36 No. 70 JUSTICE There are countries, of course, that actively encourage manifestations of anti-Israelism and even antisemitism. Both Iran and Turkey, despite their differences, seek to advance their status in the Muslim and Arab worlds and use hatred of Jews and Israel as a political tool to achieve their goals. They position themselves as combatants against a larger evil represented by global Jewry and Israel, which is then spun as a reason to support their political campaigns. The Revival of Religious Antisemitism Anchored in Islam Manifestations of Islamic religious antisemitism also continue and gain momentum with the increasing religious radicalization sweeping the Arab and Islamic worlds in recent decades. Qur’anic verses and Islamic traditions undergo a political reinterpretation in the spirit of extreme Islam, with the goal of delegitimizing Zionism and the State of Israel and dehumanizing the Jewish people. For example, it is particularly common to use a quote from the Muslim tradition (hadith) which states that Muslims will fight the Jews when the Day of Judgment comes. If the latter seek to hide, they will be betrayed by the stones and trees behind which they hide.9 The strains of antisemitism on social media also utilize conspiracy theories that claim Israel, or the Jews, are behind every conceivable problem ranging from the Twin Towers “9/11” attack (2001) to the Arab Spring revolutions (early 2010s). The goal of these antisemitic conspiracy theories is to link the West to Israel and sow division between the Arab and Western worlds. The story of the blood plot is also being revived with both internet surfers and media people using the centuries-old antisemitic trope to claim that Jews use blood for ritual purposes.10 Even television series were utilized to disseminate antisemitic content. For example, “Ride Without a Horse,” a 30-episode series that aired on Egypt's state television in 2002, is based on “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”11 In 2003, Hezbollah’s satellite channel, al-Manar, broadcast a series produced in Syria called “al-Shatat” (The Diaspora), which purported to present the life of Jews in the diaspora and the birth of Zionism. It included scenes of ritual slaughter of a Christian child and the Jewish community’s execution of a Jew who had married a non-Jew. It also described how Amschel Rothschild, the alleged founder of the secret Jewish government, made a deathbed command that his sons instigate wars and corrupt societies around the world to advance the financial and political interests of the Jews.12 A combination of antisemitism – old and new – finds expression in the Hamas Charter published on August 18, 1988. Section 22 of the Charter presents Jews as both a group seeking to rule the world and responsible for every negative historical event, war or plot in the world: With their money they took over the media ...they ignited revolutions...they stood behind the French revolution, the communist revolution...they stood behind the First World War, in which they managed to eliminate the Islamic Caliphate (Ottoman Empire)...they established the League of Nations through which they could rule the world...they who were behind the Second World War...they ordered the establishment of the League of Nations and the United Nations and the Security Council...Not a single war is waged anywhere in the world without their hand being involved in it.13 9. Islam Question and Answer, “In the battle between the Jews and the Muslims at the end of time, the aggressors will be the Jews,” available at https://islamqa.info/en/ answers/223275/in-the-battle-between-the-jews-and-themuslims-at-the-end-of-time-the-aggressors-will-be-the-jews; see also Ben Cohen, “There is a Jew hiding behind me — come and kill him,” PITTSBURGH JEWISH CHRONICLE (Sept. 24, 2021), available at https://jewishchronicle.timesofisrael. com/there-is-a-jew-hiding-behind-me-come-and-kill-him/ 10. See Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Israel Intelligence Heritage & Commemoration Center (IICC), “Contemporary Arab-Muslim anti-Semitism, its Significance and Implications” (Apr. 17, 2008), available at https://www. terrorism-info.org.il/Data/pdf/PDF_08_AS_2.pdf 11. “Faris Bila Jawad reveals the ‘truth’ about the Jews through ‘Protocols of the Elders of Zion’,” AL BAWABA (Nov. 19, 2002), available at https://www.albawaba.net/ entertainment/faris-bila-jawad-reveals-truth-about-jewsthrough-protocols-elders-zion 12. Dr. Fathallah Omar and Dr. Suheil Zakar, “Al-Shatat: The Syrian-Produced Ramadan 2003 TV Special,” MEMRI (Dec.12, 2003), available at https://www.memri.org/ reports/al-shatat-syrian-produced-ramadan-2003-tv-special 13. Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center at the Center for Special Studies (C.S.S.), “The Hamas Charter (1988)” (Mar. 21, 2006), available at https://www.terrorism-info. org.il/Data/pdf/PDF_06_032_2.pdf; see also Bruce Hoffman, “Understanding Hamas’s Genocidal Ideology,” THE ATLANTIC (Oct.10, 2023), available at https://www. theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/10/hamascovenant-israel-attack-war-genocide/675602/
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