Accusations of antisemitism

Here we list instances of people being accused of antisemitism, with the likely intention to silence them, where they have in fact been "guilty" only of criticism of Israel.

The difference between antisemitism and criticism of Israel should be clear enough, but can perhaps be best illustrated by articles such as

• As Jews, we don’t accept that criticism of Israel’s government is antisemitic by Sarah Schwartz and Max Elliott Kaiser
• Supporting Palestinian rights is antisemitic because Israel wants it to be, by Abraham Gutman
• a statement from 40+ Jewish groups saying

  At times like this, it is more important than ever to distinguish between the hostility to or prejudice against Jews on the one hand and legitimate critiques of Israeli policies and system of injustice on the other.
  ...
  We urge our governments, municipalities, universities and other institutions to reject the IHRA definition [see below] ...
  Israel does not represent us and cannot speak for us when committing crimes against Palestinians

Often, though, people don't get this (or pretend not to). For example, this article, originally headed If you support the Palestinian cause in any form, you’re facilitating Jew-hate, by Melanie Phillips. (For an account of how it has been changed, see here.) So here is a reality check: the Israel government is facilitating Israeli-hate, and the more you push the narrative identifying Jew with Israeli, the more you facilitate this being translated to Jew-hate.

Another article by the same author is Don’t fall for bogus claims of ‘Islamophobia’, which contains such gems as 'The concept of “Islamophobia” is thus profoundly anti-Jew'. So why am I linking to these articles, when I think they are completely bonkers? Well, it is to encourage you to not to be fooled by anyone who says commentary or opinions about Israel/Palestine is antisemitic.

Other cases of the same phenomenon:

• Australia's "Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism" made a submission to a Senate Inquiry about Antisemitism. The submission repeatedly refers to "antisemitic or anti-Israel ..." - apparently acknowledging that they are different - although the context often suggests the opposite, and of course anti-Israel discourse is neither part of her job nor part of the subject of the Inquiry. In part of the submission which collects individual experiences, many are about Israel, not about Jews - this article goes into detail.
• This article, J’accuse!… the Jew who accuses his fellow Jews of being antisemites quotes and discusses a deranged tweet to the effect that Jewish critics of Israel's genocide are "vicious antisemites".
• The weirdly-named Anti-Defamation League openly counts anti-Zionist events and rhetoric as antisemitic, see ADL Officially Admits It Counts Pro-Palestine Activism as Antisemitic and ADL Report Decried for Equating Anti-Zionism With Antisemitism. This of course makes data on antisemitism collected by such organisations worthless, see here (which refers to counting "rallies that featured antisemitic, anti-Zionist, or pro-terror content). And this article quotes the ADL to the general effect that one shouldn't criticise Zionism because a lot of Jewish people are Zionists.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism

The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance provided a so-called Definition of Antisemitism. It has been trenchantly criticised by several leading lawyers:

• Hugh Tomlinson QC
• Defining Anti-Semitism, by Stephen Sedley (a former Court of Appeal judge), and a shorter talk by Sir Stephen and a shorter still statement by him
• IHRA definition of antisemitism is not fit for purpose, by Geoffrey Robertson KC, pdf document here or here

• What Is Wrong with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Definition of Antisemitism?, a longer article by Jan Deckers, Jonathan Coulter, which quite sensibly prefers the definition "hostility to or prejudice against Jews as Jews".
• The use of the definition has been criticised by its lead drafter, Kenneth Stern, see here and here
• THE POLITICS OF A DEFINITION: How the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism Is Being Misrepresented, by Jamie Stern-Weiner
• An analysis of the history and the text of the definition, and of the thinking that identifies Jews with Israel, How the IHRA's anti-Semitism definition is a threat to British democracy, by Richard Silverstein
• A research paper by the Britain Palestine Project (formerly the Balfour Project)
• Labour should ditch the IHRA working definition of antisemitism altogether, by Anthony Lerman
• A long article by Rev Stephen Sizer. One notable point in it (quoted from Dr Bryan Klug) is

  And when every anti-Zionist is an anti-Semite, we no longer know how to recognize the real thing - the concept of anti-Semitism loses its significance.

• Tackling the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, by Brian Klug.

Let me add to these some briefer comments of my own. Here is the "definition", with my emphases and [my interpolations or comments]

Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may [or, presumably, may not] be expressed as hatred toward Jews [and presumably, may or may not be expressed otherwise].

Then follows a section about examples. With a prefatory paragraph

Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel [that is what this is really all about] conceived as a Jewish collectivity [I'm not sure what that means].

Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to

In fact as an example of saying nothing, this rather reminds me of the sentence I found once on Wikipedia, "The parasang may have originally been some fraction of the distance an infantryman could march in some predefined period of time."

