MadeAliyah,
Yosher Koach for opening this thread because this is a topic that deserves discussion. It is also a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.
Where does legitimate criticism of the Israel government end and Antisemitism begin ?
Where does support for the Palestinians end and Antisemitism begin ?
The gold standard for the definition of Antisemitism by the IHRA’s Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial has made the issue confusing by defining certain criticism of Israel/Israeli’s as Antisemitism.
Here are 6 of their definitions and you can see where the lines between The Jewish people, Israel and Antisemitism are blurred.
* 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
PS: Here are the first 5 definitions which refer mainly to the Jewish people.
* 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.