This book provides the first detailed qualitative and empirically-grounded exploration of Indonesia’s Jewish communities, antisemitism, philosemitism, and attitudes towards Israel, especially among Indonesian Muslim and Christian communities. It does so by exploring three interrelated themes: The first examines the historical dynamics and recent development of “real” Jews before, during, and after colonial times or the contemporary era and the imaginary Jews, as imagined and portrayed by various state and non-state actors in Indonesia's past and present. The second investigates the polemics concerning antisemitism and philosemitism among multiple groups of Indonesian Muslims and Christians. More specifically, it examines the perspectives and attitudes of the country's Muslims and Christians toward Jews (as well as Israel and to some extent Judaism and Zionism) by examining the roots, factors, and rationales of their anti/prosemitism from historical outlooks to contemporary stances. The book explores the complex interplay of negative and positive attitudes toward Jews as well as defines the nature and character of antisemitism and philosemitism in Indonesia according to and as experienced by Indonesian populaces, especially adherents of Islam and Christianity. Alongside this, it also investigates, exposes and analyzes opposition towards antisemitic, philosemitic, and anti-Israeli narratives, discourses, practices, and constructions by various actors in the country.  It reveals how Indonesian Muslim religious and political actors and organizations attain political success, keep political power, maintain religious and political influence, and achieve economic/financial benefits through investing and capitalizing on the Palestinian cause while simultaneously demonizing Jews, Israel, and Zionists. The book also shows that antisemitic attitudes among Indonesian Muslims are profoundly rooted in anti-Jewish texts, teachings, narratives, and discourses in primary Islamic sources such as the Qur'an and Hadith, as well as classical and contemporary religious texts by noted Islamic scholars, activists, and ideologues. The author divulges how the rise of anti-Semitic discourses, practices, campaigns, and propaganda, particularly since the advent of the Gestapo and the Japanese occupation in the early 1940s, intersects with the country's changing socio-religious contexts and political dynamics. The book's final aspect deals with contemporary issues of interreligious encounters and engagements between Indonesian Jews, Muslims, and Christians, as well as interstate and intercultural relations between various state and non-state actors in Indonesia and Israel. 

"Few sociocultural phenomena are more pervasive yet poorly understood today than the interplay of negative and positive attitudes toward Jews in nations around the world.  In this highly original and brilliantly written book, Sumanto Al Qurtuby – one of today’s most accomplished scholars of Islam in Indonesia – brings his scholarly eye to bear on the history and contemporary dynamics of antisemitism and philosemitism in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority society.  Both richly detailed and engagingly well-written, this is a book that forever alters our received views on anti-semitism and philosemitism both in Indonesia and in all nations of the world."
- Robert W. Hefner, Professor of Anthropology and Global Affairs, Boston University; President, American Institute for Indonesian Studies

Sumanto Al Qurtuby is the Director of the Nusantara Institute on Culture and Religion and a faculty member at Satya Wacana Christian University, Indonesia. Previously, he was a Visiting Research Scholar at Kyoto University's Center for Southeast Asian Studies, a professor at King Fahd University of Petroleum & Minerals, a Senior Research Fellow at the Middle East Institute of the National University of Singapore, and a Research Scholar at the Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies, University of Notre Dame. A specialist in the study of Southeast Asia (especially Indonesia) and the Middle East (particularly Saudi Arabia), he obtained his PhD in cultural anthropology from Boston University. His research interests include studying the impact (positive or negative) of world religions and local beliefs on societies and the influence of societies on religious discourses and practices. Sumanto has written a dozen scholarly articles and authored or edited more than 40 books (both in Indonesian and English), including Terrorism and Counter-terrorism in Saudi Arabia and Indonesia (Palgrave Macmillan, 2022), Saudi Arabia and Indonesian Networks (Bloomsbury, 2020), and Religious Violence and Conciliation in Indonesia (Routledge, 2016).