So what is happening here is that the proponents would counter criticism by saying "it says only could include, not do include", but then, when organisations have adopted, or been pressured to adopt, the IHRA definitions, including all the examples (eg see here) they would treat those examples as antisemitic by virtue of the definition. That is, they ignore the fact that the examples may or may not be examples of antisemitism. So it is pertinent to look at those examples. Strikingly, the majority of them mention Israel, and some of these don't even refer to Jewish people. Which gives an idea of the concerns of the definition's proponents.

The weirdest one, to me, is the 7th example:

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

• entitlement to choose an area of land and make it their own?
• and to expel the existing inhabitants?
• and to discriminate against the remaining existing inhabitants?
• or to discriminate among its inhabitants on racial/religious grounds? (not doing so being something expected or demanded of other democratic nations - see the 8th example).

And then, coming to the second half of that example, why is criticising Israel as racist (even if such criticism were knowingly wrong, and thereby suggestive of anti-Israel prejudice) anything to do with a "right to self-determination"? See this article, As Jews, we reject the myth that it's antisemitic to call Israel racist.

The IHRA definition has been defended against criticism, sometimes along the lines of "it has no legal effect", and/or "it doesn't actually define anything to be antisemitic". Unfortunately it has been used as though it does. Here is a long report by the European Legal Support Center and British Society for Middle Eastern Studies, The Adverse Impact of the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism in UK Higher Education, where universities were pressured by the UK Government to "adopt" (whatever that means) the "definition".

And here is an article discussing the text of the definition and its usage, Why calling Israel an apartheid state or racist is not anti-Semitic, by Ben White. Likewise, Jewish group opposes adoption of IHRA definition of antisemitism.

Other definitions of antisemitism

• Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism A short definition

  Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish)

  accompanied by 15 guidelines.
• Independent Jewish Voices Canada
• The Nexus Document

  Antisemitism consists of anti-Jewish beliefs, attitudes, actions or systemic conditions. It includes negative beliefs and feelings about Jews, hostile behavior directed against Jews (because they are Jews), and conditions that discriminate against Jews and significantly impede their ability to participate as equals in political, religious, cultural, economic, or social life.

• Australia's 39 universities have endorsed a new definition of antisemitism (this article includes just some of the actual text). There is a suggestion that they declined to simply adopt the IHRA definition. However this definition has been criticised by
  • Amnesty
  • this article on Crikey, Antisemitism definition will be devastating for academic freedom, and equality itself, which points out some obvious problems with its text
  • this article on Pearls and Irritations, What can one now say about Israel without being smeared as an antisemite?
  • and this statement by the Jewish Council of Australia

