Bat Ye'or

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Bat Ye'or

Bat Ye'or is a pseudonym of Gisèle Littman, née Orebi. Ye'or is a writer who has popularised the terms 'Eurabia' and 'Dhimmitude' with her writings on what she says is a secretly designed political project between the Arab world and European politicians for an 'Islamicisation' of Europe. She has also written under the name Y. Masriya[1]. Ye'or is on the International Free Press Society's board of advisors and one of the "experts" on the CounterJihad Europa website. Ye'or's views have been praised by American neoconservatives, right-wing Zionists and European neo-fascists[2] The name, Bat Ye'or, is Hebrew for "Daughter of the Nile".

Background

Bat Ye'or was born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1933[3] to an Italian father and a French mother who Ye'or has referred to as, "a family of the Jewish bourgeoisie"[4]. In 1957 Ye'or and her family fled Egypt as stateless refuges shortly after the time of the Lavon Affair and the Suez Crisis. Ye'or and her family found asylum in London in 1957, where she began studying Archeology at London University in 1958 and acquired British citizenship in 1959 after marrying David Littman the same year. In 1960 Ye'or and Littman moved to Switzerland, where she studied at the University of Geneva from 1961 to 1962, but never graduated[5].

Operation Mural

In 1961 Ye'or assisted Littman with his role in Operation Mural, in which the Israeli Mossad covertly organised the migration of 530 Jewish children from Morocco to Israel[6]. Ye'or’s role included pretending to be a French Catholic, while in fact being Egyptian Jewish[7].

"Without the devoted presence and close collaboration of Gisèle – a true daughter of the Nile and the later Bat Ye’or - while caring for baby Diana, our mission would have failed"[8].

CID

In 1970 Ye'or, along with Littman, founded the Centre d' Information et de Documentation sur le Moyen-Orient (CID), or in English, Center for Information and Documentation on Democracy in the Middle East.

“Till the mid-1980s, the CID published many studies in French – some in English and German – on subjects related to the Middle East, mailing from 5'000 to 10'000 copies to embassies in Bern, Geneva (UN), Swiss international organizations and libraries, administrators, politicians, Pen Club members and journalists, university professors and secondary school-teachers, doctors, pastors and priests, banks and large enterprises. A further 5,000 copies were used in France, Belgium, the UK, USA, and Israel. Several publications were sent out in the same manner by Les Editions de l'Avenir (from 1971), l'Action Suisse en faveur des Droits de l'Homme (1973) and WOJAC, the World Organization of Jews from Arab Countries. (1975)”[9].

“Dhimmitude”

Ye’or popularised the term Dhimmitude beginning in 1983[10] after the Lebanese president Bachir Gemayel coined it a year prior in a speech[11] (despite Ye’or’s website, Dhimmitude, claiming she coined the term[12]).

Dhimmitude is a neologism with reference to the Arab word ‘dhimmi,’ which historically refers to the higher tax-paying non-Muslims (Christians and Jews) living and worshipping under Islamic rule during the Islamic caliphate, and the word ‘servitude’.

Ye’or describes dhimmitude as representing “a behavior dictated by fear (terrorism), pacifism when aggressed, rather than resistance, servility because of cowardice and vulnerability”[13]. In her book, Eurabia: the Euro-Arab Axis, Ye’or purports that the alleged ideological subjugation of Europe to an ongoing ‘global jihad strategy’ contributes to:

“the spirit of dhimmitude that blinds us, that instills in us a hatred for our own values, and the wish to destroy our own origins and our own history”[14].

Georgetown University Lecture

University students walked out and criticisms were raised by Jewish and Muslim students and faculty when Ye’or and David Littman gave a lecture[15] entitled “The Ideology of Jihad, Dhimmitude and Human Rights” at Georgetown University, Washington DC, in October 2002[16]..

