
Judeophobia
A History
Shlomo Sand(Author)
Polity Press
1st Edition
Published on 6. February 2026
Book
Hardback
144 pages
978-1-5095-7077-5 (ISBN)
Description
Throughout the history of the Western world, Jews have suffered various forms of exclusion, stigmatization, and discrimination that have forced them always to be aware of their very particular situation. The Jews became a community under siege and, as Shlomo Sand argues, Judaism was shaped by the hostile gaze of Christian civilization. While the forms of hostility endured by the Jews have varied over the centuries, it is impossible to understand twentieth-century anti-Judaism, or Jewish identity itself, without taking account of the sediments of mental hatred, fuelled by religious belief, which have survived the passage of time.
While anti-semitism is the term commonly used today, Sand prefers 'Judeophobia', which predates the appearance of anti-semitismand is more precise. Looking back over the centuries, he seeks to identify some of the stages in the age-old, incandescent hatred of the Jews, and tries to understand what remains today of this trenchant hostility. He also questions whether Zionism, born as a distressed response to modern Judeophobia, has ended up mirroring it. To what extent has Zionism inherited the ideological foundations that have always been characteristic of the persecutors of the Jews?
This concise history of anti-Jewish hatred will be of great interest to anyone concerned with one of the most insidious and persistent features of Western civilization.
Now available as an audiobook.
While anti-semitism is the term commonly used today, Sand prefers 'Judeophobia', which predates the appearance of anti-semitismand is more precise. Looking back over the centuries, he seeks to identify some of the stages in the age-old, incandescent hatred of the Jews, and tries to understand what remains today of this trenchant hostility. He also questions whether Zionism, born as a distressed response to modern Judeophobia, has ended up mirroring it. To what extent has Zionism inherited the ideological foundations that have always been characteristic of the persecutors of the Jews?
This concise history of anti-Jewish hatred will be of great interest to anyone concerned with one of the most insidious and persistent features of Western civilization.
Now available as an audiobook.
Reviews / Votes
"Startling and revelatory - Shlomo Sand shows how centuries of Christian persecution and the Zionist myth of Jewish exile have driven Israeli Jews to embrace absurd racialist doctrines that doomed the Jews of Europe and now threaten a new version of Jew hatred spawned by the behaviour of the state that calls itself Jewish."Ian Lustick, University of Pennsylvania
"A highly informative book, bolstered by facts, which polemically dismantles idees recues. This is the kind of history we need, particularly at a time like the present, when accusations of anti-semitism are levelled against anyone who criticizes Israel."
Donald Sassoon, Queen Mary University of London
"Informed and remarkable... This is an important book and Sand's arguments deserve to be heard."
The Irish Times
"A fascinating and convincing outline of the continuum between European pre-modern religious Christian Judeophobia, modern racialist Judeophobia and Zionism/Israel."
Jewish Voice for Labour
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Publishing group
John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Product notice
sewn/stitched
Cloth over boards
Dimensions
Height: 218 mm
Width: 138 mm
Thickness: 16 mm
Weight
277 gr
ISBN-13
978-1-5095-7077-5 (9781509570775)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions


Persons
Shlomo Sand is Emeritus Professor of History at Tel Aviv University.
Content
1. A Subjective Text 2. Curbing Jewish Proselytism
3. 'People-Race' or Religious Community?
4. The Origins of 'Judeo-Christian' Europe
5. Humanism and Foreigners, from Erasmus to Voltaire
6. Revolution, Emancipation, and Nationality
7. The Jews, between Capitalism and Socialism
8. Racialization, Democratization, and Emigration
9. The Dreyfus Affair and the Birth of Zionism
10. The Extermination of the 'Jewish Race'
11. The Rebirth of the 'Jewish Race'?
12. Who is Jewish? From Fingerprints to DNA
13. The 1967 War and 'Ancestral Rights'
14. Judeophobia on the Wane?
15. Is Anti-Zionism the New 'Anti-Semitism'?
Afterword
3. 'People-Race' or Religious Community?
4. The Origins of 'Judeo-Christian' Europe
5. Humanism and Foreigners, from Erasmus to Voltaire
6. Revolution, Emancipation, and Nationality
7. The Jews, between Capitalism and Socialism
8. Racialization, Democratization, and Emigration
9. The Dreyfus Affair and the Birth of Zionism
10. The Extermination of the 'Jewish Race'
11. The Rebirth of the 'Jewish Race'?
12. Who is Jewish? From Fingerprints to DNA
13. The 1967 War and 'Ancestral Rights'
14. Judeophobia on the Wane?
15. Is Anti-Zionism the New 'Anti-Semitism'?
Afterword