Question. Can pro-BDS anti-Semites redefine anti-Semitism? - by Jonathan Tobin

Four lies spread by groups that support anti-Semitic incitement and BDS efforts to eradicate Israel need to be debunked.

Jonathan Tobin..
JNS.org..
19 July '18..

At first glance, it sounds reasonable. There is nothing wrong with seeking to differentiate criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism. After all, Israelis criticize Israel’s democratically elected government every day. Like any other nation, its leaders are fallible and its policies can be opposed, even if you cherish the Jewish state.

But the attempt by Jewish Voice for Peace and 35 other far-left groups to essentially redefine anti-Semitism in order to sanitize the BDS movement falls flat. What they are doing is the moral equivalent of giving criminals the power to rewrite the law so as to render their convictions null and void. The declaration signed by these organizations organized by JVP is rooted in four lies. These lies involve the nature of BDS and anti-Zionism, the claim that Israel as an apartheid state, and that anti-BDS laws repress free speech.

The statement claims that Jews are under siege from a rising tide of anti-Semitism around the world but notes only the activities of white supremacists and racists on the far-right, while ignoring the actions of left-wing Jew-haters. It goes on then to claim that efforts by supporters of Israel to brand the BDS as anti-Semitic is not only unjust, but a diversion from what they think is the real fight against anti-Semitism.

It’s true that right-wing anti-Semitism still exists. But the notion that these forces are the only or even the principal threat to the Jews—or that the Trump administration and the Israeli government are aiding and abetting anti-Semitism, or are examples of authoritarian regimes—is false.

The most potent and prevalent form of anti-Semitism today is the one that JVP supports: the BDS movement, and the way that anti-Zionism is used as a thin veil for hate and violence against Jews.

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