Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity (Part 1)

Title: “Global Antisemitism: A Crisis of Modernity” (Part 1) Date: November 12, 2013 Speaker: Dr. Charles Asher Small Affiliation: Founder and Executive Director, Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) Location: Harvard University, Cambridge, MA Description: Dr. Charles Asher Small speaks about the mission of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP) and the need for rigorous, academic, high caliber research on the lethal phenomenon of antisemitism. Dr. Small highlights that the process of globalization has led to an increased in adversarial identity politics. It is in this environment that Israel - the central manifestation of contemporary Jewish identity - has become the focus of scapegoating and hateful rhetoric. He maintains that the old ideologies and tendencies of antisemitism have reemerged and fused with anti-Zionism, or Israel bashing. Dr. Small goes on to assert that new structural realities within the realm of international relations, as well as the emergence of anti-Israel propensities, seem to pose a threat to the Jewish people not seen since World War II.