Israelophobia: The Newest Version of the Oldest Hatred and What To Do About It

by Jake Wallis Simons

'This is an important and necessary book by a superb and subtle writer. There's no one more qualified to write it than Jake Wallis Simons, both as ground-breaking Middle East security correspondent and Editor of the Jewish Chronicle. It analyses the often prejudiced coverage and intense scrutiny of Israel that so often veers into obsession and outright demonisation; and traces its origins from Medieval European and Stalinist antisemitism to the present day. It discusses why this nation is judged so differently from others in a supposedly rational and progressive era. A companion in some ways to David Baddiel's Jews Don't Count, it is a book that fascinatingly analyses the dark sides of our world today -political, national, cultural and digital - and exposes uncomfortable truths' SIMON SEBAG MONTEFIORE'"I can't be I have nothing against Jews individually, I only hate them by the country." Such is the delusion that Jake Wallis Simons sets out to discredit in this excellent and fearless book, dismantling its mendacities with a scholarly and logical thoroughness that makes you wonder if there will ever be an Israelophobe left standing again. Buy copies to distribute to your kindergarten groups and universities, anyway, just in case. And then buy another copy for yourself. It does the heart good to see one of the greatest expressions of collective animus exposed for the sanctimonious posturing it is. Israelophobia is a book we all need' HOWARD JACOBSON'Timely and important' TELEGRAPH'Fascinating' SPECTATORIn the Middle Ages, Jews were hated for their religion. In the twentieth century, they were hated because of their race. Today, Jews are hated for something else entirely, their nation-state of Israel. Antisemitism has morphed into something both ancient and Israelophobia. But how did this transformation occur? And why?Award-winning journalist Jake Wallis Simons answers these questions, clarifying the line between criticism and hatred, exploring game-changing facts and exposing dangerous discourse.Urgent, incisive and deeply necessary, Israelophobia reveals why the Middle East's only democracy, which uniquely respects the rights of women and sexual and religious minorities, attracts such disproportionate levels of slander. Rather than defending Israel against all criticism, it argues for reasonable disagreement based on reality instead of bigotry.Through charting the history of Israelophobia - starting in Nazi Germany, travelling via the Kremlin to Tehran and along fibre optic cables to billions of screens - and using it to understand contemporary prejudice, this timely book will restore much-needed sanity to the debate, creating the space for mutual understanding, tolerance and peace.

Genres: Nonfiction, Israel, Politics, History, Jewish, Antisemitism, Religion

224 pages, Paperback

Published January 7, 2025

Reviews

[Stuart Yellop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure: I'm not Jewish, nor am I Israeli.

Jake Wallis Simons is the editor of 'The Jewish Chronicle'. With this book, he tackles a controversial topic: the Jewish State. There are millions who would welcome its destruction, even those who have nothing to do with it. 'Israelophobia' explains how centuries of enmity, conspiracy, and wrangling make this prejudice possible.

Every country with a Jewish population has despised it - even if the reason has been made from whole cloth. Mr. Simons examines the roots of anti-Semitism, explaining how religion, science, and politics can take old tropes and make them new. Israelophobia, the author asserts, is just a fresh form of ancient antipathy.

What troubles the author as much as Jew-hatred are excuses for it. Corrupted by Soviet propaganda, many activists believe that their cause is righteous. Alas, they remain unaware of its origin. (They might even make arguments devised by Nazis and Islamists, such is the numbing effect of groupthink.)

Some might dismiss the book as agitprop. However, the author is making a simple request: Israel must be treated like any other country. Whatever its mistakes, it has done a lot of good. Israel isn't perfect, nor will it ever be, but - when compared to its neighbours, or even some of its allies - it might as well be.

Tragically, those who benefit most from this book are those least likely to read it. This being said, we must have hope. 'Israelophobia' is succinct, satisfying, and scintillant. Patiently, it deconstructs common arguments, and gives us the means to counter them. If nothing else, it will help us to surge forward.

