[doctorzlo]

http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/145285

Slogans like “Zionism is Nazism” and “Israelis are fascists” are most likely to be shouted by far-left radicals, of the type that perform the “weekly hajj” to throw stones and bricks at IDF soldiers at Bil'in. But they didn't invent those slogans – and neither did anyone else on the left, says Professor Robert Wistrich of the Hebrew University.

“Those slogans – and that world view – was the stock in trade of the British elites, who spread stories about Zionism being totalitarian and Nazi during the 1930s and 40s.”

It's just one aspect of a long and rich history of Jew-hatred in Britain, says Wistrich, considered one of the world's leading experts on anti-Semitism, who is a frequent contributor to INN.

Britain, he says, has historically been one of the most anti-Semitic countries in Western Europe; not quite Germany, but far worse than France, for example. “Certainly today Britain is at the forefront of anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism,” he says.

“For example, it's where the BDS (Boycott, Divest and Sanction) movement against Israel was first developed, and has been the most successful.” The headlines – British labor unions and universities banning Israeli products and academics, the British government's obsession with arresting IDF officers for “war crimes,” - are well known to Israelis.

Britain is also the world's fountain of disinformation and lies about Israel and Jews, says Wistrich, with the British media - “the quality press, like the Independent and Guardian, the BBC and other media outlets, the churches, etc. - spreading the worst caricatures and falsehoods about Israelis, how they treat Arabs, and the like.”

Wistrich, himself born in England – “this gives me greater insight into the nuances and meanings of press reports and attitudes,” he says – presented this history at a recent symposium hosted by Hebrew University's Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism (SICSA), titled “From Blood Libel to Boycott: The Changing Face of British anti-Semitism,” an historic evaluation of British anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism over the years.

And there is indeed much history to evaluate. Britain is not usually thought of as anti-Semitic country; it hasn't had a long history of pogroms, for example, although there was persecution and murder and York was the scene of a particularly cruel pogrom in the MIddle Ages. Although Jews were forbidden from living in the country for hundreds of years, it's very striking that Britain has had such an extensive history of anti-Semitism.

Britain was where the blood libel – which persisted in Europe for centuries and has had a revival in the Muslim world today (there was even one in upstate New York in 1928) was invented, Wistrich says. “William of Norwich was allegedly crucified by the Jews, to duplicate the crucifixion of Jesus. This was the first time in European history that such a charge was made, and it quickly spread throughout England, and then to France.”

Britain was also responsible for the first expulsion of Jews, in 1290, another “innovation” that was later copied by other European countries. And although Jews were not allowed to return for at least 350 years, British literature – from Chaucer to Shakespeare, who may never have met a Jew – was rife with Jew-hatred. “Most people see Britain as the birthplace of tolerance and democracy, which it may have been – but not for the Jews,” Wistrich says.