Current mood:	busy
Entry tags:	11th century, 12th century, antisemitism, christianity, christians, first crusade, genocide, intolerance, islam, jews, judaism

Antisemitism and Muslims during the First Crusade
I've added the following text to "Antisemitism in the 11th-12th Century: Muslims were tolerant of Jews whilst Christian slaughtered them" by Vexen Crabtree (2004):

That Muslims were more tolerant towards Jews than Christians were are evidenced by the Jews reaction to the Christian armies that were murdering Jews en route to their holy lands. They allied with the Muslims. Although Robert Spencer is intensely critical of Islam in his realistic book "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam", he still witnesses that Jews found solace in Muslim lands from the maurading Christians:

“It is unfortunately true that Crusaders targeted Jews on several occasions. Some groups of Crusaders allowed themselves to be diverted from the mission Pope Urban had given them. Stirred up by anti-Semitic preachers, one contingent of men who were making their way East for the First Crusade instead turned to terrorize Jews in Europe, massacring many. Count Ernicho of Leiningen and his followers advanced through the Rhineland, killing and plundering Jews in five German cities: Speyer, Worms, Mainz, Trier and Cologne. [News] spread to the Middle East and led many Jews to ally with the Muslims and fight against the Crusaders when they arrived. Fifty years later, another group in the Rhineland, bound for the Second Crusade, began massacring Jews again.”
"The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam" by Robert Spencer, p142-3