[Milad Golkaram · Rating 1 out of 5]

The author truly lives in the past and uses non-sense comparisons to prove his point. He says 11000 people died within the last two decades while in fact at least 10000 palestinians only were killed this year!
Everything the authors claims is based on the illusion that they own the land because an eternity ago they used to live there. This way the entire world map should change, USA should not exist, Iran should include half of asia.

[M · Rating 1 out of 5]

Did AIPAC write this with Chat GPT?

[Benjamin Farr · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent book - especially to grasp how historical (and ongoing) antisemitism has morphed into a new type of hatred.

Essential reading.

[Reader · Rating 1 out of 5]

The book is divided into 6 parts but with the same message. Other countries have done worse massacres than Israel, what they are doing is not bad.

The author describes actor Stephen Fry and author of “Jews don’t count” David Baddiel as fanning the flames against Israel for not supporting the country actively and criticising “illegal settlements” in West Bank.

“But it is a simple truth the Jews have an age-old bond with the Jewish state, whether they are Israeli citizens or not, whether they feel it or not. Identity is more than a subjective experience. To reject this is to betray more than three millennia of their own culture.”

The author raises some points about life in West Bank such as the checkpoints or life in Hebron. He mentions the massacre of 29 Muslim worshippers by extremist Baruch Goldstein but then in the next few lines mentions in 1929, 70 Jews were massacred by Arabs as if to justify the recent killings.

The talk about occupation in the West Bank, but look at Tibet, it’s worse there. So the author wants you to accept that Palestinians in West Bank is in a better state.

Even UN and Amnesty International is not spared, their reports are called baseless and without any credibility. I’m no expert, but given some very expert people wrote those based on extensive research and evidence, it’s hard to agree with the author.

[Claude Vecht-Wolf · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an essential book to be read if you my to understand the reason why Israel is hated. Jake Wallis Simon's writing is concise and to the point. I can't recommend the book highly enough.

[JennShooky · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important book that almost everyone I follow on social media needs to read immediately.

[Stel · Rating 5 out of 5]

This short book is a whistle-stop exposition of the trajectory of contemporary anti-semitism (dressed-up today as anti-Israeli sentiment) over the last 130 years or so. How many times do you hear I'm not anti-jew I'm anti-israel? This is the essence of Israelophobia - anti-semitism repackaged as vitriolic hatred for Israel. 

If, like me, you always had a gut feeling that anti-Israeli sentiment was anti-semitic and disproportionate, then this book will help you to understand the source of those instincts. It explains why the current anti-semititic worldview (masquerading as a moral fight against an oppressive/terrorist/apartheid/colonialist state, ie Israel) is so pervasive while helping you to untangle exactly why so many seemingly ‘good liberal’ contemporaries (unknowingly) think as they do. For example, it explains why Israel is always referred to as an apartheid state and precisely where this argument came from. 

From Tsarist anti-Bolshevik propaganda to racist Nazi dogma (which the Nazis cynically fused with a relatively nascent Arab nationalism in the 1930s & 40s) to decades of Cold War Soviet agitprop. These three disparate strands (each with their own agenda) have, over the last 130 years or so melded together and soaked through the fabric of today's western Zeitgeist to create a reheated anti-semitic soup which is cynically employed by those adversaries who want to see the state of Israel obliterated. This is a narrative which actively gaslights anyone who challenges it by denying its own existence and, like its terrorist wing, hiding behind Palestinian civilians

I would have liked to have read a comparison of the machinations of Soviet propaganda with the troll farms and ‘grey zone’ cyber-wars that are pervasive in contemporary society but that was outside the scope of this short book. 

At the end of the book are some strategies for countering anti-semitism.

[Emma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Israelophobia and the facets of Demonisation, Weaponisation and Falsification, have been starkly evident since 7th October 2023 in particular but this book details the fascinatingly tragic history of this hatred.

[Adam Hummel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exceptional book.

[Leena · Rating 3 out of 5]

I personally found that a lot of the arguments responded with "well what about such and such country? They are/or have done worse than Israel has. "

I also found it surprising that leading authors in the field (Benny Morris or Ilan Pappé) who are both Israelis, are not referenced.

