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{{Short description|British essayist and conspiracy theorist}} | |||
] | |||
{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2020}} | |||
'''Giselle Littman''', better known by her pseudonym '''Bat Ye'or''', (]: daughter of the ]), is an historian specializing in the ], ], and ] in Muslim lands. | |||
{{Infobox person | |||
|name = Gisèle Littman | |||
|image= Bat Ye'or in 2014.png | |||
|caption= Littman in 2014 | |||
|birth_name = Gisèle Orebi | |||
|other_names = Bat Ye'or ({{langx|he|בת יאור}}) | |||
|birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1933}} | |||
|birth_place = ], ], ] | |||
|occupation = Writer, author | |||
|nationality = British, Swiss | |||
|signature= | |||
|alma_mater = ]<br />] | |||
|genre= | |||
|spouse = ] (m. 1959; died 2012) | |||
|children = 3 | |||
|known_for = '']''<br>] | |||
}} | |||
'''Gisèle Littman''' ({{nee|'''Orebi'''}}; born 1933), better known by her ] '''Bat Ye'or''' ({{langx|he|בת יאור}}, ''Daughter of the Nile''), is an Egyptian-born, British-Swiss<ref name="carr"/><ref name="jpost">{{cite news|url=https://www.jpost.com/features/one-on-one-a-dhimmi-view-of-europe|title=One on One: A 'dhimmi' view of Europe|first=Ruthie Blum|last=Leibowitz|work=The Jerusalem Post|date=9 July 2008|accessdate=4 November 2024}}</ref> author and historian,<ref name="carr"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.abc.net.au/listen/radionational/archived/religionreport/full-transcript--bat-yeor/3433612|title=Program: Full Transcript : Bat Ye'or|first=Stephen|last=Crittenden|work=Australian Broadcasting Corporation|date=23 November 2004|accessdate=4 November 2024}}</ref> who argues in her writings that ], and its perceived ], ] and ] hold sway over European culture and politics.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.meforum.org/eurabia-europes-future|title=Eurabia - Europe’s Future?|author=Bat Ye'or|date=7 February 2005|accessdate=4 November 2024}}</ref> | |||
Ye'or has also written about the history of Christian and Jewish ] living under Islamic governments, as part of which Ye'or has popularised the term '']'' to define the treatment of religious minorities in such contexts.<ref name=Griffiths>{{cite journal|author=Sidney H. Griffith|date=November 1998|title=The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude, Seventh-Twentieth Century (review)|journal=]|volume=30|issue=4|pages=619–21|doi=10.1017/S0020743800052831|jstor=164368|s2cid=162396249 }}</ref> | |||
==Early life == | |||
Bat Ye'or was born in ], ], but her Egyptian nationality was revoked in 1955 because she was Jewish; she and her parents left Egypt in 1957, arriving in ] as ] ]s. In 1959 she became a British citizen. From 1958 she attended the <!--] in 1960 to continue her studies at the ]. | |||
==Early life and education== | |||
She describes how her life experience influenced her research interests: | |||
Bat Ye'or was born into a middle-class ] family<ref name="jpost"/> in ], ] in 1933. Her father was Italian and had fled Italy during ]'s rule, and her mother was from France.<ref name="André">{{cite news |last=André |first=Darmon |title= Interview with Bat Ye'or |work= Israel Magazine |date= July 2007 |quote=I was born in Egypt, in Cairo, into a family of the Jewish bourgeoisie, of an Italian father and a French mother. My grandfather, to whom Egyptian nationality was accorded by exception, was crowned Bey by the Ottoman sultan. My father decided to renounce Italian nationality as a result of Mussolini's racist laws, but when Nasser came to power, my mother's goods were confiscated because she was French and my father's because he was Jewish. We were forced to stay home, we were chased out of public places and at that moment we decided to flee Egypt. Many fled secretly from fear of being imprisoned. We were forced, like all Egyptian Jews, to sign papers according to which we renounced all our goods, our passport and our nationality, for those who had it, since the Jews had been for the most part Ottoman subjects and not Egyptian. The Jews promised in writing not to demand anything of the Egyptian State. The only right we had was to take one suitcase, which was searched and thrown to the ground and 20 Egyptian pounds that were taken from us anyway by the customs officials, not to mention the insults and acts of terror in front of my parents, both of whom were invalids.}}</ref> She and her parents fled Egypt in 1957 after the ] of 1956,<ref name=Gilbert>{{cite book |title=A History of the Twentieth Century: 1952–1999 |last= Gilbert |first= Martin |author-link= Martin Gilbert |year=1997 |publisher=] |isbn= 9780688100667 |page=142 |url= https://books.google.com/books?id=5sohAQAAIAAJ&q=Gisele |access-date=3 August 2012 |quote= Most of those who went elsewhere did so as 'stateless refugees, among them Gisele Orebi (later Gisele Littman), who was to become the acknowledged expert on the plight of Jews and Christians in Muslim lands, and their vigorous champion: her book ''The Dhimmi. Jews and Christians under Islam'', written under the pen name Bat Ye'or, brought the issue of continuing discrimination to a wide public.}}</ref> arriving in London as ].<ref name="André"/> | |||
In 1958, she attended the ] and moved to Switzerland in 1960 to continue her studies at the ],<ref name=Interview55>{{cite news |author= Whitehead. John W. |title= Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis An interview with Bat Ye'or |publisher=] |date=9 June 2005 |url= https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/oldspeak/eurabia_the_euro_arab_axis_an_interview_with_bat_yeor |access-date=3 August 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20130303211911/https://www.rutherford.org/publications_resources/oldspeak/eurabia_the_euro_arab_axis_an_interview_with_bat_yeor |archive-date=3 March 2013 |url-status= live}}</ref> but never finished her master's degree<ref name=WP1>{{cite news |author=Duin, J.a |title=State of 'dhimmitude' seen as threat to Christians, Jews |newspaper=] |date=30 October 2002 |url= http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20021030-10490720.htm |access-date=3 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20021101213724/http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20021030-10490720.htm |archive-date=1 November 2002}}</ref><ref name=MorgEur/> and has never held an academic position.<ref>{{cite web|author= Byrnes, Sholto |title= History rewritten |publisher=] |date=28 October 2011 |url= http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/history-rewritten |access-date=26 August 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120422183450/http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/books/history-rewritten |archive-date=22 April 2012 |url-status= live}}</ref> | |||
:"I had witnessed the destruction, in a few short years, of a vibrant Jewish community living in Egypt for over 2,600 years and which had existed from the time of Jeremiah the Prophet. I saw the disintegration and flight of families, dispossessed and humiliated, the destruction of their synagogues, the bombing of the Jewish quarters and the terrorizing of a peaceful population. I have personally experienced the hardships of exile, the misery of statelessness−and I wanted to get to the root cause of all this. I wanted to understand why the Jews from Arab countries, nearly a million, had shared my experience." | |||
She was married to the British historian and activist ] from September 1959 until his death in May 2012. Many of her publications and works were in collaboration with Littman. Her British citizenship dates from her marriage.<ref name=WP1/> They moved to Switzerland in 1960, where she has lived since,<ref name="jpost"/> and together had three children.<ref name="cv">{{cite web|url=http://www.dhimmitude.org/d_bycv.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070602161529/http://www.dhimmitude.org/d_bycv.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2 June 2007|title=Bat Ye'or: Curriculum Vitae|date=2 June 2007}}</ref> | |||
==Works== | |||
Her first book, "The Jews in Egypt", appeared in 1971. She published it, along with her next study on Copts in Egypt, under the pseudonym ''Yahudiya Masriya'', (]: Egyptian Jewess). Since then, Bat Ye'or focused predominantly on the history of non-Muslims under Muslim rule. In her latest book, "]", she explores the European-Arab rapprochement that began in the 1970s and traces what she sees as connections between radical Arabs and Muslims, on the one hand, and fascists and Nazis, on the other hand, in the origins and developing influence, as she sees it, of Islam over Europe, its culture and politics. | |||
She has provided briefings to the ] and the ] and has given talks at major universities such as ], ], ], ], and ].<ref name=WP1/><ref>{{cite news |author= Poller, Nidra |author-link= Nidra Poller |title=The Brave New World of Eurabia |newspaper=] |date=7 February 2005 |url= http://www.nysun.com/foreign/brave-new-world-of-eurabia/8812/ |access-date=3 August 2012 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120927225106/http://www.nysun.com/foreign/brave-new-world-of-eurabia/8812/ |archive-date=27 September 2012 |url-status= live}}</ref> | |||
