A Special Collection on Holocaust Distortion and Muslim-Jewish Relations

In light of the most recent World Zionist Congress meeting and the on-going Israeli-Palestinian conflict in the Middle East, we have curated a special collection focusing on the significance of Muslim-Jewish relations as they pertain to Holocaust Distortion and Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia.

muslim jewish relations

By freeing the content now through November 30, we hope to facilitate an impactful conversation on religion, culture, ethics, and history to better relations and build effective policy.

Update

To further the conversation on Muslim-Jewish relations, we’ve created a book giveaway! To enter to win Peacemaking and the Challenge of Violence in World Religions, follow the instructions below. Retweet any of tweets with the contest graphic from the following Wiley accounts: @WileyReligion, @PhilosophersEye, and @WileyHistory. The contest ends Friday, Nov 6.

Twitter Contest Graphic

Click here for more information on the book.


Journal of Religious Ethics on Holocaust Distortion

Journal of Religious Ethics
Volume 43, Issue 4, December 2015

Holocaust Abuse: The Case of Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husayni

Michael A. Sells

Abstract: This essay reconsiders the category of “Holocaust denial” as the marked indicator of ethical transgression in Holocaust historiography within American civil religion. It maintains that the present category excludes and thereby enables other violations of responsible Holocaust historiography. To demonstrate the nature and gravity of such violations, the essay engages the widespread claim that Hajj Muhammad Amin al-Husayni, the former mufti of Jerusalem, was an instigator, promoter, or “driving spirit” of the Nazi genocide against Jews, and the associated suggestions of wider Arab and Muslim complicity. The essay uncovers the history of the Husayni narrative in question, the dramatic circumstances in which it emerged, its role in the 1961 trial of Adolf Eichmann, and its rediscovery and misuse within American popular and political circles over the past two decades. Such misuse, it concludes, corrodes Holocaust recognition within American civil religion and demonstrates the need for a revision of the socially accepted ethical boundary for responsible Holocaust historiography.

Response to Michael Sells

Ronald M. Green

Abstract: In an era when lies and misrepresentations about historical events easily become firmly rooted, Michael Sells’s discussion illustrates the importance of careful historical research as a moral enterprise. In addition to the skills of the historian, however, there is also room in this enterprise for those of the ethicist. In particular, I warn against confusing the truth or falsity of claims about one narrow historical period with larger questions about the moral meaning and significance of those claims. Illustrating this, I argue one cannot assess the legitimacy of competing nationhood claims solely on the basis of the deeds of specific actors. Nor should the actions of a single individual like the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem be converted into a totalizing claim about the rights of the Palestinian people.

CrossCurrents Special Issue on Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia: Probing the History and Dynamics of Hate

CrossCurrents
Special Issue on Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia Volume 65, Issue 3, September 2015

Introduction: Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia—Twins or Category Mistake?

Guest Editor: Björn Krondorfer

 

Sticks and Stones: The Role of Law in the Dynamics of Hate

David Kader

Renewed Hate: The Place of Jews and Muslims in Contemporary White Power Thought

Richard King

Making Enemies: The Uses and Abuses of Tainted Identities

Alex Alvarez

Islamophobia and Anti-Semitism: Shared Prejudice or Singular Social Pathologies

Michael Dobkowski

Classifying Muslims

Mohamed Mosaad Abdelaziz Mohamed

Nostalgia and Memory in Jewish–Muslim Encounters

Mehnaz M. Afridi

Shifting Hierarchies of Exclusion: Colonialism, Anti-Semitism, and Islamophobia in European History

Ethan B. Katz

Outlawing the Veil, Banning the Muslim? Restricting Religious Freedom in France

Melanie Adrian

When the Victims are not so Innocent: Extremist Muslim Activity in Western Bloc Countries

Khaleel Mohammed

The Nexus of Enmity: Ideology, Global Politics, and Identity in the Twenty-First Century

Eyal Bar

 

Jews and Obligations of Partiality to Israel

One of today’s foremost debates in moral philosophy is whether there are obligations of partiality to people, groups, and causes that occupy special places in our lives. The subtext to a recent NY Times article describing the diversity of opinions among Jews regarding Israel illustrates a particular strain of questions in these debates: whether members of certain groups owe unconditional and uncritical support to their groups. Continue reading “Jews and Obligations of Partiality to Israel”

The Rhetoric of Right Wing Extremism Today

(Cross posted in Religion Compass Exchanges)

Nick Griffin (top) and right wing ideologue Lyndon LaRouche (bottom)
Nick Griffin (top) and right wing ideologue Lyndon LaRouche (bottom)

‘Speaking with Forked Tongues: The Rhetoric of Right Wing Extremism Today’ –
International Symposium Held at the University of Northampton Reads Between the Lines

by Christian Egners

On the 26th of June 2009 a one-day international symposium on the language of far-right movements was held at the University of Northampton. The symposium’s title, ‘Speaking with Forked Tongues: The Rhetoric of Right Wing Extremism Today’, duly recognized and drew attention towards a major shift in the way organisations and groups of the far right in various countries present themselves and their policies to the public. Fascist and right wing groups parading and marching in our city streets, wearing distinctive uniforms, are no longer the usual picture, nor does the problem of right wing crime exhaust itself in a few skinhead thugs kicking in heads of immigrants and homosexuals, or setting fire to their homes. While the statistics on politically motivated crime in several countries show a sizeable number of right wing crime, the theorists and political leaders of the far right deliberately aim to style themselves and their organisations as sensible political forces speaking the truth to the people, and opposing the established ruling political elites, who are supposedly betraying the interests of their national communities Continue reading “The Rhetoric of Right Wing Extremism Today”

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