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Activists outside a meeting of the Labour National Executive Committee in London, with signs protesting the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, September 4, 2018. (Stefan Rousseau/PA Images via Getty Images/ via JTA /SUE)
JTA When is it anti-Semitic to criticize Israel?
Anti-Semitism signifies hatred of Jews and the ways that hatred is perpetuated through age-old conspiracy theories and their modern variants. But what about when that hatred is expressed through rhetoric about the Jewish state? Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitism?
Those questions have divided American Jews in recent years and are continuing to do so, as of last week.
Establishment Jewish groups want US President-elect Joe Biden’s administration to treat some anti-Israel speech as anti-Semitism. Progressive Jewish groups disagree, worried about chilling or criminalizing legitimate criticism of Israeli policy.
The IHRA definition of anti-Semitism and why people are fighting over it, explained January 15, 2021 12:26 pm Demonstrators protest outside Labour headquarters in London after its leader, Jeremy Corbyn, refused to adopt fully the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of anti-Semitism in the party s code of conduct, Sept. 4, 2018. (Daniel Leal-Olivas/AFP via Getty Images)
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(JTA) When is it anti-Semitic to criticize Israel?
Anti-Semitism signifies hatred of Jews and the ways that hatred is perpetuated through age-old conspiracy theories and their modern variants. But what about when that hatred is expressed through rhetoric about the Jewish state? Is anti-Zionism anti-Semitism?
Those questions have divided American Jews in recent years and are doing so again this week.