Dishonest Virginia AAUP Critique of IHRA Definition of Antisemitism

I received the following email from the Virginia chapter of the American Asssociation of University Professors (of which I am not a member, btw):

1. The VA-AAUP Resolution on Antisemitism and Racism

The VA Conference of the American Association of University Professors (VA-AAUP) recently passed the attached resolution on Antisemitism and Racism. This resolution is in response to Governor Youngkin's Executive Order #8 to establish the Commission to Combat Antisemitism.

1. The VA-AAUP Resolution on Antisemitism and Racism

The VA Conference of the American Association of University Professors (VA-AAUP) recently passed the attached resolution on Antisemitism and Racism. This resolution is in response to Governor Youngkin's Executive Order #8 to establish the Commission to Combat Antisemitism. At issue is the IHRA "working definition" of antisemitism that includes political critiques of Israeli state actions, including discrimination and violence against Palestinians. The VA-AAUP calls upon our elected representatives in the General Assembly, the Governor, and all leaders of academic institutions in the Commonwealth of Virginia, to:
1. Reaffirm that the freedom to teach and freedom to learn are inseparable facets of academic freedom;
2. Reaffirm that academic excellence requires rigorous critical examination of all sides of an issue and the freedom to hypothesize and study new and different ideas even if they are not politically popular;
3. Oppose adoption of the 2016 International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) "working definition" of antisemitism;
4. Oppose any political interference in the conduct of the Commonwealth's institutions of higher education; and
5. Oppose, prohibit, and condemn in the strongest possible terms, any actions that would ban, limit, or distort the teaching of history, social studies, and/or related academic subjects.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism is controversial. It includes the following as examples of antisemitism:

Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.
Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.
Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

I don't fully agree with this definition. In particular, I think one can argue that Jews, like other minorities such as Kurds, should just suck it up and not have their own country. One could hold this opinion because one is an Islamist, opposes nationalism in general, thinks Israel's presence is too disruptive to the Middle East, or think that Israel is a bastion of Western imperialism--none of which is an inherently antisemitic opinion to hold.

Moreover, in general I find that it's less problematic to philosophically question whether Israel should have been created but accept its de facto existence (as, last I heard, such very harsh critics as Noam Chomsky and Norman Finkelstein do) than to have no philosophical objection to Israel's existence, as such, but support Israel's destruction because Israel gets in the way of Palestinian nationalism, pan-Arabism, or Islamism. Those in the latter camp tend to support Israel's destruction regardless of what that would mean for the fate of the Jews who currently live in Israel. Being okay with genocide is much worse than merely, e.g., arguing that Israel is a racist endeavor but we need to find a way toward a two-state solution.

All of which is to say that my problem is not with AAUP-VA's criticism of the IHRA, as such. The AAUP-VA could reasonably object that the definition is overbroad in some respects, and though adopting the IHRA definition does not in itself suggest that anyone's speech would be penalized or suppressed (and in fact it's explicitly not meant to be legally binding), it could have a chilling effect on faculty afraid that certain types of criticism of Israel would lead to them being denounced as antisemites. Or, the AAUP-VA could simply suggest that what constitutes racism or any form thereof, including antisemitism, is a matter of intellectual debate regarding which a state government should not be taking a position.

Instead, the AAUP-VA claims that the IHRA definition condemns as antisemitic "political critiques of Israeli state actions, including discrimination and violence against Palestinians." But there is nothing in the IHRA definition that would deem a statement along the lines of "I condemn Israeli discrimination and violence against Palestinians" as antisemitic. Indeed, the IHRA definition specifically states that "criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic." Other countries are criticized for perceived discrimination against minorities or violence against enemy peoples or nations, sometimes fairly, sometimes less so, all the time.

So in the name of opposing the "distortion" of social studies, AAUP-VA is distorting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, by suggesting that it condemns any critiques of Israel's policies toward the Palestinians. (I also don't think that AAUP-VA should be implicitly editorializing about "discrimination and violence against Palestinians," which kinda undermines its position of a being a neutral advocate of academic freedom.)

The underlying problem is that those most opposed to the IHRA's definition within the academy can't provide an honest critique of the definition, because they don't simply want to criticize Israel is some reasonable, normal fashion. Rather, they object to the IHRA definition precisely because they want to condemn the idea of having a state for the Jewish people as inherently racist, apply double standards to Israel, use images of a classically antisemitic nature to attack Israel, and analogize Israeli policy to Nazis, without being accused of antisemitism. (All of these criticisms, by the way, are protected by academic freedom, even though antisemitic.)

For the AAUP-VA to play along with this charade is shameful.

UPDATE: All the governor's executive order reference by the AAUP-VA has to say about the IHRA is this: "Antisemitism, as defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, '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.'" So the statement going on about Israel and so forth by AAUP-VA is best seen as part of a worldwide campaign by forces hostile to Israel to undermine the IHRA (because, like I said, they want to engage in double standards, Nazi analogies, etc., without being called on it), rather than as reflecting any threat to academic freedom regarding criticism of Israel.