===Dhimmitude=== | |||
Bat Ye'or is known for popularizing the use of the term ], which she discusses in detail in '']''; and credits assassinated ] president-elect and ] militia leader ] with coining the term. She argues that Dhimmitude derives from the surrender of the ] clergy and political leaders to the Muslim ] armies, and their submission to Islamic domination of both their lands and peoples. In exchange, they received a pledge of protection (']') from the Muslim sovereign; conditioned upon payment of a special tax, ]. | |||
== |
==Dhimmitude== | ||
{{Main|Dhimmitude}} | |||
She is also known for having promoted ], a term first used as a title of a journal intitated in the mid-1970s by the European Committee for Coordination of Friendship Associations with the Arab world, and discussed at length in "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis": | |||
Ye'or is credited for employing the neologism '']'' which she discusses in detail in '']''. The word ''dhimmitude'', which purposefully bears a phonetic resemblance with the word ''servitude'',<ref>''Muslims, multiculturalism and the question of the silent majority'', S. Akbarzadeh, J.M. Roose, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2011, Taylor & Francis.</ref> was intentionally used and popularized by Bat Ye'or. In her writings she has credited assassinated Lebanese president-elect and ] militia leader ] with coining the term:<ref>{{cite book|title=The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam|author=Bat Ye'or|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=doeTXF9axosC&pg=PA28|publisher=Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press|year=1996|page=28|isbn=9780838636886|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160624003708/https://books.google.com/books?id=doeTXF9axosC&pg=PA28|archive-date=24 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> later she claimed that she invented it herself and inspired him to use it through a friend.<ref>"I founded the word dhimmitude and I discussed it with my Lebanese friends My friend spoke about this word to Bashir Gemayel who used it in his last speech before his assassination." in {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007203401/http://www.newenglishreview.org/custpage.cfm/frm/98500/sec_id/98500|date=7 October 2011}} {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160309074203/http://www.dhimmitude.org/eurabia/An-egyptian-jew-in-exile.pdf|date=9 March 2016}}, newenglishreview.org, October 2011</ref> The term itself is derived from "]", the adjectival form of the word ''dhimma'', which means "protection" in Arabic<ref>Hans Wehr, J M. Cowan. A dictionary of modern written Arabic. Third Edition. Ithaca, N.Y.: Spoken Language Services. p. 312.</ref> and refers to the historical notion of an "indefinitely renewed contract through which the Muslim community accords hospitality and protection to members of other revealed religions, on condition of their acknowledging the domination of Islam".<ref>Cl. Cahen. Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Dhimma", Vol. 2, p. 227.</ref> | |||
Ye'or describes dhimmitude as the "specific social condition that resulted from ]," and as the "state of fear and insecurity" of "infidels" who are required to "accept a condition of humiliation."<ref name=Duin>{{cite news|title=Islam's 'idealistic version of itself' not quite the reality|first=Julia|last=Duin|url=http://members.tripod.com/joe_matalski/Pages/idealistc.htm|newspaper=]|date=30 October 2002|access-date=3 August 2012}}</ref> She believes that "the dhimmi condition can only be understood in the context of Jihad," and studies the relationship between the theological tenets of Islam and the hardships of Christians and Jews under Islamic rule in different times and places.<ref>{{cite speech|title=Dhimmitude Past and Present : An Invented or Real History?|first=Bat|last=Ye'or|event=C.V. Starr Foundation Lectureship|location=]|date=10 October 2002|url=http://www.dhimmitude.org/archive/by_lecture_10oct2002.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030207011828/http://www.dhimmitude.org/archive/by_lecture_10oct2002.htm|url-status=dead|archive-date=7 February 2003|access-date=3 August 2012}}</ref> The cause of jihad, she argues, "was fomented around the 8th century by Muslim theologians after the death of Muhammad and led to the conquest of large swathes of three continents over the course of a long history."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=100520&show_release_date=1|title=Americans should educate themselves about jihad's "culture of hate," says WSRC speaker|first=Donna|last=Desrochers|date=28 February 2002|publisher=]|access-date=3 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120212054614/http://my.brandeis.edu/news/item?news_item_id=100520&show_release_date=1|archive-date=12 February 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
:"Eurabia is a geo-political reality envisaged in 1973 through a system of informal alliances between, on the one hand, the nine countries of the European Community (EC) which, enlarged, became the European Union (EU) in 1992 and on the other hand, the Mediterranean Arab countries. The alliances and agreements were elaborated at the top political level of each EC country with the representative of the European Commission, and their Arab homologues with the Arab League's delegate. This system was synchronised under the roof of an association called the Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD) created in July 1974 in Paris. A working body composed of committees and always presided jointly by a European and an Arab delegate planned the agendas, and organized and monitored the application of the decisions." | |||
Bat Ye'or acknowledges that not all Muslims subscribe to so-called "militant jihad theories of society," while arguing that the role of sharia in the 1990 ] demonstrates that what she calls a perpetual war against those who won't submit to Islam is still an "operative paradigm" in Islamic countries.<ref>{{cite news |title=Jihad and Human Rights Today |author=Bat Ye'or |url=http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-yeor070102.asp |newspaper=] |date=1 July 2002 |access-date=3 August 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130830093513/http://old.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-yeor070102.asp |archive-date=30 August 2013}}</ref> | |||
== Public appearances == | |||
Testimony before Governing bodies: | |||
*1997 "Past is Prologue: The Challenge of Islamism Today. An Historical Overview of the Persecutions of Christians under Islam". Congressional Testimony at United States Senate Foreign Relations Committee. Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. Hearing on Religious Persecution in the Middle East. (Congressional Records Testimony on May 1, 1997) | |||
*1997 Similar testimony delivered to a U.S. Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC) Briefing on Capitol Hill (April 29, 1997) | |||
*2001 A Culture of Hate Analysis to the ] | |||
*2002 "Human Rights and the Concept of Jihad". Congressional Human Rights Caucus (CHRC) Briefing on Capitol Hill (February 8, 2002) | |||
===Reception=== | |||
She has appeared on the U.S. television station ]. | |||
According to journalist ] from '']'', the fact that she is not an academic and has never taught at any university, but has worked as an independent researcher, has, along with her opinions, made her a controversial figure. He quotes professor ], head of the ], who notes:{{blockquote|Up until the 1980s, she was not accepted at all. In academic circles they scorned her publications. Only when ] published the book 'Jews of Islam' with quotations from Bat Ye'or did they begin to pay any attention to her. A real change toward her emerged in the 1990s, and especially in recent years.<ref>Adi Schwartz from Haaretz.com {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090430230408/http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=728863 |date=30 April 2009 }} "Bat Ye'or's opinions have made her a controversial figure, as has the fact that she is not an academic and has never taught at any university. She conducts her research independently. Since the 1970s, Bat Ye'or, who is now 71, has published about 10 books, most of which deal with the life of the Christian and Jewish minorities in Muslim countries. "</ref>}} | |||
Lewis on another occasion, called the notion of Jewish ''"dhimmi"-tude'', i.e., of their "subservience and persecution and ill treatment" under Islamic rule, a "myth", which, just as the myth "of a golden age of equality, of mutual respect and cooperation", "contain significant elements of truth," with the "historic truth" being "in its usual place, somewhere in the middle between the extremes."<ref name=Lewis>Bernard Lewis, {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151208140302/https://theamericanscholar.org/the-new-anti-semitism/ |date=8 December 2015 }}, ''The American Scholar Journal'' – Volume 75 No. 1 Winter 2006 pp. 25–36.</ref> | |||
