Anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel: A methodological challenge for peace research

Abstract

One of the merits of anti-Semitism research is its sensitivity to the various ways in which anti-Semitism may manifest itself beyond traditional prejudices against Jews. This has led to distinctions among various facets of modern anti-Semitism that range from traditional prejudice (manifest anti-Semitism) via secondary anti-Semitism and latent anti-Semitism to anti-Zionism and anti-Semitic criticism of Israel. One of the shortcomings of anti-Semitism research, however, is its neglect of alternative motivations that may lead to statements that sound as though they could contain anti-Semitic content. This is particularly problematic in the investigation of the relation between anti-Semitism and criticism of Israel.Correlation studies alone – and even experimental studies demonstrating that attitudes critical of Israel increase when anti-Semitism is stimulated – cannot give a satisfying solution to this problem. Participants who unconditionally support Israeli policy will certainly not harbor long-held anti-Semitic attitudes, and dyed-in-the-wool anti-Semites will not sympathize with Israeli policy. Nor can factor analysis, which is often applied to study the relation between the various facets of anti-Semitism, give a satisfactory answer.This farewell lecture reflects on the methodological deficits of these approaches and introduces latent class analysis as an alternative methodology. An application to data from a recent survey in Germany indicates that manifest, secondary and latent anti-Semitism are simply different expressions of one and the same anti-Semitic attitude. Criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism can, on the other hand, be motivated by other factors, such as a peace orientation and/or human rights considerations. Unlike correlation studies, Latent class analysis not only demonstrates this, but also distinguishes between different groups of participants and thus makes it possible to discriminate between those who criticize Israel because of anti-Semitic attitudes and those who do so for other reasons.