The Seventh-Century Christian Obsession with the Jews: A Historical Parallel for the Present?

Sizable parts of the contemporary Christian and post-Christian world have major obsessions with the Jews and Israel.

This situation has many parallels with the seventh century when the Arabs embarked on the conquest of the world in the name of Islam.

The Caliphate replaced the Persian Empire and Christian Spain and conquered much of the Byzantine Empire.

The latter, however, seemed to ignore the threat of the new invaders and their religion; instead, the Byzantine political and intellectual elite focused increasingly on the Jews in tracts and legal measures.