British historian ] in his book ''A History of the Twentieth Century'' has called her "the acknowledged expert on the plight of Jews and Christians in Muslim lands" who "brought the issue of continuing discrimination to a wide public."<ref>Sir Martin Gilbert, ''A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume III: 1952–1999'', p. 127: "Most of those who went elsewhere did so as 'stateless refugees, among them Gisele Orebi (later Gisele Litrman), who was to become the acknowledged expert on the plight of Jews and Christians in Muslim lands, and their vigorous champion: her book ''The Dhimmi''. Jews and Christians under Islam, written under the pen name Bat Ye'or, brought the issue of continuing discrimination to a wide public."</ref> | |||
== Bibliography == | |||
], Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at ] and ] for ]' ], wrote in '']'' that "In 1985, Bat Ye'or offered Islamic studies a surprise with her book, ''The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam'', a convincing demonstration that the notion of a traditional, lenient, liberal, and tolerant Muslim treatment of the Jewish and Christian minorities is more myth than reality."<ref>{{cite journal|date=1 March 2005|title=Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis|url=http://www.meforum.org/article/1288|journal=]|author=Johannes J.G. Jansen|access-date=6 December 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071019232725/http://www.meforum.org/article/1288|archive-date=19 October 2007|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*'']'', 2005, ] Press, ISBN 083864077X. | |||
*'']'', 2001, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, ISBN 0838639437. | |||
] said that Bat Ye'or "has made famous" the term ''dhimmitude,'' which he says is "misleading". He states that "e may choose to employ" it keeping in mind that it "connotes protection (its meaning in Arabic) and that it guaranteed communal autonomy, relatively free practice of religion, and equal economic opportunities, as much as it signified inferior legal status."<ref name=cohen1>{{cite book|title=Muslim Attitudes to Jews and Israel: The Ambivalences of Rejection, Antagonism, Tolerance and Cooperation|last=Cohen|first=Mark R.|publisher=] Academic Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1845195274|pages=33–36|chapter=Modern Myths of Muslim Anti-Semitism|author-link=Mark R. Cohen|editor=Ma'oz, Moshe}}</ref><ref name=cohen2>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=W_AR3BksrUcC&pg=PA31|title=Muslim Attitudes to Jews and Israel: The Ambivalences of Rejection, Antagonism, Tolerance and Cooperation|last=Ma'oz|first=Moshe|publisher=Sussex Academic Press|year=2011|isbn=978-1-84519-527-4|access-date=27 October 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170329054704/https://books.google.com/books?id=W_AR3BksrUcC&pg=PA31|archive-date=29 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
* "The Dhimmi Factor in the Exodus of Jews from Arab Countries" (pp. 33-51), in Coll. work (ed.) Malka Hillel Shulewitz, The Forgotten Millions. The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands (London/New York: Cassell, 1999; Continuum, 2000) | |||
*'']'', 1996, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, ISBN 0838636888. | |||
], John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature at the ], argued that "by obscuring the existence of pre-Christian and other old, non-Christian communities in Europe as well as the reason for their disappearance in other areas of Europe, Bat Ye'or constructs an invidious comparison between the allegedly humane Europe of Christian and Enlightenment values and the ever-present persecution within Islam. Whenever the possibility is raised of actually comparing circumstances of non-Christians in Europe to non-Muslims under ] in a careful, thoughtful manner, Bat Ye'or forecloses such comparison."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n_zcNMoTYgkC&q=Bat+Ye%27or|title=The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy|last1=Qureshi|first1=Emran|last2=Sells|first2=Michael Anthony|publisher=]|year=2003|isbn=9780231126663|location=New York|page=364|author-link2=Michael Sells|access-date=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101100427/http://books.google.com/books?id=n_zcNMoTYgkC&q=Bat+Ye%27or#v=snippet&q=Bat%20Ye'or&f=false|archive-date=1 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
*'''', 1985, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, ISBN 0838632629. | |||
* A Christian Minority. The Copts in Egypt. ''Case Studies on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. A World Survey.'' 4 vols. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1976 | |||
In a review of ''The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude'', the American historian Robert Brenton Betts commented that the book dealt with Judaism at least as much as with Christianity, that the title was misleading and the central premise flawed. He said: "The general tone of the book is strident and anti-Muslim. This is coupled with selective scholarship designed to pick out the worst examples of anti-Christian behavior by Muslim governments, usually in time of war and threats to their own destruction (as in the case of the deplorable ] of 1915). Add to this the attempt to demonize the so-called Islamic threat to Western civilization and the end-product is generally unedifying and frequently irritating."<ref>{{cite journal|date=September 1997|title=The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude (review)|url=http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19995282.html|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131106074935/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-19995282.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=2013-11-06|journal=]|volume=5|issue=3|pages=200–203|doi=10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00274.x|author=Robert Brenton Betts|access-date=4 August 2012}} {{subscription required}}</ref> | |||
* ''Les Juifs en Egypte'' (Jews in Egypt: French) (Geneva: Editions de l'Avenir, 1971) | |||
* of Bat Ye'or | |||
Sidney Griffith, the head of the department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at the ] wrote in a review of ''Decline of Eastern Christianity'' that Ye'or has "raised a topic of vital interest"; adding, however, that the "theoretical inadequacy of the interpretive concepts of jihad and dhimmitude, as they are employed here", and the "want of ] in the deployments of the documents which serve as evidence for the conclusions reached in the study" serve as dual barriers. He goes on to say " are presented out of context, with no analysis or explanation. One has the impression that in their bulk they are simply meant to undergird the contentions made in the first part of the book", concluding that thus Ye'or has "written a polemical tract, not responsible historical analysis."<ref>Griffith, Sidney H., "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude", ''International Journal of Middle East Studies'', Vol. 30, No. 4. (Nov. 1998), pp. 619–621.</ref> | |||
In a review of ''The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam'', ] Distinguished Professor of History Chase F. Robinson writes, | |||
{{blockquote|eaders interested in a dispassionate account of confessional relations or a nuanced discussion of the widely diverse experience of Jews and Christians in the ''dar al-Islam'' will need to look elsewhere: this is a work of polemic -- scholarly polemic, but polemic just the same. To list errors of fact would probably fill this entire number of the Bulletin.<ref>Chase F. Robinson. Review of "The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam, from Jihad to Dhimmitude: Seventh-Twentieth Centuries by Bat Ye'or, Miriam Kochan, David Littman". Middle East Studies Association Bulletin. Vol. 31, No. 1 (July 1997), pp. 97-98.</ref>}} | |||
According to the American scholar ], Bat Ye'or exemplifies the "neo-lachrymose" perspective on Egyptian Jewish history. According to Beinin, this perspective has been "consecrated" as "the normative Zionist interpretation of the history of Jews in Egypt."<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ENfjCk1IZBcC&q=Bat+Ye%27or|title=The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, And The Formation of a Modern Diaspora|last=Beinin|first=Joel|publisher=]|year=2005|isbn=9789774248900|page=15|author-link=Joel Beinin|access-date=4 August 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140101091216/http://books.google.com/books?id=ENfjCk1IZBcC&q=Bat+Ye%27or#v=snippet&q=Bat%20Ye'or&f=false|archive-date=1 January 2014|url-status=live}}</ref> | |||
