Weaponising Antisemitism

The LRB Podcast

London Review of Books

Society & Culture

4.4 • 579 Ratings

🗓️ 12 March 2025

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Two recent books, by Peter Beinart and Rachel Shabi, discuss the response of Jewish communities in the West to the Hamas attacks of 7 October and Israel’s subsequent destruction of Palestinian life in Gaza, and the shifting politics of antisemitism. In this episode Adam Shatz talks to Peter and Rachel about the moral rupture Israel’s actions have caused, particularly along generational lines, among Jews in both the US and UK, and why the question of antisemitism has become separated from the larger politics of anti-racism, allowing the political right to claim this moral territory in defence of Israel. Sponsored Link: Visit the Munch exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery: https://www.npg.org.uk/munch LRB Audio Discover audiobooks, Close Readings and more from the LRB: https://lrb.me/audiolrbpod Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode of the London Review of Books podcast is supported by the National Portrait Gallery.
0:05.9	Edvard Monk Portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London is the first exhibition in Britain
0:10.5	devoted to Monk's work as a portraitist, and it explores how portraiture was central to his art and vision.
0:17.5	Featuring more than 40 works, including some never displayed before in the UK, the exhibition
0:22.2	has portraits of Monk's family, his fellow bohemians, his patrons and his friends, from the 1880s
0:27.7	to the 1920s. The exhibition is open from the 13th of March until the 15th of June at the National
0:33.2	Portrait Gallery in London, and you can book now at npg.org.uk forward slash monk. That's npg.org.org.org
0:42.7	forward slash m uncch. You're listening to the LRB podcast, and I'm your host, Adam Shats.
1:05.6	Over the last year and a half, the LRB podcast has been hosting fairly regular discussions about political developments in
1:13.8	the Middle East in the aftermath of October 7 and the destruction of Gaza.
1:18.7	This episode is devoted not so much to events within the region as to their impact on Jewish
1:25.7	communities, particularly the fierce arguments that they provoked
1:29.5	over Jewish identity, over the relationship of Jews to Israel, over things like the definition
1:35.5	of anti-Semitism, and over moral questions, about genocide, about solidarity, about complicity.
1:41.4	While these arguments may at first glance seem internal to Jewish communities,
1:46.6	they actually resonate much more broadly, as we've seen this week with Donald Trump's
1:52.9	decision to deny $400 million in research funding to Columbia University over charges of
2:00.1	anti-Semitism during the protests against the war on Gaza.
2:05.5	Joining me to discuss these issues are two of the most astute commentators I know.
2:11.5	Peter Beinart, who has just published a book called Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza,
2:17.2	A Reckoning, and Rachel
2:18.8	Shabby, author of Off White, The Truth About Anti-Semitism, which was published last year.
	...

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