Reflections on Anti-semitism

Dissecting how facile accusations of “anti-Semitism” are used to stifle dissent

Since the inception of the “War on Terror,” Israel has become increasingly important to Western imperial strategy and ever more aggressive in its policies towards the Palestinians. A key ideological weapon in this development is the cynical and unjustified accusation of “anti-Semitism” to silence protest and dissent.

For historical reasons, this tactic has been deployed most forcefully in France, and in the first of the two essays in this book French writers Alain Badiou and Eric Hazan demolish the “anti-Semitism is everywhere” claim used to bludgeon critics of the Israeli state and those who stand in solidarity with the banlieue youth.

In “The Philo-Semitic Reaction,” Ivan Segré undertakes a meticulous deconstruction of a rampant reactionary trend that identifies Jewish interests with the “democratic” West. Segré’s aim is to uphold a universalist position and to defend Jewish tradition from Zionist ideological distortion.

Alain Badiou teaches philosophy at the Ecole normale superieure and the College international de philosophie in Paris. Eric Hazan is the founder of the publisher La Fabrique and the author of several books. Ivan Segré is a doctor in philosophy and student of the Talmud who lives in Israel. He is also the author of Qu’appelle-ton penser Auschwitz?