What is anti-Semitism?
Anthony Ham’s discussion of the new wave of global anti-Semitism (Eureka Street, January-February 2004) is welcome and timely, but his thesis lacks sufficient historical and political context.
Ham rightly condemns both anti-Jewish racism (Judeophobia), and anti-Arab racism (Arabophobia), but draws a very long bow in attempting to bracket both sets of prejudices as ‘anti-Semitism’.
Clever semantics aside, anti-Semitism has long been understood in the modern world as involving prejudice directed specifically at Jews. This is because the language of anti-Semitism—typically via conspiracy theories claiming Jewish control of either communism or capitalism—has produced anti-Jewish genocide. In contrast, there is no historical or contemporary example of anti-Arab discourse leading to anti-Arab genocide.
This equation of victims of racism also subtly neglects the subtext which is that one of these victimised groups (the Arabs) has often persecuted the other (Jews). For example, the Jewish population in Arab countries has declined from 856,000 in 1948 to just over 7000 today reflecting a combination of popular anti-Jewish feeling and discriminatory government policies. And more recently, the European
Monitoring Center on Racism and Xenophobia report Manifestations of anti-Semitism in the European Union has confirmed that many of the worst anti-Jewish attacks in Europe have been perpetrated not by traditional fascists and anti-Semites, but rather by young
Muslims, mainly of Arab descent.
Ham then shifts course to attack the Israeli Government for attempting to discredit critics of their policies by accusing them of anti-Semitism. But putting to one side the cynical politics of Sharon and Sharansky, this claim is not entirely without foundation. To be sure, some hardline critics of Israel are not motivated by anti-Jewish prejudice, but equally some are. The distinction is not a simple one. It is clearly not anti-Semitic to argue that Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are illegal and immoral, that the Palestinian Arabs living in these territories should have access to the same national rights as Jewish Israelis, and that a two-state solution should be negotiated which addresses both minimum Israeli security needs, and basic Palestinian national aspirations. These views are advocated by a healthy minority within Israel itself.
Too often international criticism of Zionism goes beyond reasonable criticism of specific Israeli policies, to a negation of Jewish national rights per se. And any actions taken by Israeli governments to defend the lives of citizens are derided as illegitimate.
Ham should be commended for trying to place Arabophobia in