The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network (IJAN) in Argentina welcomes
the “Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism" (JDA) which, despite some
limitations, constitutes a document of significant strategic value in combating
the malicious definition of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
(IHRA) and its ill-willed “examples.”
The IHRA's “definition of anti-Semitism” with its “examples,” has been widely condemned by human rights bodies and academic, social and political organizations, including IJAN. It was designed to serve the interests of Zionism – that is, to protect the State of Israel from criticism, convictions and potential sanctions for its structural racism and its criminal policies against the Palestinian people, which have been classified as the crime of apartheid.
Such interests are contrary to the struggle against Judeophobia since they attribute anti-Jewish racism to something which is not anti-Jewish, especially the just action of defending Palestinian rights, which are plainly and simply part of the fight for justice more broadly, and which are are guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international law.
Judeophobia/anti-Judaism (wrongly termed “anti-Semitism”) is a particular form of racism, which manifests as prejudice, discrimination, hostility or violence towards Jews as Jews. It can also be a particular form of xenophobia under the argument that Jews from a certain country are foreigners, even though they be natives of that country. Incidentally, this Judeophobic position has been strongly fueled by Zionism, since it considers Jewish identity as a “nationality” and the State of Israel as the “nation-state of the Jewish people,” central elements of its supremacist project in Palestine.
It is important to note that all this debate about what Judeophobia is and what it is not has been incited as part of an attack by the racist and xenophobic right. Through promoting a confusing definition of Judeophobia (that of the IHRA) in dozens of countries and institutions, the right has tried to achieve impunity for Zionism and its creature, the State of Israel, in the face of the historical and contemporary crimes which are the fruits of its colonial project in Palestine. In fact, it is clear that there has been an increase in the number of anti-Jewish attacks in the world not for lack of a good definition of Judeophobia, but mainly and precisely because of the strengthening of the racist and xenophobic right, of which Zionism and its “successful” colonial project in Palestine is not only part and parcel, but is furthermore “a model of action to be imitated.”
IJAN denounces and condemns this attack, and reaffirms that a true fight against Judeophobia must take place within the framework of the internationalist fight against racism and xenophobia, which have traditionally been linked to supremacist discourses and forms of extreme nationalism, currently booming in broad sectors of the United States, Brazil and Europe, among others.
We challenge the stigmatization and structural racism towards immigrants, Muslims and other minorities carried out by these movements, and we strengthen our solidarity with the Palestinian struggle against Jewish supremacism and Zionist apartheid in Palestine. In this sense, we recognize the value of the JDA in clarifying how that struggle, and in particular the Boycott, Divestment,Sanctions (BDS) movement, are not manifestations of Judeophobia, but are indeed on the contrary part of a legitimate anti-colonial and anti-racist struggle for a freer and more just world.
We thus call on the state, provincial and municipal institutions that, under the influence of Zionist propaganda, adopted the unspeakable IHRA definition of “anti-Semitism,” to reverse their stances and join the real battle against Judeophobia, which can only occur within the framework of a broader fight against all forms of racism and xenophobia.
Translated from the original Spanish version.
Notes:
1. https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/
2. https://bdsmovement.net/A-Palestinian-Civil-Society-Critique-JDA
3. https://www.apdh-argentina.org.ar/sites/default/files/2020-09/1600365467503_Cuaderno%201-Antisemitismo.pdf
4. http://judiosantisionistasargentina.blogspot.com/2020/09/posicion-de-ijan-respecto-la-nueva.html
5. https://www.publico.es/internacional/palestina-b-tselem-denuncia-supremacia-apartheid-israel-aplica-palestinos.html
6. https://bdsmovement.net/es/what-is-bds
