The ‘Jews as Jews’ code

The more I look into the discussion of anti-Semitism the more I realise there is a code that needs to be cracked to understand what is really being said. My last article argued that the question ‘what about Islamophobia?’ is a way of challenging the supposed privilege Jews have over other minorities. This piece will consider the meaning of the strange phrase ‘Jews as Jews’.

A perfect example was provided by Francesca Albanese, the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian territories, when she was caught in a lie. In an interview (see video below) with Yama Wolasmal of NRK, Norway’s national broadcaster, she denied comparing Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, to Hitler. But when he produced documentary proof of his accusation she had to decide quickly how to react.

Instead of defending her outrageous comparison of the two leaders her response was “anti-Semitism is discrimination against the Jewish people as Jews”. A spokesman from the Campaign Against Antisemitism accused her in a comment of changing the subject but that is not quite right. It is true that Albanese was dodging the question but in her own way she was giving an encoded answer. Translated into plain English what she was saying what that “by definition hatred directed against Israel does not count as anti-Semitism”.

Albanese claims to be opposed to anti-Semitism but her conception of what that means is limited. If a right-wing extremist used old-fashioned anti-Semitic language she would no doubt object. But if a leftist or Islamist called for Israel’s destruction, or suggested it was the hub of the world’s evil, it is hard to see her complaining. In the standard anti-Zionist view it would not count as anti-Semitism because it would not be directed at ‘Jews as Jews’. 

This dismissal of anti-Semitism only counting if it targets ‘Jews as Jews’ is not limited to Albanese. For example, the Jerusalem Declaration  – the definition of anti-Semitism generally favoured by anti-Zionists – states that “Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish)”.

Occasionally anti-Zionists will concede that in extreme circumstances anti-Semites might use Israel as a cover to express their hatred of Jews. But they are remarkably reluctant to give examples of what they see as a theoretical possibility. And I have never seen any supposedly principled protestors on anti-Israel marches challenge the rife anti-Semitism among their peers.

Of course it does not follow that regular criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. I have argued many times that it is possible to criticise Israel’s government or policies without hating Jews. As long as Israel is judged by the same standards as any other nation. But visceral hatred of the Jewish state is another matter.

To fully understand the pitfalls of the ‘Jews as Jews’ approach it is necessary to look at the other part of Albanese’s definition.  That is to describe anti-Semitism as a form of discrimination. Although anti-Semitism can involve discrimination it goes much further than that. For a start it can involve threats of violence or actual violence as the Jerusalem Declaration indeed acknowledges.

But, as I have argued several times on this site, a core feature of anti-Semitism is to view Jews as the embodiment of evil. In Europe before the second world war this often meant being seen as personifying the perceived evils of capitalism, communism and modernity. Nowadays it more often involves seeing Israel as the epitome of civilisation and colonialism.

The conception of Israel as epitomising evil goes far beyond discrimination or prejudice. It follows from this unhinged premise that its physical annihilation is necessary. That is an argument often endorsed by anti-Zionists and sometimes made by them explicitly. It is completely in line with the genocidal character of modern anti-Semitism.

Casting Israel as a malevolent global force is at the core of contemporary anti-Semitism. The attempt to define it out of existence by narrowly defining anti-Semitism in relation to ‘Jews as Jews’ is completely disingenuous.

PHOTO: "Encontro com relatora especial da ONU, Francesca Albanese - Out.24" by Esquerda.Net is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.