In his new book, ‘On Antisemitism’, historian Mark Mazower explores the age-old phenomenon of anti-Jewish hatred and the emergence of a word to define it. He argues that while Adolf Hitler’s defeat did not end prejudice against Jews, it discredited antisemitism as a positive programme for decades. The loud, proud style of antisemitism was banished from mainstream politics after 1945, though hatred persisted.
Mazower, a professor at Columbia University, draws subtle distinctions between different manifestations of anti-Jewish sentiment. He contends that medieval massacres, Tsarist pogroms, Nazi industrialised slaughter, Soviet persecutions and terrorist attacks on Israel all belong to a single category where Jews are victims, but they arise from diverse economic, religious and political contexts that defy a single label.
The book traces the coinage of the word ‘antisemitism’ in late 19th-century Germany, linking it to the rise of nationalism and pseudoscientific racial hierarchies. Mazower is critical of treating antisemitism as an eternal phenomenon, resisting the fatalism that conflates modern political hatreds with biblical tales of suffering. He insists on distinguishing this modern political activism from earlier animosities.
When discussing the creation of modern Israel, Mazower differentiates legitimate political opposition to Israeli state actions from antisemitism. He argues it is possible to criticise civilian deaths in Gaza or demand justice for Palestinians without resorting to old conspiracy theories or calls for Israel’s destruction. The book notes that many Israeli protesters against Benjamin Netanyahu’s government manage this distinction daily.