Self-hating Jews

• Firstly, a general article: Jewish opposition to Israel is as old as Zionism itself
• The Wrong Type of Jew - Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi. She was also expelled from the UK Labour party. Apparently this is far from unique within the UK Labour party.
• Also about the UK Labour party, 'The wrong sort of Jew': How Labour pursued complaints against elderly Jewish opponents of Israel (More about the UK Labour party here).
• Moshé Machover
• Stephen Kapos
• and this article mentions Stephen Kapos and other holocaust survivors
• Several Jewish people speak in this video.
• Professor Haim Bresheeth
• Statement of 30 Jewish Organisations in support of Francesca Albanese
• Inside the Seder dinner on Columbia's Gaza protest encampment (Seder is a Jewish festival).
• My mother, a Holocaust survivor, died ‘ashamed’ of Israel Jewish British activist Miranda Pinch says her mother “would be turning in her grave at what is being done to the Palestinians”
• Open letter from British Jews to Archbishop Welby
• Meet the Jewish activist Germany arrested for being pro-Palestinian
• Jewish Voice for a Just Peace in the Middle East. Apparently their Jewish identity was questioned, to which they gave this response
• And in response to the suggestion that Jewish Voice was antisemitic, over 90 Jewish scholars and intellectuals signed an open letter Open Letter: Supporting Human Rights is not Antisemitic
• Rabbi Elhanan Beck, also a video interview, The story of the orthodox Jews that oppose Israel
• Professor Avi Shlaim: Oxford Middle East Review interview, Current Affairs interview, Novara Media interview (Youtube video)
• Rachel Shabi (talking about misuse of accusations of antisemitism)
• Brian Klug, who wrote The Myth of the New Anti-Semitism (a detailed discussion of anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism)
• Jewish groups worldwide oppose equating antisemitism with criticism of Israel , which lists groups affirming the statement in the article
• Rabbis for Human Rights
• Antony Loewenstein, also on substack
• Andrew Feinstein, who stood as an MP against Labour Pary Leader Keir Starmer in his London constituency, Holborn St. Pancras, in the UK general election on 4 July 2024. He said the final reason that solidified his decision to run was the war on Gaza. Interview with Owen Jones on YouTube
• Peter Slezak
• Peter Beinart, see Debunking The Myth That Anti-Zionism Is Anti-Semitic
• Independent Jewish Voices
• Independent Jewish Voices Canada
• Jews for Justice for Palestinians
• European Jews for a Just Peace (this is a federation of 12 European Jewish peace groups, some of which are listed here separately, campaigning against the occupation of the Palestinian Territories by Israel)
• Jewish Voice for Labour
• Jewish Voice for Peace
• Columbia [University] Jewish Voice for Peace
• Jewish Council of Australia
• Jewish Network for Palestine
• Jewish Liberation Theology Institute
• International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network
• Jews in Philanthropy (letter)
• In Our Name Campaign
• Jewish Socialists’ Group
• If Not Now
• Tsedek!
• Na’amod – British Jews Against the Occupation
• Antony Lerman, author of The Making and Unmaking of a Zionist
• Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (I don't know whether this organisation is largely Jewish, but its director Dr Jeff Halper wrote "As an Israeli Jew and the head of an Israeli human rights organization ...").
• ‘NO to ethnic cleansing’: Hundreds of US rabbis, Jewish celebs slam Trump’s Gaza plan
• “There’s so many young Jewish people who are like a vital part” of the protests, said Grant Miner, a Jewish graduate student at Columbia, and Grant Miner says, as a Jew, he knows what is it like to go through genocide
• Why I signed an ad urging rejection of Trump’s Gaza plan, by Sara Dowse. Excellent article.
• Archbishop Justin, you need some new Jewish friends, an open letter to (the then) Archbishop of Canterbury, explaining the diversity of Jewish opinion.
• Free Speech on Israel "promotes a non-Zionist Jewish perspective. It affirms that anti-Zionism is not antisemitism"
• There are groups within Judaism whose doctrinal views are opposed to the existence of the state of Israel, see (on Wikipedia) Haredim and Zionism and Satmar
• Concerned Jewish Faculty (their criticism is of the IHRA definition)
• Jewish Currents
• Marione Ingram, also part 2 of the interview, and part 3, later, after her scheduled talks to schools in Germany were cancelled, and interview with Anadolu
• Jews Against the Occupation ’48, see also article Protesting for Palestine is not antisemitism and interview Zionism Is a Colonial Crime
• How Jewish scholars are attacked in America for calling out Gaza genocide | Raz Segal (YouTube video)
• Tony Greenstein
• Marika Sherwood
• Suzanne Weiss
• The Humboldt 3, of whom two are Jewish, saying It is outrageous to label us “anti-Semitic,” as two of us are descendants of Jews who survived the Nazi Holocaust
• Norman Finkelstein, Jewish, and born to Jewish Holocaust-survivor parents.
• Jewish elders chain themselves to White House, demand ceasefire in Gaza
• Letter: As British Jews we can no longer stay silent on the war in Gaza
• Neturei Karta International, whose views are based specifically on theological grounds; they say

  Due to religious belief, we oppose the existence of the State of Israel, its occupation of Palestine, and condemn its ongoing wars and atrocities inside and outside Palestine.

  Ever since the establishment of the Zionist entity in Palestine, the indigenous people of Palestine have suffered unprecedented levels of oppression, including occupation, killings, and theft—all of which are clear violations of the laws of the Torah.

• Tzedek Chicago, an intentional Jewish congregation based on core values of justice, equity and solidarity
• Hajo Meyer, author of The End of Judaism: An Ethical Tradition Betrayed. He is quoted here saying that he was

  “pained by the parallels I observe between my experiences in Germany prior to 1939 and those suffered by Palestinians today”

  and here

  “Zionism has nothing to do with Judaism... it is a political ideology. Criticising Israel’s crimes is not antisemitic; it is our moral duty.”

  He was accused of "judeophobia". He was interviewed several times by Electronic Intifada
  • “I can identify with Palestinian youth”
  • I was educated to put inter-human ethics central in religion. This is so obviously contrary to the daily practice of Zionism
  • The hate of the Jews by the Germans “was less deeply rooted than the hate of the Palestinians by the Israeli Jews,”
• 40 Holocaust survivors condemn ‘massacre’ of Palestinians, call for BDS against Israel, an open letter: full text here

Franck Magennis

Complaint lodged against barrister who tweeted ‘Zionism is a kind of racism’. Conveniently the article includes the content of the tweet, as follows:

“Zionism is a kind of racism. It is essentially colonial. It has manifested in an apartheid regime calling itself “the Jewish state” that dominates non-Jews, and particularly Palestinians. You can’t practice anti-racism at the same time as identifying with, or supporting, Zionism.”

According to the ... IHRA, a contemporary example of antisemitism is ...

Apparently the Bar Standards Board rejected the complaint. This article, by the Campaign Against Antisemitism (which had made the complaint),

• refers to "the International Definition of Antisemitism" (my emphasis) (meaning the IHRA definition): it's not the Definition, it's a Definition (if that - see the discussion above)
• says Magennis's comments were "in breach of" it: not so, it doesn't forbid anything (and wouldn't do so even if it did actually define any particular conduct to be antisemitic).
• states "According to the ... definition, ... is an example of antisemitism: (correctly, it may be), discussed in detail above.