Book Description: Ben Cohen, Some of My Best Friends

Summary

Ben Cohen is a journalist of British-Jewish birth and upbringing. For many years he has lived and worked in the US. He worked for a time as an in-house public relations person at an American-Jewish NGO, but, as readers of this sampling of his work will note, most of his work has been published in various newspapers in the format often described as “punditry.” In his introduction, Cohen declares his fascination with what he describes as “bistro antisemitism.” He uses this term to describe “polite, modulated, ostensibly reasonable antisemitism, often calling itself ‘anti-Zionism and expressed in the progressive chatter across the tables of fashionable bistros….” He contrasts “bistro antisemitism” with the coarse “crude, violent antisemitism incubated in the German bierkellar where the Nazis guzzled beer and shouted themselves hoarse….” He cautions that while bierkellar antisemitism may have been the premier expression of Jew-hatred in the Twentieth Century, bistro antisemitism may come to characterize it in the Twenty-First.

As a journalist, Cohen’s work is a secondary source describing the phenomena he observes and a primary source illustrating how things looked to an observer with the particular background that he brings to bear on his work. Some of My Best Friends is a fascinating resource because its author comes from the political right-of-center. As a result, from a very different political perspective, he points toward the often bizarre social phenomena of bigotry that came to a crisis a few years after the publication of Cohen’s book in the Corbyn-period Labour Party. Two Left-wing British-Jewish observers, David Hirsh (Contemporary Left Antisemitism) and David Baddiel (Jews Don’t Count) described that crisis in books that came out several years later. Cohen’s book, in many ways, predicts their observations and strengthens the credibility of their social diagnoses. His observations have value, both in the context of a specifically British flare-up of expressions of antisemitism and an illustration of its more general characteristics.

Context

The issues that arose in Britain’s Labour Party were already simmering when Cohen’s book went to press in 2014. His powerful essays relating in real-time to that social and political situation are some of the most useful in this collection. He is also unflinching in addressing the antisemitic content of some beliefs that have substantial purchase among Muslim Brotherhood circles that experienced what turned out to be a relatively brief period of expanding power in the post-Arab-Spring and immediately after. Some of the issues dealt with in this book (tensions from a decade ago between the Obama Administration in the US and the Netanyahu government in Israel come to mind) seem to be less relevant to current readers. Others, particularly his stark reading of the nature of the Iran regime, remain meaningful and challenging.

Style

Cohen writes clearly. His work is polemical, which presents educators with advantages and disadvantages. He has points to make, political leaders he wants to question, and challenges he throws down. His insights come through. Readers may agree or disagree, but that is one of the points of good political commentary. He does not claim detached objectivity, but he does express his deeply held ideas with integrity.

Classroom

Some of My Best Friends can be a handy classroom resource. The book can be offered in its entirety or culled for specific essays. Since it relates to events from some years ago, students may need an explanation of some of the background for Cohen’s comments.

Cohen, Ben. Some of My Best Friends: A Journey Through Twenty-First Century Antisemitism. Berlin: Edition Critic, 2014.
ISBN: 978-3-9815919-0-3