Online-talk with Meir Litvak (Iran- und Islamismus-Experte, Universität Tel Aviv)

Anti-Semitism as in inherent and central element in the ideology of all modern Islamist movements, both Sunni and Shi`i from the mainstream Muslim Brothers to al-Qa’ida and ISIS. Anti-Jewish views and attitudes that had existed in pre-modern Islamic traditions grew from a sense of Muslim theological and political superiority vis-à-vis the subordinated Jewish minority. Conversely, Islamism, which is different from Islam as a religion, is a modern response among various Muslim communities to the deep sense of vulnerability and humiliation by the Western-dominated cultural and economic globalization, and its perceived threat to Islamic culture and to Islam as a political-cultural collective. Unlike the more nuanced view of traditional Islamic, modern Islamism espouses a one-dimensional hostile attitude toward Jews and Judaism.