Rod Dreher of the National Review reported[17]:

”In a letter to The Hoya, [the university newsletter] Jewish student leaders Julia Segall and Daniel Spector called the event "a disaster, and [we] denounce the views brought forth by Bat Ye'or and David Littman." The pair called their guest speakers "hateful, slanderous and a crude surprise to us." They accused the speakers of making "no effort to make a clear distinction between pure, harmonious Islam, and the acts of a few who falsely claim to act in the name of Islam.”

Dreher quoted the spokesperson for the Georgetown Israel Alliance as saying:

"The speakers gave us certain ideas about what they would speak about so that they could get in the door, and once they were in, they gave a completely different idea of what we had wanted. It was two-faced and manipulative"

'Eurabia'

Ye’or popularized the term Eurabia in her 2005 anti-Muslim book, Eurabia: the Euro-Arab axis[18], contending the existence of a consciously designed plot between the Arab world and European politicians for “the transformation of Europe into “Eurabia,” a cultural and political appendage of the Arab/Muslim world [which] is fundamentally anti-Christian, anti-Western, anti-American, and antisemitic.” In Ye’or’s analysis, the Eurabian political project began with the 1973 French-initiated Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD), which was followed by negations between the League of Arab States (Arab League) and the European Economic Community (EEC) and resulted in the opening up of new economic, political and cultural links between the Arab world and Europe[19].

Ye’or described the progression of Eurabia to Jamie Glazov of Front Page Magazine as being:

“a project that was conceived, planned and pursued consistently through immigration policy, propaganda, church support, economic associations and aid, cultural, media and academic collaboration. Generations grew up within this political framework; they were educated and conditioned to support it and go along with it. This is the source of the strong anti-American feeling in Europe and of the paranoiac obsession with Israel, two elements that form the cornerstone of Eurabia”[20].

She claimed that “Palestinianism is at the root of Europe's self-destruction,” during a CounterJihad conference speech[21] and told Glazov that ‘Palestinianism’ constitutes what she refers to as the “Euro-Arab Palestinian cult[22].

"This cult brings together neo-Nazis, Judeophobes, anti-Americans, communists and jihadists. It is a revival of Nazi anti-Jewish and anti-Christian trends, particularly in its hatred of Christian Bible believers and America, the country that was determinant in the defeat of Nazism and Communism. In the 1930-40s, the Nazis had strong links with Palestinians, and those sympathies and alliances continued throughout the years after World War II, thriving in the Euro-Arab Palestinian cult that submerged Western Europe under the umbrella of the gigantic Euro-Arab Dialogue apparatus"[23].

Ye’or has been credited with coining the word Eurabia in a geo-political sense[24], however the term originally comes from a French cultural journal published in the 1970’s of the same name[25].

Criticism

Matt Car’s critical analysis[26] of Ye’or’s Eurabia highlights the following fallacy in her theory:

“The spectre of Eurabia draws its force by presenting marginal figures such as Mohammed Bouyeri, the killer of Theo van Gogh, or Britain’s al-Muhajiroun as ‘representative’ of an entire set of cultural or religious values. In this way, Eurabians shape a particular version of ‘Islam’, which blurs or ignores the distinctions between Islam and Islamism, between violent and non-violent forms of Islamism, between Muslim as an ethnic category and Muslim as a statement of faith, between immigrant, terrorist and refugee.”

Attempt to Bar Ye’or from Canada

The Canadian Islamic Congress and the Canadian Arab Federation protested the Fraser Institute-sponsored "Immigration Policy, Border Controls, and the Terrorist Threat in Canada and the United States" conference in Toronto, Canada, in June 2007, at which Bat Ye’or was keynote speaker. The Muslim and Arab groups issued a joint statement urging the barring of Ye’or from entering Canada.

"The blatant bigotry in this gathering of speakers is clearly apparent," today's joint statement said. "They were chosen for their mutually negative views regarding non-European immigrants and in particular the Muslim and Arab immigrant community"[27].

