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The History of Anti-Semitism in Britain

(Ha'aretz) Danna Harman - Prominent London litigator Anthony Julius, whose latest book, Trials of the Diaspora, presents an ambitious history of anti-Semitism in Britain, said in an interview: "It is perfectly and patently true that there has been a significant and complicated element of anti-Semitism in English attitudes towards Jews and relations with Israel. I would absolutely not want to deny that there is anti-Semitism. There is a tendency among the Anglo-Jewish establishment to deny it out of desire to fit in with the larger political establishment and to them I would say, you are wrong - it does exist....[However,] there is also a strong philo-Semitic component here, and even more significantly, there is a strong component of real politics and pursuit of national self-interest in Britain's words and actions." "It's troubling that it is necessary for schools and shuls to be protected by security guards. And it's also troubling that people don't think it's troubling....There is no doubt that there are high levels of anti-Israel discourse in some of the Muslim communities here which become anti-Semitic....It's also plain that there is a sort of perceived opinion now about the history of Israel that is utterly and ignorantly hostile to Israel."
2010-08-06 09:22:33
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