” “promised lands,” and “messianism” doctrines at the core of Zionism have led to the antagonization of the aforementioned. There appears to be a blatant overlap between anti-Islamism and Jewish voices in the media, the entertainment sector, popular bookshops, foundations, academia, think-tanks and the virtual world. Finally, pro-Israel influences in the West have catalyzed negativity about Islam and Muslims and propagated wars through lobbying activities. Jewish anti-Islamism is real and needs further scholarly investigation.

Keywords

• Anti-Islamism
• Islamophobia
• Jewish anti-Islamism
• Zionist anti-Islamism
• Zionism
• Judaism

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