A Jewish Exodus from Europe? Zionism, Antisemitism and the Rhetoric of Return – A Talk with Prof. Brian Klug (Oxford) | Een Andere Joodse Stem

Een Andere Joodse stem/Another Jewish Voice (www.eajs.be) welcomes:

Prof. Brian Klug (Oxford)

A Jewish Exodus from Europe? Zionism, Antisemitism and the Rhetoric of Return

Wednesday May 11^th at 19:30 at Piano Fabriek Rue du Fort 35, 1060 Saint-Gilles

Less than three weeks after the attack in Paris on the Hyper Cacher supermarket in January 2015, Moshe Kantor, president of the European Jewish Congress, said that there is “a real threat of another Jewish exodus from Europe”. This idea has gripped the imagination of a section of both the Jewish public and the general public. Feature articles have appeared in Newsweek, The Atlantic and Haaretz within the last two years viewing the idea against the background of an alleged rise in antisemitism. The talk will critique this approach, arguing that the Exodus theme is loaded, ideologically and politically, with deep connections to other strands in Zionist thought. This was summed up when Netanyahu called Israel the “true home” for all Jews. The talk will explore the ramifications of these ideas, with an eye to both the Jewish future in Europe and the conflict in Israel-Palestine.

Brian Klug (PhD in Social Thought, University of Chicago) is at the University of Oxford, where he is Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy at St. Benet’s Hall and a member of the faculty of philosophy. He is an Honorary Fellow of the Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of Southampton. He has lectured and published extensively on Jewish identity, antisemitism, Islamophobia, race and related topics. His latest book is Words of Fire: Selected Essays of Ahad Ha’am (2015). Other books include Being Jewish and Doing Justice: Bringing Argument to Life (2011), Offence: The Jewish Case (2009) and, as co-editor, A Time to Speak Out (2008). In 2007 he co-founded Independent Jewish Voices (UK). He is Associate Editor of the journal Patterns of Prejudice and a member of both the Scientific Board of The Islamophobia Studies Yearbook and the International Advisory Board of ReOrient: The Journal of Critical Muslim Studies.