Prof. Eliezer Tauber

Bar-Ilan University

Bio

Professor Eliezer Tauber is an expert on the emergence of the Arab nationalist movements, the formation of the modern Arab states, and the early phases of the Arab-Israeli conflict. He has published many books and articles on these topics. Professor Tauber was the founder and first chair of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies in Bar Ilan University, Israel, and a dean of the university’s Faculty of Jewish Studies.

The Shantis and Zionism: The Tragic Story of a Muslim-Jewish Family

Abstract

Muhammad al-Shanti was the most virulent anti-Semite journalist in Egypt before World War I. He also was a roving agent of the Syrian Decentralization Party, which he betrayed to the Turks during the war. His son Sharif, on the other hand, married a Jewish woman and became one of the main Palestinian collaborators with the Zionist movement. Many Jewish settlements were set up in Palestine owing to his efforts. Why did he do that?