Strange Hate: Antisemitism, Racism and the Limits of Diversity

Description

Keith Kahn-Harris argues that the controversy over antisemitism today is a symptom of a growing "selectivity" in anti-racism caused by a failure to engage with the challenges that diverse societies pose. How did antisemitism get so strange? Life-long anti-racists accused of antisemitism, life-long Jew haters absolving themselves by declaring their love of Israel. Today, antisemitism and philosemitism seem selective, as if Jews offered themselves up as a kind of buffet, in which non-Jews get choose the good ones they like and the bad ones they reject. In this passionate yet closely-argued polemic from a writer with an intimate knowledge of the antisemitism controversy, Kahn-Harris argues that the emergence of a selective anti-racism demonstrates how far we are from understanding what living in diverse societies really means. Strange Hate calls for us to abandon selective anti-racism and rethink how we view not just Jews and antisemitism, but the challenge of living with diversity.

Keith Kahn-Harris is a writer and sociologist. He is senior lecturer at Leo Baeck College, an associate lecturer at Birkbeck College and runs the European Jewish Research Archive at the Institute for Jewish Policy Research. His books include- Denial- The Unspeakable Truth (2018) Uncivil War- The Israel Conflict in the Jewish Community (2014), Judaism- All That Matters (2012) and (with Ben Gidley) Turbulent Times- The British Jewish Community Today.

"I can't be alone in feeling immense gratitude for this provocative, judicious and ultimately generous book. I wish everyone currently trapped inside an echo chamber would come offline and read it. Strange Hate reveals how we're all too often selective anti-racists, loving some members of a group only to hate the rest in the name of politics rather than prejudice. But Kahn-Harris not only identifies the persistent problems and blind spots to have bedevilled anti-racism, he dares to imagine practical solutions to them as well. Could there be a more timely intervention? Even if you don't agree with every move he makes, you'll surely want to applaud him for writing it." - Dr Devorah Baum, author of Feeling Jewish (A Book For Just About Anyone) "Kahn-Harris performs the essential task of providing an entire glossary of terms of reference for the latest evolution of the most ancient hatred. This is a concise and elegantly written guide to antisemitism in the 21st century which excels in being both humorous and deadly serious at the same time. Essential to understanding how Western society must confront racism in the age of Trump and Corbyn." - Anshel Pfeffer, author of Bibi: The Turbulent Life and Times of Benjamin Netanyahu "I try and read everything Keith Kahn-Harris writes on British Jews and this intelligent book, on how anti-racists have lost their way, and how they can find their way back, is no exception." - Ben Judah, author This Is London "Few issues have been more vexing for today's left than the question of antisemitism. Jews have many different definitions and approaches to the issue, and non-Jews pick and chose which Jews to follow on it. Unlike other books, Strange Hate offers no clearcut definition of antisemitism, but instead shows how this question unsettles the Left's own notions of liberation, oppression, hatred, and tolerance." - Dr Spencer Sunshine, Associate Fellow at Political Research Associates