Israel Needs an Anti-Propaganda Agency

For five years, the Israeli Ministry of Strategic Affairs and Public Diplomacy has been trying to combat the large number of international delegitimization and boycott campaigns against the Jewish State. Its options to combat international antisemitism are limited, and it is doubtful whether it has properly prioritized the issues at stake. Israel urgently needs a separate anti-propaganda agency, something the Strategic Affairs Ministry should have recommended long ago.

Germany’s Antisemitism Allies

Many people who are not antisemites are nevertheless their allies. This can be seen clearly in Germany, which contains whitewashers and minimizers of antisemitism as well as people who want to abolish the position of national antisemitism commissioner. There are also Germans who falsely claim that the BDS movement is not antisemitic, as well as those who want the country to declare the IHRA definition of antisemitism, in particular the part about Israel, invalid.

Cancel Culture and the Jewish Experience

Cancel culture—the denial to certain people of any platform on which to express their side of an issue—has become more and more accepted in public debate. It led to a letter decrying it by more than 150 writers and intellectuals in Harper’s Magazine. But the signatories never saw fit to object to the longstanding anti-Israeli and anti-Jewish cancel culture that exists at many Western universities. The letter offers no operational conclusions, though a logical one would be the reformulation of the First Amendment of the US Constitution to make hate speech punishable by law.

The Attacks on the Uniqueness of the Holocaust

The last decade has seen an explosion of attacks on the memory of the Holocaust. This expresses itself in many ways, including the casting of doubt on the Holocaust’s uniqueness. This version was aired in recent public debates in Germany and can also be found in historical manipulations by academic scholars.

Racism Is Recognized as Intrinsic to Western Societies. Why Isn’t Antisemitism?

Many understand that racism is an intrinsic part of Western societies. So is antisemitism, yet this is acknowledged by very few. Antisemitism was on display during mass demonstrations about the coronavirus pandemic and the problem of racism, but was scarcely remarked upon. There has also been an outpouring of new mutations of anti-Jewish conspiracy theories in the wake of the pandemic. As has occurred for millennia, western cultures are interweaving their antisemitism into issues of the day.

A Stand Must Be Taken Against the Promotion of Murder

In civilized societies action should be taken against anyone who expresses the desire to commit murder. The Iranian government, Hamas, Hezbollah, various clerics, and other influential figures within the Muslim world, as well as neo-Nazis and other extreme rightists, openly proclaim their desire to commit murder or even genocide against Jews and Israel. Many in the Western world either refuse to heed these statements or actively support them. Many others relentlessly criticize Israel and remain completely silent about Palestinian promotion of the killing of Jews.

Whitewashing Achille Mbembe’s Antisemitism

The African public intellectual Achille Mbembe was invited to be keynote speaker at this summer’s Ruhr Triennale music Festival in Germany (canceled due to coronavirus). His invitation was questioned due to his history of making extreme antisemitic statements. Mbembe claims, falsely, that his opponents were members of the extreme right who didn’t want a black speaker. A debate has ensued in which his supporters are demanding the firing of Germany’s antisemitism commissioner, Felix Klein. The Mbembe affair is one of the most aggressive campaigns to whitewash antisemitism seen in recent years.

The Shifting Boundaries of Antisemitism

An important tool in understanding the dynamics of antisemitism is the identification of moments when its boundaries shift. This occurred with the Trump Peace Plan, the antisemitism crisis in the British Labour party, the UN’s first World Conference against Racism, the huge outburst of antisemitism in France in 2000, and the German welcome policy for refugees and asylum seekers.

European Jewish Communities and the Coronavirus Crisis

The coronavirus crisis has shaken many European Jewish communities to the core. As the EU member states try to return to normal in the aftermath of the most severe threat to the lives of their citizens since WWII, the continent’s Jewish communities struggle to come to terms with the devastating events of the past months.

Anti-Jewish Coronavirus Conspiracy Theories in Historical Context

A number of conspiracy theories have quickly emerged linking Jews and Israel to the coronavirus pandemic. These are new mutations of historical strains of antisemitic conspiracy theories, including the “poisoning of gentiles” motif and the accusation that the Jews want to control the world. These theories are all linked to the most popular antisemitic conspiracy theory of all, the modern mutation of the ancient blood libel that claims that Israel behaves like the Nazis and has Nazi-esque intentions toward the Palestinians.