Ash-Shatat

Ash-Shatat (Arabic: الشتات, lit. 'The Diaspora') is a 29-part Syrian television series produced in 2003 by a private Syrian film company,[1] Linn, at a cost of $5.1m.[2]

The Anti-Defamation League, which has advanced the concept of new antisemitism, including a definition that says anti-Zionism and some criticisms of Israel are antisemitic,[3][4] alleged that the series is based in part on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, reflects anti-Semitic stereotypes and themes, depicts Jews engaging in a conspiracy to rule the world, and repeats traditional blood libels against Jews, such as the murder of Christian children and the use of their blood to bake matzah.[5] The Conseil Représentatif des Institutions juives de France also said that scenes in Al-Shatat, which purported to depict the history of the Zionist movement, portrayed the killing of a Christian child by Jews to use the victim's blood to make matzoh.[6]

Although it was produced in Syria and the closing credits give "special thanks" to various Syrian government entities (including the security ministry, the culture ministry, the Damascus Police Command, and the Department of Antiquities and Museums), Syrian national television "declined to air the program".[1] Ash-Shatat was shown on Lebanon's Al-Manar, leading to a ban on the channel in France. Al-Manar responded that the French decision was political and not legal, influenced by Israel and Jewish lobbies.[7] According to Counterpunch, the station droppped it: "Al Manar management apologized for airing the series, dropped it and explained that the Station had purchased it without first viewing the entire series."[8] The series was shown in Iran in 2004, and in Jordan during October 2005 on Al-Mamnou, a Jordanian satellite network.[8]

  1. ^ a b U.S. Department of State (2005), Country Report on Human Rights Practices 2004 - Syria, February 2005
  2. ^ MEMRI, 12 December 2003, Al-Shatat: The Syrian-Produced Ramadan 2003 TV Special
  3. ^ Romeyn, Esther (2020-03-14). "(Anti) 'new antisemitism' as a transnational field of racial governance". Patterns of Prejudice. 54 (1–2). Informa UK Limited: 199–214. doi:10.1080/0031322x.2019.1696048. ISSN 0031-322X. S2CID 219029515. In the United States, one the strongest promoters of various installments of the 'new antisemitism' thesis has been the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) which in 1974 published a book entitled The New Anti-Semitism.
  4. ^ Levin, Geoffery P. (2021). "Before the New Antisemitism: Arab Critics of Zionism and American Jewish Politics, 1917–1974". American Jewish History. 105 (1–2). Project MUSE: 103–126. doi:10.1353/ajh.2021.0005. ISSN 1086-3141. S2CID 239741775. The ADL responded to these critiques as they came, but also in a cohesive way through a new book by Forster and Epstein titled The New Anti-Semitism, which would be their most important and best-selling publication.98 Like their previous books, The New Anti-Semitism stitched together a list of types of antisemitic threats, which had grown in length. In contrast to prior books focused on the far right and Arab propagandists, The New Anti-Semitism included the right-wing threat alongside threats that emanated from "The USSR, Western Europe, Latin America," and included "the Radical Left," "Arabs and Pro-Arabs," and Black Americans. Taken collectively, this bundle of threats, taken to include anti-Zionism, has been called the "New Anti-Semitism" from the book's publication onwards.
  5. ^ Anti Defamation League, 9 January 2004, Satellite Network Recycles The Protocols Of The Elders of Zion Archived 2013-01-15 at the Wayback Machine
  6. ^ Cochrane, Paul (7 March 2007). "Bombs and broadcasts: Al Manar's battle to stay on air". Arab Media & Society. Retrieved 15 November 2024.
  7. ^ Al Jazeera, 27 December 2004 US designates Al-Manar TV 'terrorist' Archived 18 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved 1 August 2006
  8. ^ a b Franklin Lamb (January 1–3, 2010). "The Israel Lobby's War on Al Manar TV: How a Lebanese Television Station Got Included on the T-List". CounterPunch. Archived from the original on 2010-01-04. Retrieved 2010-01-06.