Tablet Hit Piece Implodes: Basic Fact Error on “Eurabia” Undercuts Entire Narrative

A central claim in Judith Miller’s Tablet essay—that Bat Ye’or coined the term “Eurabia” in 2005—is being challenged as factually incorrect, with evidence showing the term dates back to a mid-1970s Franco-Arab publication and policy framework. The demand for a correction argues that this is not a minor error but a foundational misstatement that undermines the credibility and thrust of the entire piece. Citing historical documentation, including references in Bat Ye’or’s own work and contemporaneous U.S. State Department awareness of the Euro-Arab Dialogue, the critique contends that the narrative portraying her as a “conspiracy theorist” rests on a misrepresentation of the record. As a result, pressure is mounting on Tablet to issue a correction and reassess the integrity of the article.

Related: ESTABLISHMENT PANIC: Vindicated Bat Ye’or Targeted by New York Times Judith Miller Hit Piece

From Reporter to Attack Dog: Smear Merchant Judith Miller’s Hatchet Job on Bat Ye’or

Why Tablet Magazine Must Publish a Basic Factual Correction That Implodes Judith Miller’s Recent Crude Hit Piece on Bat Ye’or

By: Dr. Andrew Bostom,  13th April 2026:

As described in the Sunday, April 12, 2026 email below I am insisting Tablet Magazine fulfill its most basic journalist responsibility and acknowledge and correct an obvious and egregious error in Judith Miller’s essay (full essay available here), “Bat Ye’or and Europe’s Identity Crisis—Daughter of the Nile,” March 30, 2026.

Ms. Miller (see her additional emails, and my response below email to the Tablet Magazine editors) remains defiant and insistent her vicious misrepresentation—that Bat Ye’or, a meticulous, original, and courageous scholar is instead a stubborn, unbalanced “conspiracy” theorist—should stand. Miller’s defiance is comprehensible not on a factual or certainly ethical basis, but a soulless practical one. The simple correction I have demanded of the Tablet Magazine editors to comply with fundamental journalistic standards implodes the sham castle of calumny Miller has shamefully constructed.

Andrew Bostom

Sun, Apr 12, 8:20 AM to anewhouse, liel, lleibovitz@, waynehoffmanwriter@,

4/12/26

Dear Tablet Magazine Editors:

Judith Miller’s claim in her recent Tablet Magazine essay https://www.tabletmag.com/sections/israel-middle-east/articles/daughter-nile-bat-yeor that Bat Ye’or “coined the term Eurabia in 2005,” is incorrect. Its origins were Franco-Arab and date back to 1974-75 with the formal publication of the journal “Eurabia,” and that publication’s ideologues championing the so-called “Euro-Arab Dialogue.” Bat Ye’or herself makes this fact plain on p. 63 of chapter 5 of her 2005 book Eurabia, The Euro-Arab Axis:

“Eurabia was the title of a journal initiated in the mid-1970s by the European Committee for Coordination of Friendship Associations with the Arab World. It was edited by Lucien Bitterlin, president of the Association of Franco-Arab Solidarity, and published jointly by Middle East International (London), France-Pays Arabes (Paris) and the Groupe d’ Etudes sur le Moyen-Orient (Geneva).”

An early event organized by these ideologues took place in Cordoba, Spain in 1974 and was witnessed with at least some concern by U.S. Department of State personnel who filed a memo about the conference that was not declassified until 2005—shortly after Bat Ye’or’s book had already appeared.

In good faith the editors should reconsider the entire arc of Miller’s piece considering this fundamental error that was not, unsurprisingly, “corrected” by those savants whose commentary, rather selectively, Miller chose to include in her piece.

At minimum, please publish this requisite correction to Judith Miller’s piece, to be shared with your readers.

A backgrounder I published in 2012 is provided for additional documentation and your overall edification.

Just below is a screenshot of the cover from a 1975 edition of the publication, “Eurabia.”

