Iranians burn an Israeli flag during a rally and funeral of Islamic Revolutionary Guard members killed in an airstrike. (2024)
This event is the first in a series organized in coordination with the Tel Aviv University's Alliance Center for Iranian Studies (TAU) on the relationship between Israel and Iran.
Thursday, February 13, 202510:00 AM - 11:00 AMWebinar
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Organized by the UCLA Y&S Nazarian Center for Israel Studies in coordination with the Tel Aviv University's Alliance Center for Iranian Studies (TAU).
About the Talk
In this talk, Professor Meir Litvak will discuss the roots of, and deep connections between, anti-Zionism and antisemitism in the Islamic Republic of Iran. He will explain the ways in which Iran—the only country whose official ideology advocates the elimination of the State of Israel—regards the establishment of Israel as the culmination of the historical war of the Jews against Islam from its inception and of a Jewish–Western offensive against Islamic civilization in the modern period. As such, Iran’s anti-Semitism fuses together anti-Jewish themes from early Islamic tradition and modern anti-Semitic tropes from Europe.
About the Speaker
Meir Litvak (PhD Harvard, 1991) is a Professor at the Department of Middle Eastern and African History and Director of the Alliance Center for Iranian Studies at Tel Aviv University. He is the author of Shici Scholars of Nineteenth Century Iraq: The ‘Ulama’ of Najaf and Karbala’ (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), co-author of Iran: from a Persian Empire to an Islamic Republic (Tel Aviv: Open University of Israel Press, 2014, Hebrew), and co-author with Esther Webman, From Empathy to Denial: Arab Responses to the Holocaust (New York: Columbia University Press, 2009, Hebrew edition 2015). In addition he has edited and co-edited eight books, the most recent one Constructing Nationalism in Iran: From the Qajars to the Islamic Republic came out in May 2017. He has also published articles on modern Shi‘i and Iranian history, on modern Islamic movements, and on Islamist anti-Semitism. His most recent book Know Thy Enemy: Attitudes towards Others in modern Shi`i Iranian Thought and Practice was published by Brill in 2021.
DISCLAIMER: The views or opinions of our guest speakers and the content of their presentations do not necessarily reflect the views of the UCLA Younes and Soraya Nazarian Center for Israel Studies. Hosting speakers does not constitute an endorsement of the speaker's views or opinions.
Sponsor(s): Tel Aviv University's Alliance Center for Iranian Studies (TAU)