Yes, according to Philip Jenkins, a scholar of ancient Near Eastern religions. Noting that the most explicitly anti-Jewish passages in early Islamic texts are to be found not in the Quran itself but in the hadith (extracanonical lore), Jenkins argues that the authors were influenced by nearby Christians’ attitudes toward Jews. Take, for instance, a prophecy found in an apocalyptic Islamic work, entitled the Turmoil and the Portents, that calls for the slaughter of Jews by Muslims:

[This passage, cited in the Hamas charter], is a major departure from the world of the Quran and of Muhammad’s era. Nor does it fit regularly into the history of early Islam, when many Jews welcomed the Muslim conquerors as liberators from Christian rule.

The closest parallels to the text are actually in Eastern Christian writings, either Greek or Syriac, and they abounded during the 8th century, at the time when [this text probably] originated. From the 4th century onward, Eastern Christians were frequently in conflict with Jews, and a couple of incidents in particular were deeply resented. . . . After the Muslim conquest [of Jerusalem in the 7th century], Jews often persuaded Muslim authorities to suppress public symbols and displays of Christianity, notably the display of the cross. In the 720s, the Byzantine Emperor Leo III tried to force all Jews within his realm to receive baptism.

Anti-Jewish themes were prominent in Eastern Christian apocalyptic literature, which at so many points resembles . . . the Turmoil and the Portents. I suggest that these strong anti-Jewish themes originated among converted Christians, possibly clergy or monks, and probably during the 8th century. In doing this, I am not trying to minimize the toxic quality of these passages, or to underestimate their pernicious influence on extremist Islamic thought. Rather, I want to trace their origins, and to stress yet again the commonalities of Islamic and Christian apocalyptic thought.

Two extraordinary events demonstrate something important about Israel’s most fervent adversaries. One was a speech given at something called The People’s Forum (funded generously by Goldman Sachs), which stated, “When the state of Israel is finally destroyed and erased from history, that will be the single most important blow we can give to destroying capitalism and imperialism.”

The suggestion that this tiny state is the linchpin of a global, centuries-old phenomenon like capitalism goes well beyond anything resembling rational criticism. Even if Israel were guilty of genocide, apartheid, and oppression—which of course it is not—it would not follow that its destruction would help end capitalism or imperialism.

The other was an anti-Israel protest that took place in front of New York City’s Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, deemed “complicit” in Israel’s evils. At organizers’ urging, participants shouted their slogans at kids in the cancer ward, who were watching from the windows. Given Hamas’s indifference toward the lives of Gazan children, such callousness toward non-Palestinian children from Hamas’s Western allies shouldn’t be surprising. The protest—like the abovementioned speech—deliberately conveyed the message that Israel is the ultimate evil and its destruction the ultimate good, cancer patients be damned.

The fact that Israel’s adversaries are almost comically perverse does not mean that they can be dismissed. If its allies fail to understand the obsessive and irrational hatred that it faces, they cannot effectively help it defend itself.