Sincerely,

Andrew Bostom, MD, MS

Brown University Associate Professor of Medicine (retired)

www.andrewbostom.net

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/05/us_state_department_witnessed_1974_birth_of_eurabia.html

May 5, 2012

U.S. State Department Witnessed 1974 Birth of Eurabia

By Andrew G. Bostom

“Eurabia was the title of a journal published in the mid-1970s  by the European Committee for the Coordination of Friendship Associations with the Arab World.  Eurabia”s editor was Lucien Bitterlin, president of the Association of Franco-Arab Solidarity; the journal was published jointly by Euro-Arab associations in London, Paris, and Geneva.  Eurabia served as a Euro-Arab Dialogue mouthpiece.”…

“The State Department memo concludes that indeed this biased viewpoint (” IT [the Conference] WAS USED TO PROMOTE ARAB POLITICAL LINE”)– fully concordant with the Islam’s jihad supremacism — was the most salient feature of the Conference”… 

…“Thus, nearly four decades ago [originally written in 2012; NOW > 5-DECADES AGO], our own State Department was fully aware of the Eurabian project Bat Ye’or has subsequently elucidated in painstaking detail. Such independently confirmatory U.S. evidence underscores the intellectual and moral obtuseness of those who spray charges of “conspiracism” at Bat Ye’or…”

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2012/05/us_state_department_witnessed_1974_birth_of_eurabia.html May 5, 2012

U.S. State Department Witnessed 1974 Birth of Eurabia

By Andrew G. Bostom

I came across a State Department memo from the U.S. embassy in Madrid, dated September 19, 1974 (1974 Madrid 05880), declassified June 30, 2005. This document reveals that the U.S. was fully aware of the advent of “Eurabia,” precisely as self-characterized in an official European socio-political journal bearing the title Eurabia.  It seems serendipitous in the midst of Geert Wilders‘ visit to the U.S. warning of the consequences of Europe’s ongoing Islamization.

Eurabia was the title of a journal published in the mid-1970s  by the European Committee for the Coordination of Friendship Associations with the Arab World.  Eurabia”s editor was Lucien Bitterlin, president of the Association of Franco-Arab Solidarity; the journal was published jointly by Euro-Arab associations in London, Paris, and Geneva.  Eurabia served as a Euro-Arab Dialogue mouthpiece.

The formal Euro-Arab Dialogue (EAD) created an alphabet soup of European Community — and, later, European Union — funded organizations charged with planning joint political, cultural, social, industrial, commercial, and technical-scientific projects.  It also rapidly spawned a European Parliamentary Association for Euro-Arab Cooperation, whose members represented a broad spectrum of European Community political groups.  Biannual Euro-Arab Parliamentary meetings convened alternately in Europe and the Arab nations.  Roughly 100 European and Arab members of their respective parliaments attended, along with observers from the European Community/European Union Commission, the Arab League, and other international organizations.  During an initial meeting in Damascus, September 14-17, 1974, the Arab delegates established their political preconditions for economic agreements with Western

Europe, specifically demanding:

1. Israel’s unconditional withdrawal to the 1949 armistice lines
2. Arab sovereignty over the Old City of Jerusalem
3. Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) participation (lead by Yasser Arafat), in any negotiations
4. European Community pressure on the United States to detach it from Israel and bring its policies closer to those of the Arab states

The September 19, 1974 State Department memo (1974 Madrid 05880) refers to a parallel meeting that took place in Cordoba September 12-16, 1974, as it notes, “one-time capital of [the] caliphate of Cordoba,  and one of [the] most historic centers of [the] Moorish legacy in Spain.” Emphasizing the unique nature of this Cordoban conference, the memo provides these summary details regarding the attendees:

THIS CONFERENCE, REPORTEDLY FIRST EVER HELD OF ITS KIND, WAS ATTENDED BY NUMEROUS MEMBERS OF THE SPANISH CLERGY AND PRESIDED OVER BY BISHOP CIRARDA OF CORDOBA, AND WAS ALSO ATTENDED BY CERTAIN FOREIGN CATHOLIC CLERGY RESIDENT IN ARAB COUNTRIES, NOTABLY CARDINAL DUVAL OF ALGIERS AND THE BISHOP OF ORAN. GOS WAS REPRESENTED BY DIRECTORS GENERAL FROM MFA [Ministry of Foreign Affairs?] AND MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND TOURISM, AND PROVINCE AND CITY OF CORDOBA WERE REPRESENTED BY SOME OF THEIR PRINCIPAL LOCAL OFFICIALS. ARAB COUNTRIES REPRESENTED AT CONFERENCE INCLUDED EGYPT, ALGERIA, LEBANNON [sic], IRAQ, SAUDI ARABIA, AND JORDAN. THERE REPORTEDLY ALSO WAS A PALESTINIAN DELEGATION PRESENT. MOST HIGH RANKING DELEGATE TO ATTEND THE CONFERENCE WAS DR. ABDEL AZIZ KAMEL, WHO IS BOTH VICE PRES AND MINISTER OF RELIGIOUS AFFAIRS IN EGYPT. THE IMPORTANT EGYPTIAN DELEGATION ALSO INCLUDED AN EGYPTIAN CHRISTIAN PARLIAMENTARIAN, ALBERT BARSOUM, WHO ALSO REPORTEDLY HAS MINISTERIAL RANK IN EGYPTIAN GOVT. MANY ARAB DELEGATIONS WERE HEADED BY THEIR COUNTRIES’ AMBASSADORS IN MADRID.