], an American ],<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/robert-spencer|title=Robert Spencer|website=Southern Poverty Law Center|access-date=29 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160601140218/https://www.splcenter.org/fighting-hate/extremist-files/individual/robert-spencer|archive-date=1 June 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> described her as "the pioneering scholar of dhimmitude, of the institutionalized discrimination and harassment of non-Muslims under Islamic law". He argued that she had turned this area, which he believed the "Middle East studies establishment" has hitherto been afraid of or indifferent to, into a field of academic study.<ref>Brian Lamb: {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141109043825/http://www.c-span.org/video/?193778-1%2Fqa-robert-spencer |date=9 November 2014 }} (transcript), C-SPAN, 20 August 2006</ref> | |||
] describes her as "a scholar who dumps cold water on any dreamy view of how Muslims have historically dealt with the 'other'."<ref>Irshad Manji, ''The Trouble with Islam'', pg. 61</ref> | |||
==Eurabia conspiracy theory== | |||
{{Main|Eurabia conspiracy theory}} | |||
] conference in 2014]] | |||
Ye'or's books ''Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis'' (2005) and ''Europe, Globalization, and the Coming of the Universal Caliphate'' (2011) originated the ], which alleged a relationship from the 1970s onwards between the ] (previously the ]) and the ]. | |||
===Reception=== | |||
The notion of "Eurabia" has been dismissed as a conspiracy theory by academics and other commentators.<ref name= MorgEur /><ref>{{cite journal|last=Fekete|first=Liz|title=The Muslim conspiracy theory and the Oslo massacre|journal=Race & Class|volume=53|issue=3|year= 2012 |pages=30–47|doi= 10.1177/0306396811425984|s2cid= 146443283}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Carland|first=Susan|title=Islamophobia, fear of loss of freedom, and the Muslim woman|journal=Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations |volume=22|issue=4|year= 2011|pages=469–73|doi= 10.1080/09596410.2011.606192|s2cid= 145063957}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|author1=David Lagerlöf|author2-link=Jonathan Leman|author2=Jonathan Leman|author3-link=Alexander Bengtsson|author3=Alexander Bengtsson|url= http://expo.se/www/download/research_the_anti_muslim_environment_final.pdf|title=The Anti-Muslim Environment – The ideas, the Profiles and the Concept |publisher=]|location=Stockholm|year=2011|access-date=8 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120503092912/http://expo.se/www/download/research_the_anti_muslim_environment_final.pdf|archive-date=3 May 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|last=Shooman|first=Yasemin|author2=Spielhaus, Riem|editor= Jocelyne Cesari|encyclopedia= Muslims in the West after 9/11: religion, politics, and law|title=The concept of the Muslim enemy in the public discourse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6OH3G0VESQsC&pg=PA198 |year=2010|publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-77654-7 |pages= 198–228|access-date=16 March 2016|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20140830083133/http://books.google.com/books?id=6OH3G0VESQsC&pg=PA198|archive-date=30 August 2014|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal|last=Fekete|first=Liz|title=Enlightened fundamentalism? Immigration, feminism and the Right|journal=Race & Class|volume=48|issue=1|year=2006|pages=1–22|doi= 10.1177/0306396806069519|s2cid= 145578004}}</ref><ref name=Kundnani /><ref name="carr"/> For example, writing in '']'' in 2006, author and freelance journalist Matt Carr states, "In order to accept Ye'or's ridiculous thesis, it is necessary to believe not only in the existence of a concerted Islamic plot to subjugate Europe, involving all Arab governments, whether 'Islamic' or not, but also to credit a secret and unelected parliamentary body with the astounding ability to transform all Europe's major political, economic and cultural institutions into subservient instruments of 'jihad' without any of the continent's press or elected institutions being aware of it."<ref name="carr"/> | |||
Carr argues that Bat Ye'or is the "main inspiration" for many conspiracy theories current on the far-right. Furthermore, Carr notes that "tripped of its Islamic content, the broad contours of Ye'or's preposterous thesis recall the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of the first half of the twentieth century and contemporary notions of the ']' prevalent in ] in the US".<ref name="carr">{{cite journal|author=Matt Carr|date=July 2006|url=https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306396806066636|title=You are now entering Eurabia|journal= ]|volume=48|issue= 1|pages=1–22|doi= 10.1177/0306396806066636|s2cid= 145303405}}</ref> He notes further that Bat Ye'or's analysis is driven by a contempt of "Islam's celebrated cultural achievements" and a view of Islam as a "perennially barbaric, parasitic and oppressive religion". | |||
In a '']'' interview, referring to ''Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis'' the Jewish British historian ] stated "I've read Bat Yeor's book. I know her and have a great respect for her sense of anguish… I'm saying that her book – which is 100 percent accurate – is an alarm call that will ultimately prevent what she's warning about from taking place."<ref>{{cite web|url= http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894492801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter |work=] |title=One on One with Sir Martin Gilbert: Hindsight and aforethought |author=Ruthie Blum |date=22 February 2007|url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20111209073034/http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1171894492801&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter |archive-date=9 December 2011}}</ref> | |||
], writing in '']'' on ''Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis'', wrote that "o book explains the European Muslim situation, in all its complexity, more ably," "t's hard to overstate this book's importance… Eurabia is eye-opening and required reading for anyone seriously interested in understanding Europe's current predicament and its probable fate."<ref>{{cite web |last=Bawer |first=Bruce |title=Crisis in Europe |work=The Hudson Review |volume=58 |issue=4 |date=Winter 2006 |url= http://www.hudsonreview.com/bawerWi06.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130125163625/http://www.hudsonreview.com/bawerWi06.html |archive-date=25 January 2013}}</ref> | |||
According to ], "Bat Ye'or has traced a nearly secret history of Europe over the past thirty years, convincingly showing how the Euro-Arab Dialogue has blossomed from a minor discussion group into the engine for the continent's Islamization. In delineating this phenomenon, she also provides the intellectual resources with which to resist it.<ref>{{cite web|last=Pipes |first=Daniel |title=Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis |publisher= ] |date=January 2005 |url= http://www.fdupress.org/book_descriptions/0838640761.html |url-status=dead |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20120321115012/http://www.fdupress.org/book_descriptions/0838640761.html |archive-date=21 March 2012}}</ref> | |||
According to historian ], "future historians will one day regard her coinage of the term 'Eurabia' as prophetic. Those who wish to live in a free society must be eternally vigilant. Bat Ye'or's vigilance is unrivalled."<ref>{{cite news|journal=] |pages=18|url=http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n20/thomas-jones/short-cuts |title=Short Cuts|author=Thomas Jones|date= 2005-10-20|access-date=27 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110805142412/http://www.lrb.co.uk/v27/n20/thomas-jones/short-cuts|archive-date=5 August 2011|url-status=live}}</ref> Jewish British writer ] called her a "], a brave and far-sighted spirit."<ref name= Pryce-Jones>]. " {{webarchive |url= https://web.archive.org/web/20070926215626/http://www2.fdu.edu/fdupress/05102806review.html |date=26 September 2007 }}", ''National Review'', 9 May 2005</ref> | |||
Ye'or's Eurabia theory gathered additional media attention when it was quoted and praised by the perpetrator of the ] ] in his manifesto released on the day of the attacks.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Zia-Ebrahimi |first1=Reza |title=When the Elders of Zion relocated to Eurabia: conspiratorial racialization in antisemitism and Islamophobia |journal=Patterns of Prejudice |volume=52 |issue=4 |date=13 July 2018 |pages=314–37 |doi= 10.1080/0031322X.2018.1493876|s2cid=148601759 |url= https://kclpure.kcl.ac.uk/portal/en/publications/when-the-elders-of-zion-relocated-to-eurabia(a7b5707f-eed2-4cf6-9568-a35db586bdf8).html }}</ref> Ye'or expressed regret that Breivik took inspiration from her writings.<ref>"Of course I regret if this man took inspiration from what I wrote or from what other writers wrote," she said Monday in an interview with the Associated Press. But she warned that her ideas, and those of fellow authors and leaders on the anti-Muslim right, could continue to have violent repercussions if Mr. Breivik proves influential. "I'm afraid that this is something that other people will imitate." {{cite news|last= Saunders|first=Doug|title= 'Eurabia' opponents scramble for distance from anti-Muslim murderer |work=The Globe and Mail|date=25 July 2011|url= https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/eurabia-opponents-scramble-for-distance-from-anti-muslim-murderer/article588254/ |access-date=24 August 2017|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180409172307/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/world/eurabia-opponents-scramble-for-distance-from-anti-muslim-murderer/article588254/|archive-date=9 April 2018|url-status= live}}</ref> Breivik has later admitted that he in reality is a neo-Nazi, who only in later years exploited counter-jihad writings.<ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.nettavisen.no/artikkel/breivik-jeg-leste-hitlers-mein-kampf-da-jeg-var-14-ar/s/12-95-3423203669|title=Breivik: - Jeg leste Hitlers Mein Kampf da jeg var 14 år |date=16 March 2016|work=Nettavisen|language=no}}</ref> | |||
