opinion
Should Israel Lead the Fight
Against Antisemitism?
BY BEN COHEN
T he just-published Annual Assessment of
the Jerusalem-based Jewish People Policy
Institute makes for sobering reading when it comes
to the section of antisemitism.

It’s not that the report contains any new infor-
mation or fresh insights. Largely culled from the
reporting of other institutions, the analysis in the
JPPI publication notes that during the last two
years, two events — the war in Gaza between
Israel and Hamas in May 2021 as well as the
persistence of the COVID-19 pandemic — have
profoundly shaped antisemitic discourse and our
perception of it. Further, it observes that the
“fight against anti-Semitism has attained increas-
ing awareness and support. It is the focus of more
conferences and seminars than ever before, and
legislative initiatives against anti-Semitism have
multiplied.” Yet despite “the proliferation of ini-
tiatives, some reports have declared the effort to
eradicate anti-Semitism a ‘failure,’” it adds.

Given that there is a question mark over whether
antisemitism can ever be entirely eradicated, as
opposed to controlled and marginalized, such
judgments on existing efforts are perhaps unfair.

Nevertheless, it is certainly true that in recent
years, an unprecedented infrastructure for coun-
tering antisemitism has crystallized in place at just
the same time that the problem has worsened on
a scale not witnessed since World War II.

Many democratic countries have appointed gov-
ernment officials to deal with the fight against
antisemitism and the preservation of Jewish life
more broadly. This global infrastructure is almost
20 years old, with the first steps towards its cre-
ation emerging in 2003 in the wake of a major inter-
governmental conference on antisemitism hosted
by the Organization for Security and Cooperation
in Europe. During that time, these officials have
stressed similar themes to counter antisemitism on
both sides of the Atlantic Ocean: more Holocaust
education in schools, more training for police
officers, emergency responders and other front-
line personnel in recognizing and responding
to antisemitism, and the active promotion of the
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
working definition of antisemitism, which includes
instances of anti-Zionism among its examples.

A particularly grim account of what the resur-
gence of antisemitism has meant for Jewish com-
munities was provided last week by Eddo Verdoner,
the government-appointed national coordinator to
counter antisemitism in the Netherlands. In an
14 OCTOBER 13, 2022 | JEWISHEXPONENT.COM
extensive interview with the Dutch newspaper
Trouw, Verdoner revealed that his office is inun-
dated with reports from Jewish students and
Jewish employees that complain of antisemitic
harassment — for example, Jews being told they
have to first criticize Israel’s policies toward the
Palestinians before they are permitted to partici-
pate in a campus debate.

“The result is that Jews hide their identity or
apologize for it,” Verdoner remarked. “Children
say: ‘Why am I even here?’ Or they don’t even
want to be a Jew at all … A child should be able
to express his identity at school, a student should
feel safe at university, and in the workplace peo-
ple should be able to say that they are Jewish to
colleagues without any worries.”
The Israeli government
has been an
important partner in the
fight against antisemitism.

global dimensions. Striking, too, is its conclusion.

“The return of anti-Semitism could become a
long-term fixture of global discourse, while the abil-
ity of Jewish communities and Israel to influence it
is limited,” it states. “Under these circumstances,
Israel, as the world’s strongest Jewish organizing
force, cannot confine itself to attempts to ‘fight
anti-Semitism.’ Israelis must understand what it will
mean to live in an era when anti-Semitism is a per-
sistent factor in Jewish life, and prepare for that era
accordingly, while formulating plans for appropriate
explanatory, diplomatic, and security activity.”
Hence, the report went on to say, the response
to antisemitism should be entrusted “a single
integrative body with powers and implementation
capabilities” created by the Israeli government.

For anyone familiar with the troughs and peaks
of antisemitism over the last 20 years, such a pro-
posal should give pause.

The Israeli government has been an import-
ant partner in the fight against antisemitism, for
example running a vocal social media campaign
to counter the anti-Zionist boycott, divestment
and sanctions movement through its Ministry of
Strategic Affairs. But it doesn’t follow logically
that the Israeli government should be the main
address for those who want to step up the fight
against antisemitism.

There are several reasons for this. To begin with,
antisemitism impacts Jews who are citizens of
other countries, not Israel; it is their governments
that need to be mobilized and it is local Jewish
organizations, not Israeli diplomats, that are best
placed to secure that response. Additionally, Israel
is not just a Jewish state but an active member
of the international community; in recent years
and months, Israel has encountered diplomatic
tensions with Poland, France and Russia among
other countries over domestic antisemitism. Will
making antisemitism a confirmed priority lead to
more or less clear thinking when it comes to for-
mulating Israeli foreign policy? The jury is out on
that question.

Finally, and depressingly, Israel taking the reins
in this particular fight will simply reinforce the
antisemitic meme that all Jews are closet Israelis
who are more loyal to Israel than their countries of
citizenship. Better, then, for Israel to remain what
it has always been — a beacon of hope and a ref-
uge for those who need one, but absolutely not a
substitute government for Jews in the Diaspora. JE
This disarmingly simple statement is more reveal-
ing than the dry statistics that document the rise
of antisemitic agitation in both Europe and North
America. Essentially, Verdoner is saying that the cli-
mate of fear among Jews in the Netherlands — where
the size of the community is estimated between
30,000 and 50,000 — has become so great that it is
a factor in their day-to-day routines. Will my Jewish
identity, many Dutch Jews are evidently asking them-
selves, create a fresh problem for me today?
As the JPPI report makes clear, these issues are
not confined to the Netherlands. In France too, it
notes, Jewish students are equally prone to hiding
their identities in the face of hostility, while the dis-
cernible movement of Jews from neighborhoods
that are less Jewish into those that are more so —
dubbed by some an “internal aliyah” — continues
apace. And hiding Jewish identity is even a factor in
the U.S. The JPPI report cited an American Jewish
Committee study which discovered that “four out of
ten American Jews say they have avoided posting
content online that would reveal their Jewishness
or their views on Jewish issues, and 22 percent
refrained from publicly displaying Jewish items.”
While the JPPI report doesn’t really tell us any- Ben Cohen is a New York City-based journalist
thing about antisemitism that we didn’t already and author who writes a weekly column on Jewish
know, it is nevertheless a useful overview of its and international affairs for JNS.