And what is described as the “emotional and symbolic highlight of the conference” occurred on September 13, 1974:

WHEN MOSLEM CONFEREES WERE ALLOWED TO HOLD MOSLEM PRAYER SERVICE IN CORDOBA’S FAMED MOSQUE-CATHEDRAL. THIS WAS REPORTEDLY FIRST TIME IN SEVEN CENTURIES, I.E., SINCE 1236 [the] WHEN HUGE CORDOBA MOSQUE WAS CONVERTED INTO CHRISTIAN CATHEDRAL IN WAKE OF CASTILLIAN RECONQUEST OF CITY, THAT A MOSLEM PRAYER SERVICE HAS BEEN HELD IN CORDOBA’S MOSQUE TURNED CATHEDRAL.

Unfortunately, the State Department analyst omits the fact that the “mosque turned cathedral” had simply been restored to a cathedral as a result of the 13^th century Castillian reconquest. Here is Dozy’s historical account of the prior mid-8^th century “conversion” of this Cordoban cathedral to a mosque, resulting from the jihad conquest and brutal subjugation of the Iberian peninsula:

All the churches in that city [Cordoba] had been destroyed except the cathedral, dedicated to Saint Vincent, but the possession of this fane [church or temple] had been guaranteed by treaty. For several years the treaty was observed; but when the population of Cordova was increased by the arrival of Syrian Arabs [i.e., Muslims], the mosques did not provide sufficient accommodation for the newcomers, and the Syrians considered it would be well for them to adopt the plan which had been carried out at Damascus, Emesa [Homs], and other towns in their own country, of appropriating half of the cathedral and using it as a mosque. The [Muslim] Government having approved of the scheme, the Christians were compelled to hand over half of the edifice. This was clearly an act of spoliation, as well as an infraction of the treaty. Some years later, Abd-er Rahman I requested the Christians to sell him the other half. This they firmly refused to do, pointing out that if they did so they would not possess a single place of worship. Abd-er Rahman, however, insisted, and a bargain was struck by which the Christians ceded their cathedral.

However, to the analyst’s credit, s/he is fully cognizant of the politicization of the so-called “Palestinian question,” noting “a marked bias for the Arab viewpoint,” in the Conference’s conclusion, which states the group,

“SUPPORTS THE JUST HUMAN AND NATIONAL RIGHTS OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE, CONSIDERS THE PALESTINIAN LIBERATION ORGANIZATION AS THEIR SOLE LEGAL REPRESENTATIVE. AFFIRMS THE ARAB CHARACTER OF THE CITY OF JERUSALEM AND REJECTS ALL PROPOSALS TO JUDAIZE OR INTERNATIONALIZE THE CITY, CONDEMNS THE AGGRESSIONS WHICH THE ISRAELI OCCUPATION AUTHORITIES COMMIT AGAINST THE PEOPLES AND HOLY PLACES OF MOSLEMS AND CHRISTIANS, CALLS FOR THE LIBERATION OF ALL THOSE DETAINED, SUPPORTS THE JUST STRUGGLE OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE, AND DEMANDS LIBERATION OF ALL ARAB OCCUPIED LANDS.”