In a '']'' profile, Adi Schwartz likened her book on Eurabia to the ]<!--The book's text states that Adi Schwartz called it "Protocols of the Elders of Brussels" ... The text states: "referred to her 2005 Eurabia monograph as “The Protocols of the Elders of Brussels,”" - But Schwartz is comparing it to Protocols of the Elders of Zion, using "Brussels" to compare it to -->.<ref>Singre Bangstad, 'Bat Ye'or and Eurabia,' in Mark Sedgwick (ed.), Oxford University Press, 2019 {{isbn|978-0-190-87761-3}} pp. 170–83; p.170. ]</ref> | |||
"Eurabia: The Euro Arab Axis" has been cited as a probable inspiration for ]'s ] conspiracy theory.<ref>{{Cite web|url = http://onlysky.media/eiynah/the-great-replacement-how-new-atheists-legitimized-and-spread-a-white-nationalist-conspiracy-theory/|title='The Great Replacement': How New Atheists spread a white nationalist theory|date=29 July 2022|website=OnlySky Media}}</ref> | |||
==Counter-jihad== | |||
{{Main|Counter-jihad}} | |||
The international ] movement developed in the 2000s, influenced by Ye'or's Eurabia thesis.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Donald Trump, the anti-Muslim far right and the new conservative revolution|first=Ed|last=Pertwee|year=2020|journal=Ethnic and Racial Studies|volume=43|issue=16 |pages=211–230|doi=10.1080/01419870.2020.1749688|s2cid=218843237 |doi-access=free}}</ref><ref name=MorgEur>{{cite news|url=http://morgenbladet.no/samfunn/2011/eurabiske_vers|title=Eurabiske vers|language=no|trans-title=Eurabian verses|publisher=]|date=19 August 2011|access-date=27 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121024051313/http://morgenbladet.no/samfunn/2011/eurabiske_vers|archive-date=24 October 2012|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=Kundnani /> In 2007, she held the keynote speech at the inaugural international counter-jihad conference in Brussels.<ref name="othen"/><ref>{{cite news|url=https://libertiesalliance.org/2007/10/20/counter-jihad-brussels-18-19-october-2007/|title=Counter Jihad Brussels: 18-19 October 2007|date=20 October 2007|work=International Civil Liberties Alliance}}</ref> Ye'or also sits on the board of advisors of the ],<ref name=Kundnani>{{cite web|author=Arun Kundnani|title=Blind Spot? Security Narratives and Far-Right Violence in Europe|publisher=]|url=http://www.icct.nl/download/file/ICCT-Kundnani-Blind-Spot-June-2012.pdf|date=June 2012|access-date=23 July 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120710061407/http://www.icct.nl/download/file/ICCT-Kundnani-Blind-Spot-June-2012.pdf|archive-date=10 July 2012|url-status=live}}</ref> identified as a "key organization" of the counter-jihad movement.<ref name="othen">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=bq-IDwAAQBAJ|title=Soldiers of a Different God: How the Counter-Jihad Movement Created Mayhem, Murder and the Trump Presidency|first=Christopher|last=Othen|year=2018|publisher=Amberley|isbn=9781445678009|pages=103–104, 118}}</ref> | |||
==Works== | |||
===Books=== | |||
* ''Understanding Dhimmitude'', 2013, RVP Press, {{ISBN|978-1-61861-335-6}} (paperback). | |||
* ''Europe, Globalization, and the Coming of the Universal Caliphate'', 16 September 2011, ] Press, {{ISBN|1-61147-445-0}} | |||
* ''Verso il Califfato Universale: Come l'Europa è diventata complice dell'espansionismo musulmano'', Lindau, Torino: May 2009. ("Toward the Universal Caliphate: How Europe Became an Accomplice of Muslim Expansionism") | |||
* '']'', 2005, ] Press, {{ISBN|0-8386-4077-X}} | |||
* '']'', 2001, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, {{ISBN|0-8386-3942-9}}; {{ISBN|0-8386-3943-7}} (with David Littman, translated by Miriam Kochan) | |||
* '']'', 1996, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, {{ISBN|0-8386-3678-0}}; {{ISBN|0-8386-3688-8}} (paperback). | |||
* '']'', 1985, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, {{ISBN|0-8386-3233-5}}; {{ISBN|0-8386-3262-9}} (paperback). (with David Maisel, Paul Fenton and David Littman; foreword by ]) | |||
* ''Les Juifs en Egypte'', 1971, Editions de l'Avenir, Geneva (in French, title translates as "The Jews in Egypt") | |||
===Book chapters=== | |||
==Documentaries == | |||
* 17 chapters in Robert Spencer (ed.), '']'', Prometheus Books, 2005. {{ISBN|1-59102-249-5}}. | |||
*] | |||
* "The Dhimmi Factor in the Exodus of Jews from Arab Countries" in: Malka Hillel Shulewitz (ed.), ''The Forgotten Millions. The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands'', Cassell, London/New York 1999; Continuum, 2001, {{ISBN|0-8264-4764-3}} (pp. 33–51). | |||
* "A Christian Minority. The Copts in Egypt" in W. A. Veehoven (ed.), ''Case Studies on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. A World Survey.'' 4 vols. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1976, {{ISBN|90-247-1779-5}}. | |||
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==Notes== | ||
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==External links== | ==External links== | ||
{{Commons}} | |||
* and , websites maintained by Bat Ye'or | |||
{{Wikiquote}} | |||
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* and , websites maintained by Bat Ye'or | |||
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* {{C-SPAN|1013499}} | |||
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Latest revision as of 03:03, 9 November 2024
British essayist and conspiracy theorist
Gisèle Littman | |
---|---|
Littman in 2014 | |
Born | Gisèle Orebi 1933 (age 90–91) Zamalek, Cairo, Egypt |
Nationality | British, Swiss |
Other names | Bat Ye'or (Hebrew: בת יאור) |
Alma mater | University College London University of Geneva |
Occupation(s) | Writer, author |
Known for | Dhimmitude Eurabia conspiracy theory |
Spouse | David Littman (m. 1959; died 2012) |
Children | 3 |
Gisèle Littman (née Orebi; born 1933), better known by her pen name Bat Ye'or (Hebrew: בת יאור, Daughter of the Nile), is an Egyptian-born, British-Swiss author and historian, who argues in her writings that Islam, and its perceived anti-Americanism, anti-Christian sentiment and antisemitism hold sway over European culture and politics.
Ye'or has also written about the history of Christian and Jewish religious minorities living under Islamic governments, as part of which Ye'or has popularised the term dhimmitude to define the treatment of religious minorities in such contexts.
Early life and education
Bat Ye'or was born into a middle-class Jewish family in Cairo, Kingdom of Egypt in 1933. Her father was Italian and had fled Italy during Mussolini's rule, and her mother was from France. She and her parents fled Egypt in 1957 after the Suez Crisis of 1956, arriving in London as stateless refugees.
In 1958, she attended the UCL Institute of Archaeology and moved to Switzerland in 1960 to continue her studies at the University of Geneva, but never finished her master's degree and has never held an academic position.
She was married to the British historian and activist David Littman from September 1959 until his death in May 2012. Many of her publications and works were in collaboration with Littman. Her British citizenship dates from her marriage. They moved to Switzerland in 1960, where she has lived since, and together had three children.
She has provided briefings to the United Nations and the United States Congress and has given talks at major universities such as Georgetown, Brown, Yale, Brandeis, and Columbia.
Dhimmitude
Main article: DhimmitudeYe'or is credited for employing the neologism dhimmitude which she discusses in detail in Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide. The word dhimmitude, which purposefully bears a phonetic resemblance with the word servitude, was intentionally used and popularized by Bat Ye'or. In her writings she has credited assassinated Lebanese president-elect and Phalangist militia leader Bachir Gemayel with coining the term: later she claimed that she invented it herself and inspired him to use it through a friend. The term itself is derived from "dhimmi", the adjectival form of the word dhimma, which means "protection" in Arabic and refers to the historical notion of an "indefinitely renewed contract through which the Muslim community accords hospitality and protection to members of other revealed religions, on condition of their acknowledging the domination of Islam".