I did find some points of interest that I will be doing some further research on.

The last chapter of the book is geared towards how to spot or deal with an Iraelaphobe by asking 5 poignant questions. The first question has much to be desired "What has it got to do with you?".

If you're interested or curious, then give it a read.

[Carol Dimitriou · Rating 4 out of 5]

An important book; the author shows that antisemitism is alive and well. Israel is held to standards that no other country is. It is surrounded by enemies who will stop at nothing to wipe it off the face of the earth, but when it tries to protect itself, it is demonized. Very eye-opening.

[Erika]

Found this book on the bookshelf at 京橋library.
In the first chapter titled "I told you so", I've found a phrase "Hamas savage"...

Nope.

[Ryan Fohl · Rating 3 out of 5]

Argues that anti-semitism, like racism, is adaptable; and that we are currently watching it change into a modern form centered around Israel. The author is on the political right (he takes pain to criticize socialism at every opportunity) but he isn’t from the American right, so I can read his arguments without rage vomiting. The book introduced me to some good arguments; but it is also biased. Another author that looks at a global problem and concludes, “the source of this issue is leftists!”

Comparing Israel to China (both of which are attempting genocide against a Muslim minority under their control) is a great way to demonstrate how Israel is treated differently than other nations. Which begs the question, why?

“We are a people as all other peoples; we do not have any intentions to be better than the rest. As one of the first conditions for equality we demand the right to have our own villains, exactly as other people have them.”

“The underdog will be championed with boundless energy, but only if it is the right underdog. There’s no point wasting energy at a rally for Tigrayans, for instance, because both aggressors and victims are Ethiopians, so it isn’t going to advance the struggle against structural racism; and there is certainly no point
lamenting murdered Israelis when they are crudely categorized as white. This helps explain why the Palestinian plight has achieved such totemic status. Campaigning against the Burmese, Iranian, Chinese or North Korean regime has limited value in the culture wars. In other words, it’s not about the Palestinians, it’s about the perpetrators. It’s about the supposedly powerful and privileged. It’s about Jews.”



What I learned: The UN human rights council’s Item Seven, demands that the human rights situation in Palestine be discussed at every meeting regardless of other pressing world affairs. This is the only subject permanently on the agenda.

Hours after the Jewish state was declared, the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria attacked. In this first Arab-Israeli war Stalin provided arms to Israel.

The Mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini, was a Nazi collaborator, and called for the first war against the Jewish state in 1948.

Racism = prejudice + power.

Six Arabs have been awarded Israel’s highest military decoration. Israel’s Supreme Court has an Arab Muslim judge. Israel’s national football team has had a Muslim captain.

“Decades of Soviet agit-prop succeeded in redefining Zionism from an answer to millennia of persecution, to a bourgeois, imperialist project.”

[Andrew · Rating 2 out of 5]

An audio experience for me, the thesis of this book was persuasive and convincing. However, like David Baddiel’s ‘Jews Don’t Count’ it comprises that thesis (or various angles on it) being repeated, often, followed by many examples in illustration and support of the point. ‘I think this and look here’s the evidence showing I am right’ which as anyone acquainted with scientific method, or critical appraisal of empirical evidence of any kind, knows is not the way to establish truth. It suggests an acute vulnerability to confirmation bias, and puts it closer to the category of tirade, rather than argument. I did the audio equivalent of skim large sections as a result, but feel I’d like to go back to the chapters on Russian perpetuation and reframing of anti-semitism, myths, and tropes. The weight of evidence, even if little effort was made to discover any of the disconfirming type, was substantial and, as I say, persuasive. So, I’ve questioned and reflected my own potential biases and vulnerability to Israelophobic attitudes as a consequence, which I hope is what the author intended.

[Sophie Davidson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Well written and full of truth if you care to listen. The author does not argue that Israel should be free to murder Palestinians, but rather that other countries commit the same or worse crimes at a much bigger scale yet no one cares about them doing it. It’s not the case of defending Israel, but rather taking a look at why the world, the UN, Amnesty International do not care about the victims around the world unless they’re attacked by the Jews.