Connections

Mossad

In June 2008 Ye'or and her husband, David Littman, attended an event commemorating Operation Mural (the 1961 Mossad operation in which they participated) at the residence of Israeli president, Shimon Peres in Jerusalem. Also present at the commemoration were the surviving Mossad operatives who had become "life-long friends" of Ye'or and Littman. Littman said this:

"How appropriate that our dear, life-long friends are here on this very special occasion, 47 years later: Shmuel Toledano, Deputy for Diaspora Affairs to Isser Harel, renowned head of the Mossad; Carmit Gatmon, widow and companion in life and work of Alex Gatmon, the remarkably outstanding Mossad chief in Morocco, who died prematurely in 1981; Gad Shahar – “Georges” to me – his close collaborator and my main ‘contact’ in Casablanca, with whose constant advice and support the operation slowly evolved;Pinhas Katsir – “Jacques” to me who took over from him as my ‘contact’ for the last fortnight; and Miriam Korshia who, with her husband Abraham-Hubert Korshia, provided the logistics for those parents who wished to inscribe their children for Swiss holidays, en route for Zion – in some cases three or four children – although unsure of seeing them for many anxious months or more, until they could eventually join them in Israel"[28].


CounterJihad Europa

Ye’or is listed as one the “experts”, “highly knowledgeable on many topics,” on the CounterJihad Europa website[29] - a project created with help from Center for Security Policy’s Christine Brim [30] and which was set up following the Center for Vigilant Freedom-sponsored CounterJihad Brussels Conference in 2007. The conference centred largely on Ye’or’s Eurabia thesis, which has become a central ideological underpinning linking some American neoconservatives such as those associated with Frank Gaffney and his Center for Security Policy, and European far-right groups such as fascist antecedents like Vlaams Belang and populist politicians like Geert Wilders.

Toby Archer of the Finnish Institute of International Affairs noted[31] the American and European appeal of Ye’or’s work, despite differing reasons:

“Bat Ye'or's work has been taken seriously on the far right in the United States in the post-9/11 era. After the brutal attacks on New York and Washington, huge suspicions of Islam spread through society. Additionally, through 2002, as momentum built toward the invasion of Iraq, many Americans wanted an explanation for why many Europeans did not see deposing Saddam as an important battle in the “Global War on Terror” - as it was believed to be by the majority of Americans. The bruising trans-Atlantic debates of that period: Donald Rumsfeld's division of “old” and “new Europe”, accusations of moral cowardice, military incompetence and willful blindness in comparison to America's moral clarity all helped to create an environment where the Eurabia thesis would make more sense than might otherwise have been the case.”
“Firstly, European nation-states are responding to the impacts of a transnational, sub-state political phenomenon of Jihadi violence, of the likes of al-Qaeda, as well as to global immigration flows. The counter-jihad discourse offers a response to these perceived threats to societal security, but being originally a predominantly American discourse, it is adapted and changed by its contact with European politics, being focused increasingly on immigration and societal security and less on terrorism and state security.”

Archer added:

“This is providing such parties with, at least on the simplest of levels, a non-racist way of criticising immigration into Europe – instead of focusing on the colour of ethnicity of immigrants, rather they focus on the religion claiming that this is what is contrary to “European” or “Western values.”

Reception

Ye’or has been lauded by the usual neoconservative suspects engaged in counterjihad discourse and has attracted praise from right-wing academics such as Niall Ferguson[32] and Johannes Jansen[33] along with right-wing American bloggers, Baron Bodissey[34] and Pamela Geller[35].

  • Fascist antecedent Vlaams Belang leader Filip Dewinter spoke approvingly of Ye'or, saying in an interview in Jewish Week: "Yes, we’re afraid of Islam. The islamisation of Europe is a frightening thing. Even distinguished Jewish scholars as Bat Ye’or and Bernard Lewis warned of this"[36].
  • Ye’or has gained the admiration of fellow International Free Press Society (IFPS) Board of Advisor Geert Wilders, who, being denied entry into Britain on public safety grounds in February, 2009, [37] concurred with Ye’or, saying in 2008, “Immigration from Muslim countries and the demographics will result in the Eurabia that the brave Bat Ye'or is warning about”[38].