Ye'or describes dhimmitude as the "specific social condition that resulted from jihad," and as the "state of fear and insecurity" of "infidels" who are required to "accept a condition of humiliation." She believes that "the dhimmi condition can only be understood in the context of Jihad," and studies the relationship between the theological tenets of Islam and the hardships of Christians and Jews under Islamic rule in different times and places. The cause of jihad, she argues, "was fomented around the 8th century by Muslim theologians after the death of Muhammad and led to the conquest of large swathes of three continents over the course of a long history."
Bat Ye'or acknowledges that not all Muslims subscribe to so-called "militant jihad theories of society," while arguing that the role of sharia in the 1990 Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam demonstrates that what she calls a perpetual war against those who won't submit to Islam is still an "operative paradigm" in Islamic countries.
Reception
According to journalist Adi Schwartz from Haaretz, the fact that she is not an academic and has never taught at any university, but has worked as an independent researcher, has, along with her opinions, made her a controversial figure. He quotes professor Robert S. Wistrich, head of the Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism, who notes:
Up until the 1980s, she was not accepted at all. In academic circles they scorned her publications. Only when Bernard Lewis published the book 'Jews of Islam' with quotations from Bat Ye'or did they begin to pay any attention to her. A real change toward her emerged in the 1990s, and especially in recent years.
Lewis on another occasion, called the notion of Jewish "dhimmi"-tude, i.e., of their "subservience and persecution and ill treatment" under Islamic rule, a "myth", which, just as the myth "of a golden age of equality, of mutual respect and cooperation", "contain significant elements of truth," with the "historic truth" being "in its usual place, somewhere in the middle between the extremes."
British historian Martin Gilbert in his book A History of the Twentieth Century has called her "the acknowledged expert on the plight of Jews and Christians in Muslim lands" who "brought the issue of continuing discrimination to a wide public."
Hans Jansen, Professor of Arabic and Islamic Studies at Utrecht University and MEP for Geert Wilders' Party for Freedom, wrote in Middle East Quarterly that "In 1985, Bat Ye'or offered Islamic studies a surprise with her book, The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam, a convincing demonstration that the notion of a traditional, lenient, liberal, and tolerant Muslim treatment of the Jewish and Christian minorities is more myth than reality."
Mark R. Cohen said that Bat Ye'or "has made famous" the term dhimmitude, which he says is "misleading". He states that "e may choose to employ" it keeping in mind that it "connotes protection (its meaning in Arabic) and that it guaranteed communal autonomy, relatively free practice of religion, and equal economic opportunities, as much as it signified inferior legal status."
Michael Sells, John Henry Barrows Professor of Islamic History and Literature at the University of Chicago, argued that "by obscuring the existence of pre-Christian and other old, non-Christian communities in Europe as well as the reason for their disappearance in other areas of Europe, Bat Ye'or constructs an invidious comparison between the allegedly humane Europe of Christian and Enlightenment values and the ever-present persecution within Islam. Whenever the possibility is raised of actually comparing circumstances of non-Christians in Europe to non-Muslims under Islamic governance in a careful, thoughtful manner, Bat Ye'or forecloses such comparison."
In a review of The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude, the American historian Robert Brenton Betts commented that the book dealt with Judaism at least as much as with Christianity, that the title was misleading and the central premise flawed. He said: "The general tone of the book is strident and anti-Muslim. This is coupled with selective scholarship designed to pick out the worst examples of anti-Christian behavior by Muslim governments, usually in time of war and threats to their own destruction (as in the case of the deplorable Armenian genocide of 1915). Add to this the attempt to demonize the so-called Islamic threat to Western civilization and the end-product is generally unedifying and frequently irritating."
Sidney Griffith, the head of the department of Semitic and Egyptian Languages and Literatures at the Catholic University of America wrote in a review of Decline of Eastern Christianity that Ye'or has "raised a topic of vital interest"; adding, however, that the "theoretical inadequacy of the interpretive concepts of jihad and dhimmitude, as they are employed here", and the "want of historical method in the deployments of the documents which serve as evidence for the conclusions reached in the study" serve as dual barriers. He goes on to say " are presented out of context, with no analysis or explanation. One has the impression that in their bulk they are simply meant to undergird the contentions made in the first part of the book", concluding that thus Ye'or has "written a polemical tract, not responsible historical analysis."
In a review of The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam, City University of New York Distinguished Professor of History Chase F. Robinson writes,
eaders interested in a dispassionate account of confessional relations or a nuanced discussion of the widely diverse experience of Jews and Christians in the dar al-Islam will need to look elsewhere: this is a work of polemic -- scholarly polemic, but polemic just the same. To list errors of fact would probably fill this entire number of the Bulletin.
According to the American scholar Joel Beinin, Bat Ye'or exemplifies the "neo-lachrymose" perspective on Egyptian Jewish history. According to Beinin, this perspective has been "consecrated" as "the normative Zionist interpretation of the history of Jews in Egypt."
Robert Spencer, an American anti-Islamic polemicist, described her as "the pioneering scholar of dhimmitude, of the institutionalized discrimination and harassment of non-Muslims under Islamic law". He argued that she had turned this area, which he believed the "Middle East studies establishment" has hitherto been afraid of or indifferent to, into a field of academic study.
Irshad Manji describes her as "a scholar who dumps cold water on any dreamy view of how Muslims have historically dealt with the 'other'."
Eurabia conspiracy theory
Main article: Eurabia conspiracy theoryYe'or's books Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis (2005) and Europe, Globalization, and the Coming of the Universal Caliphate (2011) originated the Eurabia conspiracy theory, which alleged a relationship from the 1970s onwards between the European Union (previously the European Economic Community) and the Arab states.
Reception
The notion of "Eurabia" has been dismissed as a conspiracy theory by academics and other commentators. For example, writing in Race & Class in 2006, author and freelance journalist Matt Carr states, "In order to accept Ye'or's ridiculous thesis, it is necessary to believe not only in the existence of a concerted Islamic plot to subjugate Europe, involving all Arab governments, whether 'Islamic' or not, but also to credit a secret and unelected parliamentary body with the astounding ability to transform all Europe's major political, economic and cultural institutions into subservient instruments of 'jihad' without any of the continent's press or elected institutions being aware of it."
Carr argues that Bat Ye'or is the "main inspiration" for many conspiracy theories current on the far-right. Furthermore, Carr notes that "tripped of its Islamic content, the broad contours of Ye'or's preposterous thesis recall the anti-Semitic conspiracy theories of the first half of the twentieth century and contemporary notions of the 'Zionist Occupation Government' prevalent in far-right circles in the US". He notes further that Bat Ye'or's analysis is driven by a contempt of "Islam's celebrated cultural achievements" and a view of Islam as a "perennially barbaric, parasitic and oppressive religion".
In a The Jerusalem Post interview, referring to Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis the Jewish British historian Martin Gilbert stated "I've read Bat Yeor's book. I know her and have a great respect for her sense of anguish… I'm saying that her book – which is 100 percent accurate – is an alarm call that will ultimately prevent what she's warning about from taking place."
Bruce Bawer, writing in The Hudson Review on Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, wrote that "o book explains the European Muslim situation, in all its complexity, more ably," "t's hard to overstate this book's importance… Eurabia is eye-opening and required reading for anyone seriously interested in understanding Europe's current predicament and its probable fate."
According to Daniel Pipes, "Bat Ye'or has traced a nearly secret history of Europe over the past thirty years, convincingly showing how the Euro-Arab Dialogue has blossomed from a minor discussion group into the engine for the continent's Islamization. In delineating this phenomenon, she also provides the intellectual resources with which to resist it.
According to historian Niall Ferguson, "future historians will one day regard her coinage of the term 'Eurabia' as prophetic. Those who wish to live in a free society must be eternally vigilant. Bat Ye'or's vigilance is unrivalled." Jewish British writer David Pryce-Jones called her a "Cassandra, a brave and far-sighted spirit."
