Germany: Delegitimization of Israel found in the field of Jewish Studies

Jerusalem On Line reports:

Many Palestinians have come to the realization that waging wars and implementing terrorist attacks won’t lead to the destruction of the State of Israel.   Therefore, they have implemented a new method of warfare known as soft asymmetrical conflict.   According to Professor Ofira Seliktar, “It’s an asymmetrical war of ideas which is used to delegitimize a target country and in this case, Israel.  Since the Oslo peace process and the terror attacks that followed, they created a new type of war, which is fought in the academia and the media but especially in the academia.” [...]

The effect of these Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies centers funded by Iran, Qatar and Saudi Arabia can be felt across the globe. “Islamic Studies in Germany, for example, is a small field but it is very influential in terms of providing advice to NGOs, governmental sources and the public for they speak Arabic and pretend to be experts on the Arab and Muslim world,” Dr. Clemens Heni of the Berlin International Center for the Study of Anti-semitism stated. “Therefore, I think it’s rather disturbing that they promote Youssef Al Qaradawi, who is portrayed as a moderate because he is allowing females to commit suicide bombings against Jews without asking their husbands and fathers for permission. It’s not moderate. It’s another way of committing jihad.”

Unfortunately, Heni noted that anti-Israel academic literature can be found not just in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies centers but also in the field of Jewish Studies: “In a 50 years since the death of Martin Buber Conference, German scholar Christian Wiese spoke. A few years ago, he was endorsing a book by British anti-Israel scholar Jacqueline Rose. He quoted her Question of Zion, which includes a story claiming Hitler got inspired to write Mein Kampf during a concert that never existed. Publishing a book that claimed Hitler was in a concert with Herzl in May 1895 is a tool to say that Zionism is as evil as Nazism. She claims Zionism is as bad as Nazism and this is a lie. Hitler was 6-years-old at that time and not in France. It is troubling that a scholar is quoting and referring to books like this. This is the kind of delegitimization of Israel we are dealing with. People are referring to unscholarly books that have no basis in reality.” More.