science versus bigotry

There is an exchange at FrontPage over Andrew Bostom's review of Matthias Küntzel's book on Jihad and Jew-Hatred: Islamism, Nazism and the Roots of 9/11. Küntzel rightly accuses Bostom of hostility and Bostom returns with more of the same. Here is a little of Küntzel's statement, followed by the comment I left under the article.

It is true and well known that the separation from and hatred of the Jews began with Muhammad’s activities in Medina and is a constitutive element of Islam. Anti-Judaism as laid down in the Koran, however, is not the same as antisemitism as laid down in "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". Mediaeval Jew-hatred considered everything Jewish to be evil. Modern antisemitism, on the other hand, deems all "evil" to be Jewish. In the former case the Jew could save his life through acceptance of the rules of dhimmitude or conversion to Christianity (or Islam). In the latter case, what is involved is not just oppression or conversion, but an irrational belief that the salvation of the world depends on the destruction of the Jews. My particular topic is not the root cause of dhimmitude but the root cause of modern antisemitism within the Islamic world.

What was the importance of Koranic Jew-hatred for the subsequent adoption of Nazi antisemitism in the Islamic world? Conversely, what role did this Nazi antisemitism play in the revival of Islamically motivated Jew-hatred? These questions have yet to find a definitive answer. They require a serious and scientific debate.

from Matthias Küntzel: Bostom Misses the Islamist-Nazi Connection at FrontPage: Debating the Islamist-Nazi Connection

Comment from Arizona: Bostom is fueling bigotry ... while Küntzel is sticking to a scientific approach which will never be enough to satisfy the bigots.

My comment is a mere summing up but I would expand on it if anyone considered it worthy of a challenge.

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