On 27 February, 2009, IFPS joined neoconservative groups, Center for Security Policy, Freedom Center and the Middle East Forum, in co-sponsoring an event at Washington's National Press Club during Wilder's trip to the US. Wilder's anti-Islam film, Fitna, was shown at the event and speeches were given by Wilders, Frank Gaffney and IFPS' president and vice president, Lars Hedegaard and Diana West[39].

On April, 2009, Ye’or told Véronique Chemla of FrontPage Magazine, “Geert Wilders goes from one country to another, unarmed, alone, courageously facing up to governments influenced by the OIC’s occult power to tell people: “Wake up, it’s five to midnight!”[40].

  • BNP chairman and MEP Nick Griffin supported Ye’or in a 2005 interview:
“We are deeply concerned about the mainly -- though not exclusively - French elite project to morph the EU, Turkey and the Mahgreb into 'Eurabia'. Bat Ye'or is 100% right about this. If this now far-advanced scheme comes to fruition then it would in turn lead to the Islamification of the whole European continent”[41].

Previously, Griffin was convicted of inciting racial hatred in 1998 and he has been accused of denying the Holocaust[42][43].

Conferences

  • In September 2008 Ye'or gave speeches in Italian at the Oriana Fallaci Commemoration[49], or what the CounterJihad Europa website’s news and blog service, Gates of Vienna, referred to as a reconvening of CounterJihad Europe, bearing the theme “Islamophobia and Freedom of Speech”[50]. Awards were given out to Geert Wilders, Filip Dewinter and Robert Spencer, among others[51].
  • In February 2009 Ye’or was a panelist at the Candor or Respect? Talking about the Religion of Others conference hosted by the Institute for Religion, Culture, & Public Life in New York. Flemming Rose, commissioner of the controversial Mohammed carton in 2005, was a panelist as well[52].

Views

On Barack Obama

“President Obama and all his team share the European illusions that complacency, tributes, smiles and concessions to terrorist gangs will maintain the peace. Everyone wants peace, but we have to know how far we can go without finding ourselves enslaved to dhimmitude. Dhimmitude means peace and security but in submission”[53].

On Palestine

“We see here how Palestinianism is a revival of Nazism. The aim of Euro-Palestinianism is to criminalize the birth of the State of Israel in order to create an Israeli guilt toward the Arabs, similar to the European guilt for the Holocaust, while in fact Israel represents the liberation of the Jewish people from the yoke of the jihad-dhimmitude rules imposed over all the Islamic empire, including the Land of Israel. This Eurabian policy endorses the legitimacy of jihadism, including against Christians”[54].

On migration

Referring to her Eurabia thesis, Ye'or said: "Immigration is part of the whole strategy, which is an ambition to create a new civilizational concept based on multiculturalism, on the dissolution of people's typical characteristics"[55].

Affiliations

Connections

Publications

Books

  • Les Juifs en Egypte, 1971, Editions de l'Avenir, Geneva (in French, title translates as "The Jews in Egypt")
  • The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians Under Islam, 1985
  • The Decline of Eastern Christianity: From Jihad to Dhimmitude, 1996
  • Islam and Dhimmitude: Where Civilizations Collide, 2001
  • Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis, 2005
  • Verso il Califfato Universale: Come l’Europa è diventata complice dell’espansionismo musulmano, Lindau, Torino (Toward the Universal Caliphate: How Europe Became an Accomplice of Muslim Expansionism) 2009

Book chapters

  • 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. 1976
  • 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, 1999
  • 17 chapters in Robert Spencer (ed.), The Myth of Islamic Tolerance: How Islamic Law Treats Non-Muslims, 2005

Other Works

Video

Ye'or is featured in the 2006 documentary, “Islam: What the West Needs to Know”[56]', along with Robert Spencer, Serge Trifkovic, Abdullah Al-Araby and Walid Shoebat. The documentary was produced and directed by Gregory M. Davis and Bryan Daly of Quixotic Media and distributed by Quixotic Media and Disinformation Company[57].

New York Public Library

A collection of Ye’or’s correspondence with others from 1969-2006, as well as drafts and proofs from Ye’or’s books, articles, lectures and ephemera, have been deposited at the Dorot Jewish Division of the New York Public Library[58] to which Ye’or and her husband donated between $1,000 and $24,999, according to the library’s 2007 annual report[59].

