CAMERA UK addresses Knesset committee on issue of antisemitism

Yesterday, CAMERA UK co-editor Adam Levick was one of 30 top pro-Israel advocates who participated in a special Knesset panel, chaired by MK Michal Cotler-Wunsh, to address strategies on combating antisemitism.

Here’s are his brief remarks.

Here’s some background on the IHRA Working Definition:

In 2004, the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) conducted a study of antisemitism in Europe and produced a “working definition of antisemitism” intended as a guideline for identifying the growing number of antisemitic incidents there, and for legislation against antisemitism.” The EUMC defined antisemitism as follows:

“A certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews… Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.”

The examples given included both classic antisemitism and antisemitism that targeted the state of Israel “conceived as a Jewish collectivity.” It included:

  • Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.
  • Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.
  • Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.
  • Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
  • Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
  • Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
  • 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.
  • Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
  • Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
  • Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
  • Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.

In 2009, the EUMC was replaced by a different organization whose mandate did not include defining antisemitism, so the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), a global organization that combats Holocaust denial and antisemitism, took formal ownership of “The Working Definition of Antisemitism” with just minor changes from the original EUMC document. This definition was adopted by 34 countries – 25 of which are EU member countries.

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