Latuff cartoon used in a petition on Aavaz.org against misuse and political manipulation of anti-Semitism on behalf of Israel’s agenda

By integrating anti-Zionism into its legal definition of anti-Semitism, France sets a chilling precedent. Israel and the powerful pro-Israel lobby spared no effort to achieve the distortion of the concept of anti-Zionism, and its success in France says a lot about the power of influence of the Israeli government and its apologists there. It is also an indelible stain on Emmanuel Macron’s legacy, as history will undoubtedly show.

Israel’s goal is to exploit the fight against anti-Semitism, not just in France, but everywhere, in order to discredit solidarity with the Palestinian people, as well as to attract Jewish immigration to Israel.

The successful manipulation began on December 6, 2018, when the Justice and Home Affairs Council of the European Union adopted, without discussion, a declaration on the fight against anti-Semitism and the protection of Jewish communities in Europe. This was a commendable initiative except that Article 2 of the declaration calls on Member States to adopt the definition of anti-Semitism of the International Alliance for the Memory of the Holocaust (IHRA) — in other words to conflate anti-Semitism with criticism of Israel!

IHRA was simply introduced as a propaganda and, thankfully, does not have the force of law. The vague IHRA definition of anti-Semitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which can be expressed as hate towards Jews” serves only to obfuscate. Anything could be anti-Semitism according to such deliberately loose language.

IHRA further states, “criticism of Israel similar to that which can be made to another country cannot be considered anti-Semitic “. In other words, it is permissible to criticize Israel but not its Jewish supremacy, domination and discrimination against Palestinians as expressed in the 2017 UN report on Israeli Practices towards the Palestinian People and the Question of Apartheid. That is classified as anti-Semitism.

Whereas anti-Semitism, Islamophobia and anti-refugee xenophobia are on the rise in Europe with the surge of far-right politics, as they are in the United States, the manipulations of Israel regarding the definition of anti-Semitism can only be detrimental to the Jews of any nationality in Europe. That’s because it makes people wonder, for example, whether the recent, highly publicized Jewish graveyard desecrations near Strasbourg were staged — just in time to pressure this new measure into passage, or whether the following figures in The Guardian are exaggerated: “Antisemitism rising sharply across Europe, latest figures show: France reports 74% rise in offences against Jews and Germany records 60% surge in violent attacks”.



Since Israel is all about demographics, its core purpose is to maintain itself as a Jewish state, regardless of International Human Rights law that calls for the return of Palestinian refugees, exiles and those Israel has displaced within Israel and outside to their villages and homeland. Its influence in Europe is meant to push more Jews to immigrate to Israel.

Michael Lesher, whose blog on The Times of Israel has the motto ‘Pro-Palestinian doesn’t mean anti-Jew ‘I will not be asked to choose between Judaism and justice’ has this to say on the subject:

Israeli press has reported that the number of Jews immigrating there from France was never large and is actually declining. This is notwithstanding a serious propaganda campaign, spearheaded by the Israeli government, to convince French Jews to move to Israel. (Bear in mind that the Israeli government is very concerned about immigrants and asylum seekers from Africa, and would doubtless like to have an influx of white European Jews.) I have no doubt many French Jews have been successfully frightened by the scare tactics, but what this proves about actual anti-Semitism is a different question. It’s worth remembering that modern France was home to a very serious anti-Semitic movement from roughly the 1890s through the 1940s. Yet only a small proportion of French Jews actually left the country during that time.

So, should European Jews immigrate to Israel because of rising anti-Semitism, as Israel desires? The following discussion on Facebook gives good answers to this question:

Benay Blend: No. They need to stay where they are and fight. Then again, I know that has a connotation to it, as we knew German Jews whose families didn’t leave. I really don’t discount that there is a serious fascist movement on the rise, and it’s international. I think that anti-Semitism has to be put in that perspective, not looked at alone. Some of the incidents were perpetuated by an Israeli Jew, but not all. I am not going to assume that they are false flags. Micha K. Ben-David: Benay Blend, I appreciate this approach, especially in light of rising nationalism around the world. The response can’t be further nationalism (and Zionism), but deliberately strengthening local inter-community ties. The Muslim community in Pittsburgh immediately reached out to the Jewish synagogue after the latest attack. I believe the same can be done in Europe. It is important to also note that while hyper nationalism is called out around the world, so should Zionism in these contexts.

My only hope is that the French public, including Jews among them, proves to be less easily manipulated than their leader.

We are Jews, heirs of a long period in which the vast majority of Jews felt that their emancipation as an oppressed minority was through the emancipation of all humanity. We are anti [Zionism] because we reject the separation of Jews from the rest of humanity. We are anti because the nakba, the premeditated ethnic cleansing of the majority of Palestinians in 1948–49 is a crime that must be repaired. — Union Juive Francaise Pour La Paix (UJFP)

Also see the following important statement signed by 400 people in France saying “we are anti-Zionist”: https://www.liberation.fr/debats/2019/02/28/l-antisionisme-est-une-opinion-pas-un-crime_1712216

Let’s keep in mind that this law is nothing more than a tool of propaganda and intimidation. It stokes Islamophobia and hate by propagating divisiveness — already evident in how Macron’s speech fuels racism and Islamophobia “targeting poorer communities with ancestry in France’s former colonies in Africa.”

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Rima Najjar, professor at Al-Quds University, Palestine (retired). She comes from Lifta, Jerusalem and Ijzim, Haifa and currently lives in the United States.