The German section of “Scholars for Peace in the Middle East”-an international network including more than 20,000 scholars (spme.org)–criticizes the defamatory tone with which the Center for Research on Antisemitism has been responding to criticism of its conference “Image of the Muslim Enemy – Image of the Jewish Enemy.”
This criticism has been expressed by, among others, Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, the deputy chairman of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dr. Dieter Graumann, and the scholar of the Holocaust, Daniel Jonah Goldhagen.
The German section of “Scholars for Peace in the Middle East” expects the Center to encourage a scholarly debate on antisemitism and hostility toward Islam rather than shutting itself off and attacking participants in the debate.
Please find attached:
– a statement by the German section of SPME
– quotes by Elie Wiesel, Dieter Graumann and Daniel J. Goldhagen,
– the Berlin Center’s response to its critics.
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East, Section Germany SMPE-Germany e. V.
c/o Prof. em. Dr. Diethard Pallaschke
Institut für Operations Research
Univeresität Karlsuhe (TH)
76128 Karlsruhe
Is the Berlin Center for Research on Antisemitism willing to engage in serious debate?
In December 2008, a conference organized by the Berlin “Center for Research on Antisemitism” on “Image of the Muslim Enemy – Image of the Jewish Enemy,” as well as the accompanying “Yearbook for Antisemitism Research,” triggered a broad public debate. Klaus Faber, a lawyer in Potsdam and former undersecretary, called it a “new controversy on antisemitism.”
Among the topics raised by this still ongoing discussion are the questions:
– whether the term “Islamophobia” is verified by scholarship,
– whether hostility toward Muslims can be placed on the same level as hostility toward Jews,
– whether the work of the “Center” should concentrate more heavily on antisemitism and Holocaust denial in Iran.
The discussion in Germany took place on public television and radio stations and in numerous national newspapers.
Articles and commentaries also appeared in international newspapers including the “Wall Street Journal,” “Jyllands Posten,” “Nederlands Dagblad,” “Haaretz,” and the “Jerusalem Post.”
At the same time, prominent Jews, such as Holocaust survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Elie Wiesel, author Daniel Jonah Goldhagen, the chairman of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dr. Manfred Gerstenfeld, and the Vice President of the Central Council of Jews in Germany, Dr Dieter Graumann, offered their views.
The international organization “Scholars for Peace in the Middle East” advocates scholarly discussion about antisemitism and anti-Israelism and promotes an open and reasonable culture of discussion.
We therefore consider it unfortunate and not acceptable that, in its “Newsletter” no. 37 of January 2009, the “Center” sweepingly dismisses the debate outlined above as a “political and moral campaign,” as a “slander,” and as a “defense of Manichean worldviews.” We are somewhat disconcerted that the German correspondent for the Jerusalem Post is even put in charge of hatred, feelings of revenge, and financial interests.
The Berlin Center for Research on Antisemitism is an important public institution which enjoys worldwide prestige. Today, its research is more important than ever. We hope that the “Center” will acknowledge the validity and necessity of the above mentioned discussion. We expect it to encourage scholarly debates on antisemitism and hostility toward Islam, rather than shutting itself off and attacking participants in the debate.
We recommend that the “Center”
– allow critics of the concept of the conference “Images of the Muslim Enemy – Images of the Jewish Enemy” to contribute to the forthcoming volume on the conference;
– to organize a public panel discussion in order to allow a more objective discussion;
– to retract the personal attacks on the Jerusalem Post correspondent.
The “Center” is not only a public research institute, but also a teaching institute that advises over 50 doctoral candidates. It has a responsibility to act as a model of positive scholarly behavior.
The Board of SPME-Germany e.V.
Prof. em. Dr. Diethard Pallaschke
Quotes:
Dieter Graumann:
“Anti-Semitism and Islamophobia cannot be equated – the differences are enormous and monstrous and dreadful: Both in regard to the racist element and the terrible history, and the explicitly eliminationist hatred – back then emanating from the Nazis, and today from avowed Islamists like the Iranian president. Anyone who simply ignores this and lumps them together is interpreting the world naively, dreamily ignoring reality and living in a fantasy world of wishful thinking.” (Source: Jerusalem Post. 10.12.2008)
Daniel J. Goldhagen:
“Ferocious anti-Semitism is rampant in the Muslim world, genocidal threats and reveries issue from many of its political leaders, and nuclear peril shadows the Jewish community of Israel with another Holocaust. Yet the Berlin Center for the Study of Anti-Semitism refuses to support a petition to stop the Iranian bomb, which former Iranian president Rafsanjani has contemplated using, saying it would destroy Israel. Instead the center provides cover for the political Islamists by equating telling the truth about these facts about political Islam with the hallucinatory hatred called anti-Semitism.” (Source: Jerusalem Post. 10.12.2008)
Elie Wiesel:
“If indeed the Berlin Center for Anti-Semitism downplays the Iranian anti-Semitic threat, it surely is deplorable.” (Source: Jerusalem Post. 10.12.2008)
Center for Research on Antisemitism: Newsletter no. 37, January 2009:
Scholarship as Irritant
A conference by the Center on December 8, 2008, entitled “Image of the Muslim Enemy – Image of the Jewish Enemy,” which focused on the growing hostility towards Muslims in Germany, caused quite a stir even before it was held. Some of the Center’s contributions on the subject had been published earlier in the Yearbook for Research on Antisemitism, and they triggered emotions among those who do not want to distinguish between scholarship, on the one hand, and political and moral campaigns on the other. The battle was fought on the blogger scene with great fury (and generally in the absence of rules of decorum). Many, perhaps most, of the internet authors had not even attended the incriminated conference. Obviously, the issue here was not about an exchange of arguments, but about the defense of Manichean worldviews. There is not need to take the blogger scene too serious, especially as the yield of the reading material does not justify the investment of time. The serious media reported objectively. Two Israeli newspapers, however-the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz-published hateful tirades that contained accusations against the Center for Research on Antisemitism which are as malicious as they are obscure. The author’s motives can probably be explained by the fact that he is a former doctoral candidate at the Center who was annoyed of a foundation’s demand to pay back a stipend he had received, because he had done nothing in return for the subsidy. Readers in Israel were also surprised by the fact that the above mentioned newspapers published the slanders.
