Bernard Lewis Prize

European anti-Semitism, in both its theological and racist versions, was essentially alien to Islamic traditions, culture, and modes of thought. But to an astonishing degree, the ideas, the literature, even the crudest inventions of the Nazis and their predecessors have been internalized and Islamized. The major themes—poisoning the wells, the invented Talmud quotations, ritual murder, the hatred of mankind, the Masonic and other conspiracy theories, taking over the world—remain; but with an Islamic, even a Qur’anic twist.

- Prof. Bernard Lewis


 The Bernard Lewis Prize is awarded to scholars or practitioners engaged in the study of issues on antisemitism that were of great importance to our founding chairman, Prof. Bernard Lewis. While Christian antisemitism is well-studied, a stigma remains around addressing antisemitism in the Muslim world. Beyond this, relatively few scholars focus on the Middle Eastern dimensions of Christian antisemitism in religious and cultural terms, much less the political impacts in the West. 

 

The winners of the 2022 Bernard Lewis Prize are:

Israel's Moment: International Support for and Opposition to Establishing the Jewish State, 1945-1949 (Cambridge University Press, 2022)
Prof. Jeffrey Herf, University of Maryland, College Park

Saudi Arabia: A SWOT Analysis of a Family-Wahhabi Nationalism Case Study
Dr. Gadi Hitman, Ariel University

Antisemitism in popular culture
Prof. Noha Mellor, University of Sharjah

State-level Incitement against Zionism on the eve of the Aleppo Pogrom of 1947
Dr. Joel Parker, The Moshe Dayan Center for Middle Eastern and African Studies