Bat Ye'or          A selection of English Lectures
 
 
1. Myths and Politics: Origin of the Myth of a Tolerant Pluralistic Islamic Society
Lecture of 31 August 1995 at a Symposium on the Balkan War (Chicago, Illinois) under the auspices of the Lord Byron Foundation For Balkan Studies and The International Strategic Studies Association.
    Ten years ago when I came to America for the launching of my book The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam, I was struck by the inscription on the Archives Building in Washington: "Past is Prologue". I had thought - at least at the beginning of my research - that my subject related to a remote past, but I realized that contemporary events were rapidly modernizing this past. Muslim countries, where Islamic law - the shari'a - had been replaced by modern juridiction imposed by the European colonizing powers, were abandoning the secularizing trend, replacing it with Islamization in numerous sectors of life...    More ...

2. The Decline of Eastern Christian Communities in the Modern Middle East
Lecture of 11 November, 1996 at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, The Middle Eastern Unit  and The Faculty of Humanities.  Chair: Dr. David Satran (Department of Comparative Religion)
    I have been asked to address you today on the decline of Eastern Christian communities in the modern Middle East. This process of Christian demographical declined has, however, been a permanent trend in Islamized lands, sometimes accelerated by specific events, sometimes stabilized. But the process of withering away has always been there from the beginning and, with the passing centuries, Christian populations that formerly constituted majorities dwindled to minorities - even disappearing from certain regions...   More ...

3. PAST IS PROLOGUE: The Challenge of Islamism Today
Testimony of  29 April 1997, at the U.S. Congressional Briefing on Capitol Hill (Human Rights Caucus) 
Testimony on 1 May 1997 Senate Foreign Relations Committee: Subcommittee on Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs. Hearing on Religious Persecution in the Middle East

An Historical Overview of the Persecution of Christians under Islam.
    To fully understand the present tragic situation of Christians in Muslim lands, one must comprehend the ideological and historical pattern that is conducive to violations of human rights, even though this pattern does not seem to be a deliberate, monolithical, anti-Christian policy. However, as this structure is integrated into the corpus of Islamic law  (the shari'a), it functions in those countries that either apply the shari'a in full, or whose laws are inspired by it...   More ...

4. Persecution of Jews and Christians:  Testimony vs. Silence
Lecture at the Ethics and Public Policy Center  (President: Elliott Abrams) on Thursday, 2 April 1998
(Respondents: George Weigel and Paul Marshall)
"...I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked; but that the wicked turn from his way and live..." (Ezekiel 33:11)
   I wish to thank Elliott Abrams for giving me the privilege of sharing with you some reflections on the meaning of Testimony vs. Silence. But we must first ask ourselves - testimony about what? And also - testifying for which purpose? 
   To answer the first question, we can say that the Bible - to mention but this aspect - testifies to a supra-human and an immanent order of values or, more simply, to a divine presence within the universe and humanity ... More ...

5. Contemporary Arab and Muslim perceptions of the Other
1st session:  The Contemporary Middle East:  minorities, pluralism, Dhimmitude
Presentation at the International Conference at the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, Paris, on Monday 11 June 2001
The perception of the Other in contemporary Arab and Muslim societies is very differentiated; the situation in Turkey can not be compared with the situation in Afghanistan.  Perception of the Other is clearly influenced by history and culture, and if traditional prejudices have never been condemned in a society, they will be all the more meaningful, particularly if they are justified by religious interpretations& More ...

6. A Culture of Hate
Introduction to an "analysis and discussion" at the United Nations (Geneva), 31 July 2001, organized by the NGO, Association for World Education.  (Spoken in French)
These past years there has never been so much talk of the dialogue of civilizations and the culture of peace, while one is confronted with an absoulute culture of hate, of an outburst of terrorism against civilians, of discrimination, and of religious intolerance. More ... 

7. Anti-Christian Anti-Zionism,  in "Sens" (Sept.-Oct. 2001)
The Judeo-Christian conflict has lasted for nearly two millenia. Much ink has flowed to justify the slanders inciting to hate and pogroms, or to obliterate accusations and  defend the victims. No century and no Christian country has been spared Israel's existentialist struggle against Hate ... More ...

8. PDF File   More ...
 

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