Contact

Websites:

External Resources

Notes

  1. ↑ Bat Ye’or Dhimmitude: Archive, Dhimmitude, accessed 14 June 2009
  2. ↑ Matt Carr You are now entering Eurabia 2006 accessed 15 June 2009
  3. ↑ Michael Coren http://www.canada.com/nationalpost/news/issuesideas/story.html?id=fcd13d74-001d-4c2a-9d57-65ef5b136625 Eurabia’s author comes to Canada] National Post, 27 June 2009, accessed 12 July 2009
  4. ↑ Gilbert, M., 2000), A History of the Twentieth Century: Volume 2, 1933-1958 Harper Perennial; Reprint edition 5
  5. ↑ Julia Duin State of 'dhimmitude seen as threat to Christians, Jews The Washington Times, 30 October 2002, accessed 1 July 2009
  6. ↑ http://wupj.org/Publications/Newsletter.asp?ContentID=100 World Union for Progressive Judaism Newsletter Issue 293, 3 January 2008 accessed 1 July 2007
  7. ↑ http://www.drzz.info/article-23534939.html 15 October 2008, accessed 1 July 2009
  8. ↑ David Littman How a young British Jew ended up in a Mossad operation – and is now celebrated by Israel Free Republic, 16 October 2008, accessed 20 June 2009
  9. ↑ Littman’s biography Dhimmitude website, accessed 28 June 2009
  10. ↑ Bat Ye'or, "Terres arabes: terres de 'dhimmitude'", in La Cultura Sefardita, vol. 1, La Rassegna mensile di Israel 44, no. 1-4, 3rd series (1983): 94-102
  11. ↑ Lebanon News 8, no. 18 (September 14, 1985), 1-2
  12. ↑ Bat Ye’or Dhimmitude http://www.dhimmitude.org/index.html the Status of Non-Muslim Minorities Under Islamic Rule accessed 29 July 2009
  13. ↑ John W. Whitehead An interview with Bat Ye’or Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis Oldspeak, 6 September 2005, accessed 2 August 2009
  14. ↑ Bat Ye’or, Eurabia: the Euro-Arab axis (Fairleigh, Dickinson University Press, 2005), p. 36.
  15. ↑ Bat Ye’or Lecture subject: The Ideology of Jihad, Dhimmitude and Human Rights The Hoya, 22 October 2002, accessed 6 July 2009
  16. ↑ Julia Duin State of 'dhimmitude’ seen as threat to Christians, Jews The Washington Times, 30 October 2002, accessed 1 July 2009
  17. ↑ Rod Dreher Damned if you do National Review, 29 October 2002, accessed 7 July 2009
  18. ↑ Ye'or, Bat (2005) Eurabia: the Euro-Arab axis Fairleigh Dickinson University Press; U.S.
  19. ↑ Wardenburg, J., (2003) Muslims and Others: Relations in Context Berlin, New York, Walter de Gruyter
  20. ↑ Jamie Glazov Eurabia Frontpagemagazine, 21 September 2004, accessed 6 July 2009
  21. ↑ Bat Ye’or Eurabia: How far has it gone? Counter-jihad Conference, 18 October 2007, accessed 6 July 2009
  22. ↑ Jamie Glazov Eurabia Frontpagemagazine, 21 September 2004, accessed 6 July 2009
  23. ↑ Jamie Glazov Eurabia FrontPage magazine, 21 September 2004, accessed 6 July 2009
  24. ↑ Matt Carr http://rac.sagepub.com You are now entering Eurabia 2006 accessed 15 June 2009
  25. ↑ Archive list Universités de Paris accessed 29 August 2009
  26. ↑ Matt Carr You are now entering Eurabia 2006 accessed 15 June 2009
  27. ↑ Shunpiking Magazine, 11 June 2007, accessed 28 July 2009
  28. ↑ David Littman Speech Tundra Tabloids 15 October 2008, accessed 1 July 2009
  29. ↑ CounterJihad Experts CounterJihad Europa, accessed 14 July 2009
  30. ↑ Tom Griffin Propaganda and the media: Counter-Jihad and the ‘decent’ Left Liberal Conspiracy, 23 March 2009, accessed 16 August 2009
