Soft Threats to National Security: Antisemitism, BDS and the De-legitimization of Israel

This book explores the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) phenomenon - its impact and implications for Israel and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, as well as the inextricable linkage between its anti-Israeli/anti-Zionist propaganda and antisemitism, unraveled from yet unknown perspectives.

The edited volume offers groundbreaking research: While Israeli public diplomacy focused on security, Palestinian diplomacy focused on a fabricated history. The book analyzes the old Russian anti-Zionist propaganda and its application by the BDS. The public space of BDS activity projects a humane façade, yet the covert part harbors antisemitic and violent supporters including terror groups and Iran. Western universities turned into incubators of pro-Palestinian groups that portray Israel as the source of evil. The academic boycott of Israel worked to isolate and stigmatize Jewish scholars in America because of a presumed Jewish occupation of the American academe. Western liberals wish to build bridges with the Muslim world, unable to overcome differences on democracy, secularism, women's rights, etc., they focus on what they agree: animosity towards Israel. So has the UN; the ICC; Bedouin advocacy; and Human Rights Watch.

The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Israel Affairs.

Dana Barnett is an expert on post-Zionism in the academe. She has demonstrated a direct connection between the critical, neo-Marxist scholarship mainstreamed by the social sciences, and the anti-Israel sentiments espoused in scholarships. Barnett is the co-founder and CEO of Israel Academia Monitor, a group which follows BDS and anti-Israel writings of academics. She is the author of Post Zionism and Israeli Universities: The Academic Political Nexus (2016).

Efraim Karsh is Professor Emeritus of Middle East and Mediterranean Studies at King's College London and editor of the scholarly journals Middle East Quarterly and Israel Affairs. He is the author of over 120 scholarly articles and sixteen books, including The Tail Wags the Dog: International Politics and the Middle East; Palestine Betrayed; Islamic Imperialism: A History; Empires of the Sand: the Struggle for Mastery in the Middle East 1798-1923; and Fabricating Israeli History: the "New Historians" (Routledge).