About the book
From the 1950s through the 1990s, antisemitism everywhere seemed to be on the wane. But as Neil Kressel documents in this startling book, the Muslim world has resurrected in recent decades almost every diatribe that more than two millennia of European hostility produced against the Jews, and it has introduced many homegrown and novel modes of attack. Though it is impossible to determine precisely how many of the world’s 1.2 billion Muslims hold anti-Jewish beliefs, Kressel finds that much bigotry comes from the highest levels of religious and political leadership.
Compounding the problem, as Kressel demonstrates, many in the West refuse to recognize this issue. The growing epidemic of hate has been largely ignored, misunderstood, or downplayed, Kressel reveals, because of apathy, ignorance, confusion, bigotry, ideology, purported pragmatism, and misguided multiculturalism. Those who value human rights ignore antisemitism at their own risk, he cautions, noting that no antisemitic regime or movement has ever been otherwise reasonable or progressive. Kressel argues convincingly that Muslim antisemitism provides an acid test of the seriousness of Western liberalism. If the West fails to stem this growing tide, as now seems likely, future affairs will not go well for the true proponents of democracy. Kressel moves beyond sounding the alarm to explore the diverse religious, political, social, and psychological forces that have created and nurtured the new hostility to Jews in the Muslim world; he concludes with a bold and clear plan for what must be done to confront this hostility.
BOOK OF THE YEAR
Journal for the Study of Antisemitism
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Book Details
HARDCOVER
978-1597977029
EBOOK
978-1597978118
What people are saying
“While parts of this book make me uncomfortable, I must admit that it represents, rather sadly, what many of my coreligionists think.”
Khaleel Mohammed, Ph.D., Center for Islamic and Arabic Studies, San Diego State University
“Many books have recently been written about Islamic anti-Semitism, but none is as precise, scrupulous, and well-informed as Neil Kressel’s “The Sons of Pigs and Apes,” which is a thorough unmasking of some disgraceful attitudes, and of the widespread failure to confront them.”
Irfan Khawaja, Chair, Department of Philosophy, Felician College
“Kressel handles one of the hottest topics in the world carefully, calmly, and coolly. He explains the scope and the dangers of Muslim antisemitism while destroying the many excuses for it that are so often offered–and shaming those in the Muslim world or in the West who downplay these modern forms of the oldest, and one of the bloodiest, hatreds in world history.”
Elliott Abrams, Senior Fellow for Middle Eastern Studies, Council on Foreign Relations
“Neil Kressel has written a lucid, compelling, and much-needed account of how the crucial issue of antisemitism in the Muslim world is currently being minimized, downplayed, obfuscated, and in many cases completely ignored in much of the Western world. This book should be required reading for decision makers, opinion molders, and not least ‘experts’ in academia, who have been particularly complicit in this policy of silence.”)
Dr. Robert Wistrich, Neuberger Professor of Modern European and Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; Director of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism; author of A Lethal Obsession and From Ambivalence to Betrayal
All religions and cultures suffer from sources that preach hate against the “other”. Throughout history some have, tragically, practiced what their sources preached, while some have sought to dismiss or even counteract the hateful words of their sources. In this book, Neil Kressel shows how extremists within Islam, many in leadership roles, have exploited some of their hateful sources to preach and practice a virulent form of anti-Semitism. Read this book and judge for yourself.
Alan M. Dershowitz, Author of The Trials of Zion, 2010; Felix Frankfurter Professor of Law at Harvard Law School
“In Sons of Pigs and Apes, Neil Kressel shines new light on anti-Semitism in the Muslim world, and shows how hatred of the Jewish people remains a potent — even deadly — force in modern times. In doing so he ably distinguishes between legitimate criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism, and debunks the false accusation that the Jewish community wields the charge of anti-Semitism as a bludgeon to quash anti-Israel criticism. His is a significant contribution to the literature on contemporary anti-Semitism in its varied and ever-mutating forms.”
Abraham H. Foxman, National Director, Anti-Defamation League
“Kressel presents undeniable and yet long denied information about the pervasive and insidious nature of Islamic anti-Semitism–and he does so with a pained sensitivity that is both admirable and heartbreaking. He is reasonable, patient, non-emotional; Kressel is anti-paranoid and utterly fact-driven. Like others who have dared to write about this essential issue, Kressel now risks being demonized, falsely, as a racist by the very Western academics, journalists, and progressives whose denial he patiently exposes and whose ‘politically correct’ influence endangers Western values among both Muslims and non-Muslims. Bravo on undertaking this Sisyphean task.”
Phyllis Chesler, Emerita Professor of Psychology and author of 14 books, including The New Anti-Semitism; pre-eminent researcher into honor related violence including honor killing.
“Although Neil Kressel’s magisterial essay is primarily addressed at those in the West who pretend that anti-Semitism is no more than a tragic memory, it is also of great value for those Muslims who dream of, and increasingly fight for, a free society. For today hatred for Jews provides the principal ingredient in the deadly ideological cocktail that sustains Islam’s despotic regimes. Kressel’s message is clear: fighting anti-Jewish ideas and practices must be an integral part of any strategy for freedom in Muslim countries.”
Amir Taheri, author of 11 books on the Middle East, Iran, and Islam
“Neil Kressel has written a brave and important book. He asks the question that few dare to pose. Why are today’s anti-racists and today’s intelligentsia so silent on antisemitism? Universities in particular, including Yale, Harvard, Oxford and London University prefer to silence those who raise the issue and who insist it should be discussed openly. This is a new trahaison des clercs, the betrayal by the intellectuals of their duty to expose ideology that promotes evil ends. Neil Kressel is a lonely voice as most mainstream publishers and editors prefer to avoid discussion on antisemitism. But better one small light shines than that we all remain silent.”
Right Honourable Dr Denis MacShane, Member of Parliament for Rotherham, former British Minister for Europe, and chair of the House of Commons All Party Committee of Inquiry into Antisemitism in Britain
“Neil J. Kressel has written an important but disquieting book. Meticulously researched and carefully written, he documents the scope of Muslim Antisemitism in the contemporary world and identifies those within government, the NGOs and the Academy that are so craven or so careful not to offend that they refuse to confront this hatred. While I may not agree with every interpretation of every text and each single statement, I find Kressel’s argument well crafted. His skill as a social scientist is manifest throughout the work and his arguments persuasive. To cure a malaise one must first confront its symptoms and seek their underlying causes. In dealing with Muslim antisemitism, Kressel’s work is more than helpful, it is essential.”
Michael Berenbaum, Director, Sigi Ziering Institute: Exploring the Ethical and Religious Implications of the Holocaust and Professor of Jewish Studies at The American Jewish University, Los Angeles, California, Editor, Not Your Father’s Antisemitism: The Hatred of Jews in the Twenty First Century
Neil J. Kressel 