The narrative that “Nothing fuels modern antisemitism more than the state of Israel. If the latter were to change its policy, antisemitism in its many contemporary facets would also decrease or even vanish” is a perfidious perpetrator-victim reversal. Suddenly, anti-Semites are no longer to blame for antisemitism, but the Jews − or the Jewish state of Israel. The non-Jewish world only reacts, so to speak, whether it is Palestinian terrorists who are allegedly waging a “fight for freedom” against the “Zionist oppressors” or their supporters in Europe and elsewhere who do not want to be denied their “criticism of Israel”, no matter how antisemitic they may be. Adorno called this ‘projection’ − the victim is accused of what one is doing or intending to do.

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A few years ago, a survey of EU citizens found that Israel was seen as the greatest threat to world peace − ahead of North Korea, Iran and other human rights abusers. Regardless of how one views the particular political decisions of the State of Israel, it is evident that such a demonization bears no relation to reality. Conversely, this kind of resentment also implies that the destruction of Israel is ultimately a necessary evil for the maintenance or establishment of world peace.

Antisemitism in the former British Palestine Mandate is significantly older than the Jewish state. The presence of Jews alone was the cause of anti-Jewish violence decades before the state was founded. Unfortunately, antisemitism exists in relative independence from its object. In other words: how Jews or the Jewish state actually behave plays an extremely subordinate role.

References

„Ohne Israel gäbe es keinen Antisemitismus!“ (article “Without Israel there would be no antisemitism!” published on Nichts-gegen-Juden.de – a project by the Amadeu Antonio Stiftung)

Visuals

Viele sind antisemitisch und merken es nicht (article by Alan Posener published on July 9, 2017, on Welt.de)

Die Jerusalemer Erklärung: Was ist Antisemitismus? (article by Sarah Judith Hofmann published on June 12, 2021, on Deutsche Welle)

Judenfeindlichkeit an Schulen – Antisemitismus in Berlin hat vor allem mit dem Nahost-Konflikt zu tun (article published on April 1, 2018, on Deutschlandfunk)