2024 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 2024 Bernard Lewis Prize are:

Antisemitism as a Civilizational Phenomenon: An Analytical Essay
(Prof. Liah Greenfeld, Boston University)

Hate Speech and Academic Freedom: The Antisemitic Assault on Basic Principles
(Prof. Cary Nelson, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)

Israel and the Question of Racism and Related Intolerance: The Road to the World Conference at Durban
(Ms. Batsheva Neuer, Hebrew University of Jerusalem)

Israel/Palestine in World Religions: Whose Promised Land?
(Prof. Ilan Troen, Ben-Gurion and Brandeis University)