La civilización judeocristiana : Historia de una impostura

The idea of ​​a “Judeo-Christian civilization” is anything but neutral. In fact, it conceals far more than it reveals: instrumentalized by states, political leaders, and nationalist movements, it serves to justify sectarianism, rewrite history, and reinforce geopolitical divisions. Zionism —and, since its founding, the State of Israel— relies on it to assert its alignment with the West, presenting itself as the “vanguard of Judeo-Christian civilization” in opposition to the so-called “Arab-Muslim enemy.” In turn, Arab nationalisms exploit this label to suppress or downplay the Jewish influence within their own histories. In this essay, Sophie Bessis analyzes the ideological foundations of a construct that masks centuries of Christian antisemitism, marginalizes the contributions of the East to Western civilization, and excludes Islam from the European cultural heritage. Thanks to this misconception, both antisemitism and its antithesis, philosemitism, reinforce the myth of Jewish exceptionalism, condemning Jews to be first and foremost Jews, rather than citizens. Never before has it been so urgent to expose the distortions of a myth that continues to shape public debate and international relations.