Sun Sentinel Palm Beach Edition
Like EU, the US must adopt a strategy to combat antisemitism
Last May, Jews around the world faced some of the worst antisemitic attacks since World War II. In Europe and the United States, Jews were beaten and threatened with murder. While the Israeli defensive actions in Gaza were the ostensible reason for these attacks, the perpetrators made no distinction between Zionist and Jews, using the words as synonyms. And so they have become. It is imperative that governments, NGOs and civil societies around the world recognize that antiZionism is simply the renewal of the world’s most persistent hatred.
Ever since the USSR launched the vicious equation of Zionism as Nazism in the wake of the Six-Day War and the UN proclaimed “Zionism is a form of racism” in 1975, antisemitism has found a new garb. The 2001 Durban Conference revived the Zionism-is-racism canard and resuscitated older calumnies. Blood libel became Israeli organ theft; Jewish ritual murder became Palestinian child murder; Jewish poisoning of wells has now become tainted COVID vaccines.
During this century, deadly attacks on Jews have been far more prevalent in Europe than in the U.S. Three mass murders of Jews in the last five years were committed by Muslim extremists born in Europe. These extremists see no difference between Jews and Zionists; neither did the German court that ruled in 2017 that the bombing of a synagogue in Wuppertol was not antisemitic but a protest against Israel. Unfortunately, the U.S. is catching up. Right-wing extremists murdered worshipers at the Tree of Life and
Poway synagogues, while academics and students on U.S. campuses increasingly shout anti-Zionist epithets. A shocking survey released by the Louis D. Brandeis Center last month found that two-thirds of openly Jewish students polled feel unsafe because of antisemitism, with one in 10 reporting that they have feared physical assault because they are Jewish.
Belatedly, the European Union has recognized the need to combat continent-wide antisemitism with its Oct. 5, 2021 publication of an “EU Strategy on Combating Antisemitism and Fostering Jewish Life (2021-2030).” To its credit, this plan recognizes that “[m]anifestations of antisemitism might include Israel-related antisemitism,” and stresses the importance of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which includes examples that distinguish between mere criticism of Israel, which is not antisemitic, and statements that demonize and delegitimize Israel, which may well be, and certainly are when joined with calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. The EU’s strategy also encourages member states to develop national strategies for combatting modern antisemitism and fostering what remains of Jewish life. (In 1880, 88% of the world’s Jews lived in Europe. By 1945, this share had fallen to 35%, then to 26% in 1970 and to 9% in 2020.)
Unfortunately, most of the EU’s plan is devoted to preserving memories of a Europe in which Jewish life once flourished, rather than to examining the growing prevalence of anti-Zionism, which is a barely masked way to attack living Jews with impunity. The EU has nevertheless taken an important step, and it’s time the United States followed suit.
The United States must publish a strategy of its own for combatting antisemitism, and it should follow the EU’s example by recognizing and promoting the IHRA definition. Jewish life continues to thrive in the U.S., which is home to almost half the world’s Jews. There is thus no need to celebrate the culture of “dead Jews” here. But there is an urgent need to recognize the scourge of antisemitism masked as anti-Zionism, especially on U.S. college campuses, where progressive student groups have started to exclude “Zionists.” More and more, Jewish students are being asked to disclaim their support for Israel if they want access to student groups and academic fora.
The normalization of antisemitism is a trend that must be recognized and rejected in American society. Time is of the essence.
L. Rachel Lerman is vice chair and senior counsel and Diane Kunz is scholar-in-residence at the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law, a nonprofit organization that works to advance the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promote justice for all.