Tuesday, May 31, 2016

This "Working Definiton" of "Antisemitism" Doesn't Really Work For Me

This is the definition that the 31 nations which belong to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) have settled on:
Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.
You know that quip about how a camel is a horse designed by a committee?

That antisemitism definition, which is bizarrely phrased ("a certain perception of Jews"?), oddly reasoned (antisemitism can be "directed toward non-Jewish individuals"?), and which excludes any mention of Israel-hate, the Jew-hate of our era, is one honking big dromedary.

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