The State Department memo concludes that indeed this biased viewpoint — fully concordant with the Islam’s jihad supremacism — was the most salient feature of the Conference:

IT [the Conference] WAS USED TO PROMOTE ARAB POLITICAL LINE WITH RESPECT TO PALESTINE, INCLUDING RECOGNITION OF PLO AS SOLE REPRESENTATIVE OF PALESTINIANS AND REJECTION OF EITHER INTERNATIONALIZATION OF JERUSALEM OR ITS ABSORPTION BY ISRAEL.GOS [Government of Spain], IN KEEPING WITH ITS MARKED PRO-ARAB POSTURE ON MIDDLE EAST AND PALESTINE, PROBABLY BELIEVES IT WILL BE ABLE TO GET FURTHER MILEAGE AT SLIGHT EXPENSE FOR ITS PROARAB POLICY BY HELPING TO SPONSOR THIS CONFERENCE IN SPAIN AND BY HAVING ALLOWED A STRONGLY ANTI-ISRAELI TONE IN THE CONFERENCE’S CONCLUSIONS. THOSE CONSULTATIONS, HOWEVER, DO NOT ACCORD FULLY WITH SPAIN’S OFFICIAL POSITION (REFLECTING THAT OF THE VATICAN) IN FAVOR OF SOME FORM OF INTERNATIONAL REGIME FOR THE HOLY PLACES OF JERUSALEM. IT ALSO UNCLEAR WHY CATHOLIC CLERGY ATTENDING ACQUIESCED IN CONFERENCE’S PRO-ARAB POLITICAL CONCLUSIONS.

Thus, nearly four decades ago [NOW > 5-DECADES AGO], our own State Department was fully aware of the Eurabian project Bat Ye’or has subsequently elucidated in painstaking detail. Such independently confirmatory U.S. evidence underscores the intellectual and moral obtuseness of those who spray charges of “conspiracism” at Bat Ye’or, and worse still, viciously attack Geert Wilders, the most courageous European political leader resisting the abhorrent, dystopian endgame of Eurabia’s fanatical promulgators.

***

Email exchange with Judith MIller

——– Original message ——–

From: Judith Miller

Date: 4/12/26 11:54 PM (GMT-05:00)

To: Andrew Bostom

Subject: Re: For your edification Judith (from 2012); “U.S. State Department Witnessed 1974 Birth of Eurabia”

Andrew.

I’ve just read your demand to Tablet for a correction. I’m going to send you again what I wrote, which is not incorrect. It was the European community group that put out the journal Eurabia, which I said, accurately, was attributed to her. I did not say that she coined it. I was quite busy reading all of her books in French and in English, and talking to her about the origins of the word and many other issues . But it certainly doesn’t merit reconsidering the “arc” of my 6,000 word piece…

Judy

From: Judith Miller 
Date: Sun, Apr 12, 2026 at 11:56 PM
Subject: Eurabia
To: andrewbostom@

Here is what I wrote: “Bat Ye’or argued in the book that the “Islamization of Europe was the planned outcome of a largely secret conspiracy between Europe’s elites and the Arab states to allow large number of Muslims to enter Europe and transform it into what an obscure European Community group had called Eurabia, a term now attributed to her.”

From: andrewbostom 
Date: Mon, Apr 13, 2026 at 1:19 AM
Subject: Judith your direct quote was, “she writes Europe has become ‘Eurabia’ a term she coined in 2005″
To: Judith Miller

Judith your direct quote was, “she writes Europe has become ‘Eurabia’ a term she coined in 2005“

That is a false assertion to claim Gisele (Bat Ye’or) “coined a term Eurabia” when the 2005 original edition of her book “Eurabia, The Euro-Arab Axis” in chapter 5, on p. 63 as I quoted notes the mid-1970s publication of the journal Eurabia. Why didn’t you quote what Gisele wrote so explicitly there? Why didn’t you include a screenshot of an edition of that mid-1970s journal as I did to make the origins of the concept–clearly NOT Bat Ye’or’s–concrete?

Gisele provides copious documentation of what the entire alphabet soup of Euro-Arab organizations were doing quite openly for some 27 years (1974-2001) before she considered writing about it between 2002-2005. There’s nothing “conspiratorial” about what these groups were doing which was apparent as I discovered even to our own U.S. State Department in June of 1974 at the Cordoba Conference where the one-sided Palestinian Muslim alignment & ahistorical narrative about Muslim Spain was self-evident. Gisele’s argument is that these efforts were openly expressed policies. “Conspiracy” is your characterization reinforced by the distressingly ignorant & intellectually lazy “savants” you chose so one-sidedly to confirm your spraying Gisele with the charge of “conspiracism” & its implicit allegation of her being “crazed.”