In 2011, the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs published the groundbreaking study by Ehud Rosen, “Mapping the Organizational Sources of the Global Delegitimization Campaign against Israel in the UK.” We were curious to understand how Britain emerged as a hub for anti-Israel activity in Europe. How was it possible that in the country that issued the Balfour Declaration in 1917 and was designated by the League of Nations to implement its Mandate for Palestine, political forces were growing and challenging the moral validity of the Jewish state?
What emerged from Rosen’s work was evidence of intimate links between the leading adversaries of Israel and Britain with Islamist groups, many of which had links to international terrorism. The Muslim Association of Britain was tied to the Muslim Brotherhood (MB). It invited Sheikh Yusuf Qaradawi to London in 2004, despite his role as one of the MB’s critical spiritual leaders. Some of its more anti-Western members formed the British Muslim Initiative. These groups were among the leaders of the delegitimization campaign against Israel.
With this book, Rosen has globalized his research and helps the reader understand the extensive web of the delegitimization campaign, including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions (BDS) initiatives that have grown in the last decade. While the campaign has a clear economic side, it also has an ideological element which helps it recruit its supporters. Rosen’s work uncovers these links and provides important insights that can help defeat this jihadi war against the State of Israel.
