Yad Vashem's new and innovative online course Antisemitism: From Its Origins to the Present traces the history of antisemitism - from antiquity to the present. It is currently available for free on the UK based digital education platform FutureLearn, which is partnered with over 100 leading academic institutions worldwide.
In the course 50 world leading scholars and public figures - historians, sociologists, linguists and political scientists, as well as policy makers, and religious leaders, explore major questions and issues relating to antisemitism including: what is antisemitism? How has it changed throughout history? Why can it be found among so many diverse cultures, and even among opposing ideologies? What happened to antisemitism after the Holocaust? What are the main characteristics of antisemitism in the Muslim world and how are they different from the ones that characterize the phenomenon in the West? How is antisemitism expressed today, and what are the main spheres in which it can be found? How can we distinguish between antisemitism and legitimate criticism of the State of Israel?
The course, which began running on March 19th 2018 has thus far attracted thousands of learners from all over the world.
Notable lecturers and contributors featured on the course include: Prof. Yehuda Bauer, Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Prof. Irwin Cotler, Prof. Sergio Della Pergola, Prof. Adv. Anthony Julius (who represented Deborah Lipstadt in her trial against Holocaust denier David Irving), Prof. Dov Otto Kulka, Prof. Meir Litvak, British Parliament Member John Mann, Prof. Pierre Nora, Archbishop Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Prof. Dina Porat, Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, Prof. Anita Shapira, Prof. Bassam Tibi, EU Commission Coordinator on combating antisemitism Katharina von Schnurbein, Prof. Michael Walzer, Dr. Esther Webman, Michael Whine MBE and Prof. Ruth Wodak.
Among the topics discussed in the course: the nature of hate; the perception of the “other” in the Greco-Roman world; the advent of Christianity and its effect on the history of antisemitism; the Middle Ages and anti-Jewish discourse, libels and violence; the ideologies and revolutions of the Modern Period and their impact on the development of antisemitism; Nazi ideology and the Holocaust; antisemitism in the contemporary Far-right and Far-left; Holocaust denial; anti-Zionism; antisemitism in the Islamic and Arab world; online hate; the ways and spheres in which antisemitism is confronted today.
The course examines current events and phenomena related to antisemitism such as: the BDS movement, the British Labour Pary, the Alt-Right in the United States, the recent legislation on the Institute for National Remembrance in Poland, among many others.
→ Registration for the course will remain open until June 3rd.