Antisemitism and Anti-Zionism in Iran: The Effects of Identity, Threat, and Political Trust

Abstract

Antisemitism and anti-Zionism constitute two important ideological building blocks of the Islamic Republic of Iran. This article is the first to present quantitative empirical survey data elucidating attitudes towards Jews and Israel among an opportunity sample of Iranians. This article examines the correlates of antisemitism and anti-Zionism in Iran with particular attention to the effects of identity, threat and political trust. Consistent with emerging research into antisemitism and anti-Zionism, there was a positive association between both forms of prejudice, suggesting social psychological overlap between the constructs. Given the pervasiveness of antisemitic and anti-Zionist representations in Iran, there were no significant differences in levels of anti-Zionism or antisemitism on the basis of gender and educational orientations. Political conservatives did manifest greater antisemitism and anti-Zionism than political reformists, although both groups scored highly on these scales. There was a significant interaction effect of Iranian national identity and political trust on anti-Zionism, and a significant interaction effect of Muslim religious identity and political trust on antisemitism. Political trust was by far the most powerful predictor of both forms of prejudice, followed by the perception of identity threat. These observations are considered through the lenses of Social Identity Theory and Identity Process Theory from social psychology.

The Iran‐Israel Conflict: An Ultra‐Ideological Explanation

“…The conflation of anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism has been part of the same project. 47 These far-right groups were totally against the Oslo Accords and inhibited the formation of an independent Palestinian government by describing it as a surrender. The rightists in Israel have repeatedly indoctrinated people by emphasizing security issues and the need for draconian policies.…”

‘Hitler had a valid argument against some Jews’: Repertoires for the denial of antisemitism in Facebook discussion of a survey of attitudes to Jews and Israel

“…There have been a number of quantitative studies investigating the relationship between anti-Jewish and anti-Israeli or anti-Zionist attitudes. The largest was carried out by Kaplan and Small (2006), who presented over 5000 respondents across Europe with anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish statements, and found agreement with to the former to predict agreement with the latter (for smaller studies with similar findings, see Cohen et al, 2009;Frindte et al, 2005;Jaspal, 2015;Swami, 2012;Weinstein and Jackson, 2010). Staetsky's (2017) study, whose reception is analysed here, used a sample of just over 4000 people in the UK, including booster samples from the Far Left, the Far Right, and the Muslim community.…”