Abstract

I take a look at Bob Dylan’s unapologetic support for Zionism on his 1983 album, Infidels, in particular the song ‘Neighborhood Bully’. I do this through the lens of Baruch Spinoza’s comments on Jewish nationhood in Theological-Political Treatise and his notions of “reciprocal contact” and endeavour/virtue in Ethics. I also use Spinoza’s study of ‘affects’ to help explain the enduring prejudice of anti-Semitism and Israelophobia.