Ye'or's Eurabia theory gathered additional media attention when it was quoted and praised by the perpetrator of the 2011 Norway massacre Anders Behring Breivik in his manifesto released on the day of the attacks. Ye'or expressed regret that Breivik took inspiration from her writings. Breivik has later admitted that he in reality is a neo-Nazi, who only in later years exploited counter-jihad writings.
In a Haaretz profile, Adi Schwartz likened her book on Eurabia to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
"Eurabia: The Euro Arab Axis" has been cited as a probable inspiration for Renaud Camus's Great Replacement conspiracy theory.
Counter-jihad
Main article: Counter-jihadThe international counter-jihad movement developed in the 2000s, influenced by Ye'or's Eurabia thesis. In 2007, she held the keynote speech at the inaugural international counter-jihad conference in Brussels. Ye'or also sits on the board of advisors of the International Free Press Society, identified as a "key organization" of the counter-jihad movement.
Works
Books
- Understanding Dhimmitude, 2013, RVP Press, ISBN 978-1-61861-335-6 (paperback).
- Europe, Globalization, and the Coming of the Universal Caliphate, 16 September 2011, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, ISBN 1-61147-445-0
- Verso il Califfato Universale: Come l'Europa è diventata complice dell'espansionismo musulmano, Lindau, Torino: May 2009. ("Toward the Universal Caliphate: How Europe Became an Accomplice of Muslim Expansionism")
- Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, 2005, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, ISBN 0-8386-4077-X
- Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide, 2001, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, ISBN 0-8386-3942-9; ISBN 0-8386-3943-7 (with David Littman, translated by Miriam Kochan)
- The Decline of Eastern Christianity: From Jihad to Dhimmitude;seventh-twentieth century, 1996, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, ISBN 0-8386-3678-0; ISBN 0-8386-3688-8 (paperback).
- The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam, 1985, Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, ISBN 0-8386-3233-5; ISBN 0-8386-3262-9 (paperback). (with David Maisel, Paul Fenton and David Littman; foreword by Jacques Ellul)
- Les Juifs en Egypte, 1971, Editions de l'Avenir, Geneva (in French, title translates as "The Jews in Egypt")
Book chapters
- 17 chapters in Robert Spencer (ed.), The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims, Prometheus Books, 2005. ISBN 1-59102-249-5.
- "The Dhimmi Factor in the Exodus of Jews from Arab Countries" in: Malka Hillel Shulewitz (ed.), The Forgotten Millions. The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands, Cassell, London/New York 1999; Continuum, 2001, ISBN 0-8264-4764-3 (pp. 33–51).
- "A Christian Minority. The Copts in Egypt" in W. A. Veehoven (ed.), Case Studies on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. A World Survey. 4 vols. The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1976, ISBN 90-247-1779-5.
Notes
- ^ Matt Carr (July 2006). "You are now entering Eurabia". Race & Class. 48 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1177/0306396806066636. S2CID 145303405.
- ^ Leibowitz, Ruthie Blum (9 July 2008). "One on One: A 'dhimmi' view of Europe". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- Crittenden, Stephen (23 November 2004). "Program: Full Transcript : Bat Ye'or". Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- Bat Ye'or (7 February 2005). "Eurabia - Europe's Future?". Retrieved 4 November 2024.
- Sidney H. Griffith (November 1998). "The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude, Seventh-Twentieth Century (review)". International Journal of Middle East Studies. 30 (4): 619–21. doi:10.1017/S0020743800052831. JSTOR 164368. S2CID 162396249.
- ^ André, Darmon (July 2007). "Interview with Bat Ye'or". Israel Magazine.
I was born in Egypt, in Cairo, into a family of the Jewish bourgeoisie, of an Italian father and a French mother. My grandfather, to whom Egyptian nationality was accorded by exception, was crowned Bey by the Ottoman sultan. My father decided to renounce Italian nationality as a result of Mussolini's racist laws, but when Nasser came to power, my mother's goods were confiscated because she was French and my father's because he was Jewish. We were forced to stay home, we were chased out of public places and at that moment we decided to flee Egypt. Many fled secretly from fear of being imprisoned. We were forced, like all Egyptian Jews, to sign papers according to which we renounced all our goods, our passport and our nationality, for those who had it, since the Jews had been for the most part Ottoman subjects and not Egyptian. The Jews promised in writing not to demand anything of the Egyptian State. The only right we had was to take one suitcase, which was searched and thrown to the ground and 20 Egyptian pounds that were taken from us anyway by the customs officials, not to mention the insults and acts of terror in front of my parents, both of whom were invalids.
- Gilbert, Martin (1997). A History of the Twentieth Century: 1952–1999. HarperCollins. p. 142. ISBN 9780688100667. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
Most of those who went elsewhere did so as 'stateless refugees, among them Gisele Orebi (later Gisele Littman), who was to become the acknowledged expert on the plight of Jews and Christians in Muslim lands, and their vigorous champion: her book The Dhimmi. Jews and Christians under Islam, written under the pen name Bat Ye'or, brought the issue of continuing discrimination to a wide public.
- Whitehead. John W. (9 June 2005). "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis An interview with Bat Ye'or". Rutherford Institute. Archived from the original on 3 March 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
- ^ Duin, J.a (30 October 2002). "State of 'dhimmitude' seen as threat to Christians, Jews". The Washington Times. Archived from the original on 1 November 2002. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
- ^ "Eurabiske vers" [Eurabian verses] (in Norwegian). Morgenbladet. 19 August 2011. Archived from the original on 24 October 2012. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- Byrnes, Sholto (28 October 2011). "History rewritten". The National. Archived from the original on 22 April 2012. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
- "Bat Ye'or: Curriculum Vitae". 2 June 2007. Archived from the original on 2 June 2007.
- Poller, Nidra (7 February 2005). "The Brave New World of Eurabia". The New York Sun. Archived from the original on 27 September 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
- Muslims, multiculturalism and the question of the silent majority, S. Akbarzadeh, J.M. Roose, Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, 2011, Taylor & Francis.
- Bat Ye'or (1996). The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam. Fairleigh Dickinson Univ Press. p. 28. ISBN 9780838636886. Archived from the original on 24 June 2016.
- "I founded the word dhimmitude and I discussed it with my Lebanese friends My friend spoke about this word to Bashir Gemayel who used it in his last speech before his assassination." in An Egyptian Jew in Exile: An Interview with Bat Ye'or Archived 7 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine Archived 9 March 2016 at the Wayback Machine, newenglishreview.org, October 2011
- Hans Wehr, J M. Cowan. A dictionary of modern written Arabic. Third Edition. Ithaca, N.Y.: Spoken Language Services. p. 312.
- Cl. Cahen. Encyclopedia of Islam 2nd ed, Brill. "Dhimma", Vol. 2, p. 227.
- Duin, Julia (30 October 2002). "Islam's 'idealistic version of itself' not quite the reality". The Washington Times. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
- Ye'or, Bat (10 October 2002). Dhimmitude Past and Present : An Invented or Real History? (Speech). C.V. Starr Foundation Lectureship. Brown University. Archived from the original on 7 February 2003. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
- Desrochers, Donna (28 February 2002). "Americans should educate themselves about jihad's "culture of hate," says WSRC speaker". Brandeis University. Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
- Bat Ye'or (1 July 2002). "Jihad and Human Rights Today". The National Review. Archived from the original on 30 August 2013. Retrieved 3 August 2012.
- Adi Schwartz from Haaretz.com 'The protocols of the elders of Brussels' Archived 30 April 2009 at the Wayback Machine "Bat Ye'or's opinions have made her a controversial figure, as has the fact that she is not an academic and has never taught at any university. She conducts her research independently. Since the 1970s, Bat Ye'or, who is now 71, has published about 10 books, most of which deal with the life of the Christian and Jewish minorities in Muslim countries. "
- Bernard Lewis, 'The New Anti-Semitism' Archived 8 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine, The American Scholar Journal – Volume 75 No. 1 Winter 2006 pp. 25–36.
