Despite the protests of Jewish groups from all over the Western world, Egyptian Television has announced that during the upcoming month of Ramadan, it will begin airing a 14-part series called "A Rider Without a Horse." The series is based on "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," the anti-Semitic booklet from 1905 written and distributed by the secret police of Russian Czar Nicholas II, which describes a purported Jewish plot to take over the world. The series describes the efforts of an Egyptian journalist to "verify the truth" of the Protocols and, its producers say, their star discovers a "Zionist plot to take over Palestine." 

Coincidentally or not, the hottest item at this month's international book fair in Damascus is a book by Syrian Defense Minister Mustafa Tlas. The book, "The Matza of Zion," which is now in its eighth edition, is an Arab version of the medieval Christian blood libel: the Jews use the blood of a Muslim child to bake matzas for Passover. 

The origins of both libels and the fact that Arab governments are disseminating them are indications of a dangerous escalation of anti-Semitism in the Arab world. Jewish organizations are increasingly concerned about the fact that even countries that reject Muslim fundamentalism are promoting the anti-Semitic incitement being distributed by reactionary states such as Saudi Arabia. 

The phenomenon highlights the changes Arab anti-Semitism has undergone in recent years. Traditionally, Islam believed in coexistence with the Jews, whose religion, unlike Christianity, was not considered a competitor threatening Islam. Islam made do with attributing an inferior status to Judaism, which the prophet Mohammed recognized as a monotheistic religion that predated his faith. 

Arab and Muslim anti-Semitism is linked to the struggle with Zionism over the Land of Israel, and recently it has experienced a "reactionary" change. In preceding decades, modern Arab anti-Semitism drew its terms from those of Christian anti-Semitism and European racism. Now, with the surge in Muslim fundamentalism, Arab anti-Semitism has also returned to the Koran. The Jews are no longer an inferior people that should be kept in inferior status and their lives protected; they are enemies of Islam and must be obliterated. Muslim anti-Semitism is thus becoming like the "annihilationist" anti-Semitism of the Nazi era. As a result, a paradox has emerged in which almost the only partners to this kind of anti-Semitism are European Christian neo-Nazis and racists. These are the same groups whose hooligans organize murderous rampages against Muslim immigrants to their countries. 

The radicalized return to fundamentalist Muslim roots is described by Dr. Meir Litvak's study in the 2002 report of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem's Vidal Sassoon International Center for the Study of Antisemitism. He notes, among other things, that "Zionism," "Israel" and "Jews" are used interchangeably by the Arabs, not only for tactical propaganda purposes, to argue that they are not anti-Semites, but also for ideological reasons. 

They see Zionism and the State of Israel as the modern embodiment of Judaism, which they claim, was the sworn enemy of the prophet, Mohammed. "The centrality of the Arab-Israeli conflict in the lives of the Palestinians has caused anti-Semitism to assume an even more prominent place in the doctrine of the Hamas movement - the Muslim movements now perceive the struggle against Israel and the Jews as part of the broader war between Muslim culture and Western culture." 

Litvak notes that there are many concepts that Hamas propaganda has borrowed from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" about the world media and the establishment of "secret organizations" such as the Rotary Club and the Free Masons in order "to destroy the culture" and "disseminate Jewish vileness." In many respects, the new Muslim anti-Semitism is more dangerous than its predecessors because it expresses an ideological force. It stems from a deeper popular belief and is less subject to political changes such as peace agreements. 

Recently, a new development in Muslim anti-Semitism has emerged - a combination of the ideology of anti-Western globalization movements and Jew hatred. "Many Arab and Muslim writers see globalization as a threat to Arab culture and identity and fear that it will increase Western control of their economies and political systems." Associating globalization with "Jewish intrigues" makes it easier for the Arabs to explain why they lag behind in economics, technology and science, Litvak concludes. 

Fundamentalist and wealthy Saudi Arabia, the turf that produced Osama bin Laden and his movement, is a hotbed of Muslim anti-Semitism, which often influences Egypt, Syria and other "progressive" Arab states. Saudi Arabian television and newspapers specifically incite to murder Jews, something that especially infuriates American Jews, to whom Saudi Arabia is presented as their loyal ally. Saudi anti-Semitism and its social backwardness have been receiving increasing coverage in the American media since the terrorist attacks on the Twin Towers in September of last year. The Saudis, for their part, attribute this growing criticism to Jewish influence. Just seeing the number of members of Congress who wear Jewish skullcaps is enough to explain the accusations made against us, the Saudi defense minister, Prince Sultan (father of Saudi Arabia's ambassador to the U.S.) said in an interview with a London-based Arabic newspaper. 

The Arabs continue to view the Holocaust and the feelings of guilt stemming from it as one of the main reasons for the establishment of the State of Israel. Holocaust denial is a regular feature of Arab anti-Semitism, and is also echoed in the official Arab media. There are other reasons for it as well: the Arabs understand that the guilt feelings are one of the reasons for Western aid to Israel. They are aware of the great impact that the memory of the Holocaust has on Jewish identity in the diaspora and diaspora support for the Jewish state. The Arabs understand that the Holocaust is the most sensitive point for the Jews and that it can be used to strike at both Zionists and non-Zionists. 

The Jews feel physically threatened by Muslim fundamentalist terrorism. They are asking local authorities to help them protect their lives and their institutions. On the other hand, many also expect Israel to act cautiously, lest the way it is portrayed in the international media increase the fervor of the Muslim minority and the criticism coming from the Christian public. 

There are Arab intellectuals who understand and appreciate the importance of their Western, liberal, Jewish colleagues' support of the Palestinian cause. However, the Muslim fundamentalists do not differentiate between "the good Jew" and "the bad Jew." Fundamentalist anti-Semitism is directed at both.