228 • chapter 5
In other words, the tensions between religions are the result of “selfish-
ness, self- love, egotism, and politics,” no different from the tensions
among members of the same religion. the tensions are decidedly not
the consequence of essential differences between the religions or be-
tween religious beliefs.
translation and the “Microbe” of antisemitismMalul now turns again specifically to the case of antisemitism in a
section of the book entitled “those Who rise Up against the Jews.”
here he sets out to identify the roots of antisemitism in the contem-
porary Middle east. Malul cites a number of recent, late nineteenth-
century european antisemitic works, including edouard Drumont’s La
France Juive (1886), Kalixt de Wolski’s La Russie Juive (1887), Georges
Corneilhan’s Juifs et opportunistes (1889, mentioned above), along with
the classic antitalmudic, anti- Jewish polemic Entdecktes Judenthum
(1700) by Johann andreas eisenmenger.^167 Malul blames these euro-
pean antisemites for the advent of antisemitism in the modern Middle
east, tracing the phenomenon to arabic translations of these types of
works. “this microbe” of antisemitism, carried by “the wind of the
sandstorm to some of the children of the east,” ultimately “entered
their veins and mixed with their blood.”^168 antisemitism, in Malul’s
view, is a foreign, european import to the Middle east, a disease that
has regrettably infected the consciousness and sensibility of many
arabs. Importantly, Malul refers to the source of the phenomenon as
“european,” not “Christian,” highlighting the regional or cultural ori-
gins, but not the religion, of its practitioners. antisemitism is a disease
in Malul’s rendering,^169 unrelated to theological or religious principles.
particularly relevant for our discussion in this chapter, antisemitism is
a disease that has spread through translation.
In one paragraph of his rendition of Jewish history, Malul seeks
to explain two aspects of the Jewish experience that he believes are
widely misunderstood. the first concerned Jews’ loyalty to the govern-
ments of the lands in which they lived; the second related to the per-
ception that Jews were exceedingly wealthy and obsessed with money.
(^167) Malul renders eisenmenger as “armenger.”
(^168) Ibid., 19.
(^169) It is unclear whether Malul had in mind here Leon pinsker’s 1882 Autoemanci-
pation, in which the idea of antisemitism as a disease was a centerpiece of the author’s
proto- Zionist theory.