[Michelle Swallow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Tough to read because of the subject matter. It also took a while because I spent time checking the author's sources and notes which are plentiful.

Would definitely recommend this book though just for the reason that Israelophobia has become such a horrendous and hateful position taken by people who appear to have little understanding of the history and politics of the country and its people.

It's always good to read and learn.

[Simeon Pickup · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall a good, thought-provoking read that I would absolutely recommend to anyone interested in the Middle East, antisemitism or anything similar. It brought up viewpoints I hadn't really been exposed to before.

Simons makes his case very forcefully and very well - not just explaining his points in a modern setting, but also giving historical context too. The structure is a lil bit muddled from my POV and it did feel sometimes as if he was repeating the same points, but it was never a big problem.

While the forcefulness of argument is a strength of the book, it's also a bit of a weakness. The argument sometimes gets too much into being a defence of Israel rather than an attack on Israelophobia - some of that overlap is inevitable in a way, but the lines did seem to get a bit too blurred for me.

He's also very comfortable in criticising the political left, which, again, is understandable in the context. But he'd have done better to treat the left with the same level of nuance and delicacy that he gives to Israel - there was too much of 'the left has been co-opted' and 'the left parrots propaganda', but without exploring WHY people speaking in good faith from the left (of whom there are plenty) would inadvertently promote israelophobia while not considering themselves at all anti-semitic.

That being said, I'd stress that those are my opinions of the book more than something I'd consider to be reliably objective analysis. Others may well have completely contradictory views.

[Jessie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Israelophobia is Jake Wallis Simons’ term to describe the modern face of anti-semitism - someone who is anti-Israel or anti-Zionist. He argues that it’s totally fine to criticise a country’s policies or actions, but not when you only criticise ONE country’s policies or actions and then use that criticism to justify calls for that country to essentially be erased from the map. Simons explains how the ‘Free Palestine’ arguments and slogans of Western leftists are based on Nazi and Soviet anti-Semitic propaganda (with the people who are using them probably being completely unaware of this), and points out that many countries were formed in the post-colonial era (e.g. Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Czechia and Slovakia, Northern Ireland, Pakistan) but that no one is protesting about the people who were forced to move from their homes to accommodate those new national borders. Only Israel is singled out, for the displacement of 700,000 Arabs in the 1948 War of Independence, a war that was started by its Arab neighbours. The Arab countries retaliated against Israel for its victory over them by expelling their Jewish populations - again no one is protesting about the ‘right to return’ of those 900,000 Jews and their descendants. Simons says: “People who can no longer malign Jews may speak now of Zionists; they cannot speak of Jewish domination but are free to deride Zionist colonialism; not of Jewish cruelty but of Israeli ethnic cleansing; not of the blood libel of Jews killing Christian children but of Israeli troops being ‘happy to kill children’, as the BBC put it; not of Jewish superiority but of white supremacy and apartheid; not of Jewish puppet-masters but the Israel lobby.” This is an important book, well worth reading.

[Rowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve done a fair amount of time in left-wing, leftist, progressive, etc circles and I definitely recognize a lot of what Simons writes about. None of us are immune to propaganda, of course, and I try to keep that in mind and I feel that I do a pretty decent job of not going along with what everyone else is doing just because everyone else is doing it. Books like this have helped me understand that movements of nonconformist, freethinker types often have some of the strictest dogmas of all! They’re different from the prevailing ones in the surrounding society, obviously, but that doesn’t mean they’re not there or any less untrue.

This is part of a series of books I’ve read as I’ve been trying to re-examine my biases as a left-wing sort of person and it did a stunning job on that. Especially as this is such a hot topic lately, this is definitely a book that I recommend anyone and everyone to read.

[Perlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not familiar with the author, but saw this posted on a number of other 'about Israel' books. I've been trying to understand how we got here, to this present time, when Israel-Jews-Zionism are all vilified and denigrated. While there was much that was familiar here, the author cites many statistics and provides charts and sources -- all of which are appreciated in this sound-bite era. The one section that was new for me was the chapter on Zionologists, which was enlightening and eye-opening, and helped me understand what's happening in universities, governments, and the supposedly free press. Simons provides a clear trail back to Soviet agitprop, and explains how all of the buzzwords and social causes were roped into a rehash of antisemitic tropes. Worth the read! By only regret is that reading on Shabbos means no underlining...

[Daniel Goldman · Rating 5 out of 5]

Anyone who wants to understand how Israel has become so deeply wired into antisemitism must read this book. It is an easy (if disturbing) read, but packed with data and footnotes for those who want to take their knowledge to a deeper.
The development of Israel and Zionism as the focus for the new antisemitism, within the history of the Nazi and Soviet regimes is crucial in understanding how it used and was used by radical Arab and Islamic nationalists. And more importantly how that has now infected radical progressive and Western anti-colonial narratives.
Next time you read Judith Butler explaining how the Hezbollah is part of her global arc of coalition partners for progress this of Jake and this book.

[Steph Fairhall · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is certainly a great look into the history of anti-Semitism and how it can fuel racist beliefs today against Jewish people and Israel as a country. It also pinpointed some areas of the world that I need to do more research on about countries oppression and genocide of minority groups. However, I found most of the arguments that anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism to be very scattered, pulling at a flurry of examples to point fingers without taking responsibility for the government's actions especially with the light of more recent events since the book was published.

[Charlotte · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really informative, challenging read on the state of antisemitism and anti Zionism in today’s world. Bare in mind this was written and published before the attack on Israel by Hamas on 7th October 2023 and the subsequent ‘war on Gaza’, but it gives a clear picture on where many of the views spouted by the progressive far left and Islamists against Israel would have come from. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone currently confused by the ongoing Israel/Gaza conflict and all the anti Israeli protests happening around the world.

[Dom · Rating 1 out of 5]

Greatest hits album for Zionists featuring:

1. Israel likes women and gay people unlike the scary Arabs
2. What about other countries who are settler-colonist like America or Australia
3. Remember the Holocaust guys????
4. Hamas is bad. Hezbollah is bad. We're the only good guys in the middle east.
5. But Israel has a right to defend itself uwu

In short, it's bad and you can tell this bloke is a commentator for Sky News

[Jim Butler-Daulby · Rating 1 out of 5]

Revisionists will love this bit of Zionist propaganda! I can give the author a hint as to how hatred towards Israel could be stopped: try to not emulate the Nazis! The people in the country you've stolen might actually belong there! For anyone else interested in the real history of the "Jewish People", I'd recommend 'The Invention of the Jewish People" by Shlomo Sand. I think a better title for this book might be "Israel: Mein Kampf"!

[Mike Mchugh · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent Overview of History of Israel and Antisemitism

This book gives a useful insight into the Nazi and Soviet origins of the hatred of Israel. It puts the accusations against Israel into perspective and gives a much more balanced perspective of the world’s only Jewish state.

A book like this is especially valuable in these times when Israel is at war or under attack on many fronts.

[Johan Rehnstrom · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly interesting book with a good explanation of how antisemitism has morphed into anti-Zionism and a hatred towards the democratic and multicultural State of Israel. There are now conspiracies presented in the book, simply good and well worded explanations and descriptions of who did what and why to make this happen. The author has had assistance and support from some well informed resources as outlined in the acknowledgment section of the book.

[Leon Spence · Rating 5 out of 5]

An accessible and highly persuasive polemic on the indelible link between anti-zionism and antisemitism.

As with any book of this type the author starts from a clear position but in fairness to him he addresses, and in many cases accepts whilst contextualising, commonly held criticisms of the government of Israel whilst continually challenging those who conflate a government and a nation's right to exist.

[Paul Hefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Excellent Read

A very succinct history provided, which is well written and easy to understand. Great practical advice also given. This is a book that needs to be serialised in the media (preferably the printed press) so that more people can learn of the gross untruths propagated by the Boomer journalists and progressive left.