Dissecting Antisemitism: International Association for Study of Antisemitism opens at Yale
By Cindy Mindell

Doron Ben-Atar was in line for a coffee during a break at a conference held last week in New Haven to launch the International Association for the Study of Antisemitism (IASA), housed at Yale University. A professor of history at Fordham University, Ben-Atar is also a research affiliate at the conference partner organization, YIISA, the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism, and was to speak during the final plenary session, “Self-Hatred and Contemporary Antisemitism.” He is also a playwright, whose well-reviewed “Peace Warriors,” about radical anti-Israel attitudes among the American intellectual elite, had been presented as a staged reading at the late-August conference.

There were several conference attendees in the coffee shop, and Ben-Atar turned to the man behind him in line, assuming that he was one of them.
“What a depressing Conference,” Ben-Atar said.
“What Conference?” the man replied. “What is the topic?”
“Contemporary antisemitism,” Ben-Atar said.
“Is this an ideological conference?”
“Why ideological?”
“You know, justifying Israeli crimes,” came the response.
The two spoke for a few moments, and Ben-Atar was able to ascertain that his new acquaintance was a professor of comparative literature at Yale.
This is a face of the new antisemitism, as revealed at the conference in more than 100 presentations by scholars and policy-makers from around the world.
“Daring to study the phenomenon triggers a swift and total marginalization,” says Ben-Atar, who defines himself as “a liberal with credentials.” “The idea of even studying antisemitism is immediately considered by people at our elite universities to be ideological and immoral.”
IASA is a new endeavor that brings together scholars of antisemitism from all academic disciplines, working at institutions and organizations around the world.
IASA’s inaugural conference, “Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity,” was hosted at Yale University Aug. 25 to 27.
“The scourge of antisemitism is once again a cause of real concern,” writes Charles Small, director of the Yale Initiative for the Interdisciplinary Study of Antisemitism and conference organizer. “In so many societies, leaders appeal to the lowest denominator and use antisemitism to energize their political aspirations. Incredibly, the spread of this disease, despite lessons of history, goes unheeded. Consequently, the role and responsibility of scholars to map and decode these processes are of tremendous relevance at this moment in history.”
Scholars explored the topic from many angles and in several countries, looking at historical models, the language of the new antisemitism, and the delegitimization of Israel. They discussed antisemitism in the academy, in the media, and in the feminist community, as well as among liberal American Jews.
Some represented organizations that combat antisemitism at the governmental, NGO, and policy level: Aviva Raz-Schechter, director of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ Department for Combating Antisemitism; Dr. Shimon Samuels, director for international relations at the Simon Wiesenthal Center’s European office; Michael Whine, director of government and international affairs at the Community Security Trust in the UK; Barak Seener, Middle East section director of the Henry Jackson Society: Project for Democratic Geopolitics, a British-based think-tank.
Now that the findings have been aired and discussed, what’s next?
“As for what to do, I don’t have answers,” says Ben-Atar. “What is most alarming is that decent people all over the world not only refuse to take a stand against antisemitism, but are actually engaged in silencing and marginalizing those who do. I believe we need to call people out, to speak loudly, and accept the personal consequences. At the same time, however, we must be very careful not to defame honest critics of Jews and Israel, and not to slip into conspiratorial intolerant discourse.”
“At one level, we’re doing,” says YIISA director Charles Small. “The study of contemporary antisemitism is taboo. People who engage in it are perceived as reactionary, as activists who are stifling freedom of speech. The fact that we had a conference of 110 scholars from 45 disciplines, and many countries, is testimony that we’re putting the topic on the map. Of course, much more needs to be done. By studying and understanding the complexities of contemporary antisemitism, by mapping it and decoding it, maybe we can help put light where there’s darkness, and help others understand that it’s a threat to human rights and citizenship in general, not just those of the Jewish people. Then, perhaps people will begin to develop solutions and deal with it effectively.”
For more information on YIISA: www.yale.edu/yiisa
For more information on IASA: www.iasa-anti.org.

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