- Sir Martin Gilbert, A History of the Twentieth Century, Volume III: 1952–1999, p. 127: "Most of those who went elsewhere did so as 'stateless refugees, among them Gisele Orebi (later Gisele Litrman), who was to become the acknowledged expert on the plight of Jews and Christians in Muslim lands, and their vigorous champion: her book The Dhimmi. Jews and Christians under Islam, written under the pen name Bat Ye'or, brought the issue of continuing discrimination to a wide public."
- Johannes J.G. Jansen (1 March 2005). "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis". Middle East Quarterly. Archived from the original on 19 October 2007. Retrieved 6 December 2007.
- Cohen, Mark R. (2011). "Modern Myths of Muslim Anti-Semitism". In Ma'oz, Moshe (ed.). Muslim Attitudes to Jews and Israel: The Ambivalences of Rejection, Antagonism, Tolerance and Cooperation. Sussex Academic Press. pp. 33–36. ISBN 978-1845195274.
- Ma'oz, Moshe (2011). Muslim Attitudes to Jews and Israel: The Ambivalences of Rejection, Antagonism, Tolerance and Cooperation. Sussex Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-84519-527-4. Archived from the original on 29 March 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
- Qureshi, Emran; Sells, Michael Anthony (2003). The New Crusades: Constructing the Muslim Enemy. New York: Columbia University Press. p. 364. ISBN 9780231126663. Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- Robert Brenton Betts (September 1997). "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude (review)". Middle East Policy. 5 (3): 200–203. doi:10.1111/j.1475-4967.1997.tb00274.x. Archived from the original on 6 November 2013. Retrieved 4 August 2012. (subscription required)
- Griffith, Sidney H., "The Decline of Eastern Christianity Under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude", International Journal of Middle East Studies, Vol. 30, No. 4. (Nov. 1998), pp. 619–621.
- Chase F. Robinson. Review of "The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam, from Jihad to Dhimmitude: Seventh-Twentieth Centuries by Bat Ye'or, Miriam Kochan, David Littman". Middle East Studies Association Bulletin. Vol. 31, No. 1 (July 1997), pp. 97-98.
- Beinin, Joel (2005). The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, And The Formation of a Modern Diaspora. American University in Cairo Press. p. 15. ISBN 9789774248900. Archived from the original on 1 January 2014. Retrieved 4 August 2012.
- "Robert Spencer". Southern Poverty Law Center. Archived from the original on 1 June 2016. Retrieved 29 July 2016.
- Brian Lamb: Robert Spencer interview Archived 9 November 2014 at the Wayback Machine (transcript), C-SPAN, 20 August 2006
- Irshad Manji, The Trouble with Islam, pg. 61
- Fekete, Liz (2012). "The Muslim conspiracy theory and the Oslo massacre". Race & Class. 53 (3): 30–47. doi:10.1177/0306396811425984. S2CID 146443283.
- Carland, Susan (2011). "Islamophobia, fear of loss of freedom, and the Muslim woman". Islam and Christian–Muslim Relations. 22 (4): 469–73. doi:10.1080/09596410.2011.606192. S2CID 145063957.
- David Lagerlöf; Jonathan Leman; Alexander Bengtsson (2011). The Anti-Muslim Environment – The ideas, the Profiles and the Concept (PDF). Stockholm: Expo Research. Archived from the original (PDF) on 3 May 2012. Retrieved 8 June 2012.
- Shooman, Yasemin; Spielhaus, Riem (2010). "The concept of the Muslim enemy in the public discourse". In Jocelyne Cesari (ed.). Muslims in the West after 9/11: religion, politics, and law. Routledge. pp. 198–228. ISBN 978-0-415-77654-7. Archived from the original on 30 August 2014. Retrieved 16 March 2016.
- Fekete, Liz (2006). "Enlightened fundamentalism? Immigration, feminism and the Right". Race & Class. 48 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1177/0306396806069519. S2CID 145578004.
- ^ Arun Kundnani (June 2012). "Blind Spot? Security Narratives and Far-Right Violence in Europe" (PDF). International Centre for Counter-terrorism. Archived (PDF) from the original on 10 July 2012. Retrieved 23 July 2012.
- Ruthie Blum (22 February 2007). "One on One with Sir Martin Gilbert: Hindsight and aforethought". The Jerusalem Post. Archived from the original on 9 December 2011.
- Bawer, Bruce (Winter 2006). "Crisis in Europe". The Hudson Review. Archived from the original on 25 January 2013.
- Pipes, Daniel (January 2005). "Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis". Fairleigh Dickinson University. Archived from the original on 21 March 2012.
- Thomas Jones (20 October 2005). "Short Cuts". London Review of Books. p. 18. Archived from the original on 5 August 2011. Retrieved 27 July 2011.
- Pryce-Jones, David. "Captive continent Archived 26 September 2007 at the Wayback Machine", National Review, 9 May 2005
- Zia-Ebrahimi, Reza (13 July 2018). "When the Elders of Zion relocated to Eurabia: conspiratorial racialization in antisemitism and Islamophobia". Patterns of Prejudice. 52 (4): 314–37. doi:10.1080/0031322X.2018.1493876. S2CID 148601759.
- "Of course I regret if this man took inspiration from what I wrote or from what other writers wrote," she said Monday in an interview with the Associated Press. But she warned that her ideas, and those of fellow authors and leaders on the anti-Muslim right, could continue to have violent repercussions if Mr. Breivik proves influential. "I'm afraid that this is something that other people will imitate." Saunders, Doug (25 July 2011). "'Eurabia' opponents scramble for distance from anti-Muslim murderer". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 9 April 2018. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
- "Breivik: - Jeg leste Hitlers Mein Kampf da jeg var 14 år". Nettavisen (in Norwegian). 16 March 2016.
- Singre Bangstad, 'Bat Ye'or and Eurabia,' in Mark Sedgwick (ed.), Key Thinkers of the Radical Right: Behind the New Threat to Liberal Democracy, Oxford University Press, 2019 ISBN 978-0-190-87761-3 pp. 170–83; p.170. Available from Oxford Academic
- "'The Great Replacement': How New Atheists spread a white nationalist theory". OnlySky Media. 29 July 2022.
- Pertwee, Ed (2020). "Donald Trump, the anti-Muslim far right and the new conservative revolution". Ethnic and Racial Studies. 43 (16): 211–230. doi:10.1080/01419870.2020.1749688. S2CID 218843237.
- ^ Othen, Christopher (2018). Soldiers of a Different God: How the Counter-Jihad Movement Created Mayhem, Murder and the Trump Presidency. Amberley. pp. 103–104, 118. ISBN 9781445678009.
- "Counter Jihad Brussels: 18-19 October 2007". International Civil Liberties Alliance. 20 October 2007.
External links
- Dhimmi.org and Dhimmitude.org, websites maintained by Bat Ye'or
- Appearances on C-SPAN
- Bat Ye'or
- 1933 births
- Living people
- 20th-century British non-fiction writers
- 20th-century British women writers
- 20th-century pseudonymous writers
- 20th-century Swiss non-fiction writers
- 20th-century Swiss women writers
- 21st-century British non-fiction writers
- 21st-century British women writers
- 21st-century pseudonymous writers
- 21st-century Swiss non-fiction writers
- 21st-century Swiss women writers
- Alumni of University College London
- Anti-Arabism
- British conspiracy theorists
- British counter-jihad activists
- British critics of Islam
- British people of Egyptian-Jewish descent
- British people of French-Jewish descent
- British people of Italian-Jewish descent
- British political commentators
- British women historians
- British Zionists
- Egyptian emigrants to England
- Egyptian Sephardi Jews
- Eurabia
- Jewish British writers
- Jewish women writers
- Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
- Pseudonymous writers on Islam
- Swiss conspiracy theorists
- Swiss critics of Islam
- Swiss women historians
- Swiss Zionists
- University of Geneva alumni
- Writers from Cairo
- Writers on the Middle East
- Writers on antisemitism