For many years I have been surprised by the level of anti-Semitism I have encountered in the Arab world. Put simply, the dislike of Israel (shown in a recent international poll to be the most unpopular country in the world) spills over among the unthinking into a dislike of all Jews worldwide. The best cure is to meet the many Jews who are anti-Zionist, most of whom had a contempt for Ariel Sharon’s government in all its extreme and eccentric aspects as strong as my own, and who were deeply shocked by Israel’s behavior in Lebanon last summer.

In the middle of March a row occurred at the University of Leeds over the subject of “Islamic anti-Semitism”, which was the title of a lecture to be given by a German academic. A Dr. Matthias Küntzel arrived at that Northern University to start a three-day program of lectures and seminars. He has lectured on that subject around the world. He is just back from giving a talk at Yale University.

He is no stranger to either politics or controversial issues having been an adviser to the Green Party in Germany. He is employed as a research associate at the Vidal Sassoon International Center at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Dr. Küntzel gave Leeds University’s German Department, which had invited him, the subject for his main lecture some three weeks in advance:

“Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic anti-Semitism in the Middle East”.

The Department hoped it might attract a considerable audience.

Muslim students at the University reacted unfavorably when they discovered what was being planned. Ahmed Sawalem, president of the students’ Islamic Society, contacted the office of Vice Chancellor Professor Michael Arthur to register a formal complaint. He said later:

“The title of the talk is provocative and I have searched the Internet to read his writings and they are not very pleasant.”

Apparently the kernel of Dr. Küntzel’s opinions can be found in a piece he wrote in 2005 in the Jewish Political Studies Review:

“Anti-Semitism based on the notion of a Jewish world conspiracy is not rooted in Islamic tradition but, rather, in European ideological models. The decisive transfer of this ideology to the Muslim world took place between 1937 and 1945 under the impact of Nazi propaganda ... Although Islamism is an independent, anti-Semitic, anti-modern mass movement, its main early promoters, the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt and the Mufti and the Qassamites in Palestine, were supported financially and ideologically by agencies of the German National Socialist Government.”

The university authorities decided to call off Dr. Küntzel’s lecture and seminars on “security grounds”.

There were concerns he might be attacked, and they claimed proper arrangements for stewarding the meeting had not been made. The Islamic Society had not asked specifically for the talk to be cancelled. The German Department had been asked for a change of title and agreed to relabel it as a lecture on:

“The Nazi Legacy: the export of anti-Semitism to the Middle East”.

This was certainly more diplomatic. Talks took place between Professor Stuart Taberner, head of the German Department, and the vice chancellor’s staff.

These goings on at Leeds University attracted national attention when complaints were made, as inevitably they would be made, over the loss of free speech at the university. Dr. Küntzel led the charge:

“... this is the first time I have been invited to lecture in the UK. Nothing like this has ever happened before — this is censorship ... I value the integrity of academic debate and I feel that it really is in danger here. This is a very important subject and if you cannot address it on university property, then what is a university for?”

By chance a day after this controversy made the news, Inayat Bunglawala, assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council in Britain, told The Jewish Chronicle:

“Muslim communities must take more responsibility to ensure that criticism of some of Israel’s policies does not slide into a kind of a casual anti-Semitism. Perhaps the best way to encourage this vigilance is to ensure that grassroots ties prosper between our communities.”

I welcome Bunglawala’s sensible approach. He has made it clear that tension in the Middle East should not obscure that Jews and Muslims living in Britain have much in common. Muslim-Jewish relations in the United Kingdom are not as good as they might be.

As for Leeds University, I cannot help thinking it could have been handled better. The organization of the lecture and the seminars should have been decided on and arranged in detail long before this controversial speaker arrived in Britain. For his part Dr. Küntzel should have thought a little harder as to the title of his lecture. I suspect he wanted to make a splash.