  31. ↑ Toby Archer Learning to love the Jews: the impact of the War on Terror and the counter-jihad blogosphere on European far right parties The Finnish Institute of International Affairs Prepared for he XV NOPSA conference, Tromso, August 2008, accessed 4 July 2009 (with permission)
  32. ↑ Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis book review Fairleigh Dickinson University accessed 28 August 2009
  33. ↑ Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis book review Middle East Quarterly, Spring 2005, accessed August 2009
  34. ↑ Bat Ye’or Speaks in Toronto Gates of Vienna, 30 June 2007, accessed August 12 2009
  35. ↑ The Atlas Interview: Bat Ye’or Atlas Shrugs 4 July 2007, accessed July 4 2009
  36. ↑ Filip Dewinter in Jewish Week Majority Rights, 3 November 2005, accessed 26 August 2009
  37. ↑ Daniel Luban and Eli Clifton Dutch Foe of Islam Goes to Washington Rightweb, 8 March 2009, accessed 25 June 2009
  38. ↑ Geert Wilders Facing Jihad Part II Atlas Shrugs, 15 December 2008, accessed August 20 2009
  39. ↑ Daniel Luban and Eli Clifton Dutch Foe of Islam Goes to Washington Rightweb, 8 March 2009, accessed 25 June 2009
  40. ↑ Véronique Chemla Geert Wilders’ Fight FrontPageMagazine 13 April 2009, accessed 28 August 2009
  41. ↑ The British National Party (BNP) Goes Straight Think Israel, September/October 2005, accessed 29 June 2009
  42. ↑ The Sunday Times, Profile: Nick Griffin, The Times, 14-June-2009, Accessed 15-December-2009
  43. ↑ Profile: Nick Griffin BBC News, 10 November 2006, accessed August 20 2009
  44. ↑ Victims of Jihad Conference International Humanist and Ethical Union, 21 June 2005, accessed 27 June 2009
  45. ↑ Paul Belein Eurabia Scholars gather in The Hague The Brussels Journal, 20 February 2006, accessed 27 June 2009
  46. ↑ Bat Ye’or Counter-jihad conference paper 18 October 2007, accessed 12 July 2009
  47. ↑ Counterjihad Brussels 2007 Conference accessed July 13 2009
  48. ↑ Identity Crisis: Can European Civilisation Survive? International Civil Liberties Alliance, accessed 10 August 2009
  49. ↑ Memorial Oriana Fallaci 2008 International Civil Liberties Alliance, accessed 14 July 2009
  50. ↑ Baron Bodessey Filip Dewinter wins Oriana Fallaci Gates of Vienna, 18 September 2008, accessed 27 July 2009
  51. ↑ Baron Bodessey Filip Dewinter wins Oriana Fallaci Gates of Vienna, 18 September 2008, accessed 27 July 2009
  52. ↑ Spring 2009 Events Institute for Religion, Culture, & Public Life, accessed 29 August 2009
  53. ↑ Véronique Chemla Geert Wilders’ Fight FrontPage Magazine 13 April 2009, accessed 28 August 2009
  54. ↑ John W. Whitehead An interview with Bat Ye’or Eurabia: The Euro-Arab Axis Oldspeak, 6 September 2005, accessed 2 August 2009
  55. ↑ Paul Belein Eurabia Scholars gather in The Hague The Brussels Journal, 20 February 2006, accessed 27 June 2009
  56. ↑ http://www.whatthewestneedstoknow.com/index.asp
  57. ↑ Islam: What the West Needs to Know IMDB, accessed 27 July 2009
  58. ↑ Bat Ye'or New York Public Library, accessed 21 August 2009
  59. ↑ New York Public Library 2007 Public Report New York Public Library, accessed 21 August 2009
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