Comments

[Intelligent Mr Toad]

Free the Curds! Let them have their own homeland, separate from the Whey.

[Frank Drackman]

EMILY LITELLA: What’s all this FUSS I hear… about saving Soviet jewelry? Now… what makes Soviet jewelry so special? Will it be worth more in a few years? Why… prices what they are today… ALL jewelry will be worth more! now, if I recall correctly, Mrs. Kruschev didn’t wear very much jewelry… and her husband, the Premier, didn’t even wear a watch! Not the mickey mouse watch, anyway. Why, they wouldn’t even let him into Disney Land! And now he’s DEAD!! Well, I’m infuriated! Save Soviet jewelry?! Where are we going to put it? I say keep it over THERE, with all their ballet dancers! Let them keep their own jewelry AND their own ballet dancers! As a matter of fact, why don’t get the ballet dancers to save the jewelry?! Americans have more important things to save! And electricity! And what about our fuel? Now, THAT’S important! Not jewelry!

CHEVY: Miss Litella. Miss Litella.

EMILY LITELLA: What?!

CHEVY: It’s Jewry. Jewry. Not jewelry.

EMILY LITELLA: It’s what?

CHEVY: Soviet Jewry. The editorial was about Jewry, not jewelry.

EMILY LITELLA: Oh! Well, that’s very important.

CHEVY: Yes.

EMILY LITELLA: *smiling* Never mind!

[Mr. Bumble]

+1

[Seamus]

In particular, I think one can argue that Jews, like other minorities such as Kurds, should just suck it up and not have their own country.

I think a better analogy might be if the Cherokee Indians asserted a right to return to their ancestral homeland in the southeastern United States and establish an independent state there (by which I mean a state like Israel or Pakistan, not a state like Georgia or North Carolina). Or if the Parsees were to assert a right to return to Iran and establish a Zoroastrian state carved out of Iranian territory.

[Bob from Ohio]

"minorities such as Kurds"

Kurds should have their own state too. A missed 2005 opportunity.

[Randal]

I'm so happy to see that your views on this topic have matured towards the rational over the last 10 or 15 years, David.

[David Bernstein]

My views haven't changed at all. So I suppose that means that your moves have matured towards the rational.

Here's me in 2011:

Anti-Zionism and Anti-Semitism
by David Bernstein on October 4, 2011 10:55 am in Anti-Semitism
Prompted by the controversy over Mearsheimer and Atzmon, Bob from Brockley has a good post on anti-Semitism, including this discussion of non-anti-Semitic anti-Zionism, with my added emphases:

Anti-Zionism that also takes a consistent opposition to all nationalisms (including Palestinian nationalism) is not antisemitic; Jewish religious anti-Zionism such as that of the Satmer Hasidim is not antisemitic; Jewish anti-Zionism which rejects the Zionist solution to the questions of Jewish survival and continuity (such as the position of the Jewish Socialist Group or others in the tradition of the Bund, folkism and other diasporist traditions) is not antisemitic [Editor: though one wonders about the relevance of these traditions in 2011, when there is an existing Jewish state with almost eight million citizens]; anti-Zionism from the perspective of Israeli citizens (Jewish or Arab) who want to see Israel as a democratic state for all its citizens (rather than a Jewish state) is not antisemitic; finally anti-Zionism which sees Zionism as a form of imperialism and takes a consistent opposition to all imperialisms without singling out Zionism as unique is wrong-headed, but not in itself antisemitic. All of these forms of anti-Zionism can be used as fig-leaves for antisemitism or be used to feed antisemitism, but they are not themselves antisemitic. [Editor: And I would add one more. Islamist anti-Zionism that is based on the idea that “Palestine” is Islamic territory that for theological reasons may not be governed by non-Muslims is not, by itself, anti-Semitic.]

Unfortunately, it’s increasingly the case that even those who approach anti-Zionism from one or more of these perspectives are at best tolerant of the anti-Semitism indulged in by some of their allies, and at worst engage in rhetoric that smacks of classical anti-Jewish themes, even if the individuals in question are not themselves anti-Semitic.

[Randal]

You used to fail to recognize the Chomsky / Finkelstein position as a legitimate one. Although, on re-read, you’re calling it “less problematic,” which I suppose could mean that you do still consider it to be lightly antisemitic?

[David Bernstein]

Chomsky and Finkelstein being realistic that Israel is not going anywhere, and not advocating genocide against the Jewish population of Israel, is a pretty low bar, but somehow most vocal "antizionists" can't manage it. Both men, however, remain fringe, nutty, leftist conspiracists, and Finkelstein (though not Chomsky to my knowledge) traffics in antisemitic tropes when it suits him.

[Randal]

"Fringe" and "nutty" isn't relevant to anything, unless that thing be ad hominem.

What conspiracy theory do you mean? Zionism itself is a conspiracy, of course. Do you mean something beyond that natural observation?

[Jonathan Affleck]

I grew up with a Jewish Berber mother and a Ukrainian/Galitzianer Jewish father. They had nothing in common -- not even religion. They had less in common religiously than a Maronite Catholic and an Irish Catholic.

The Jewish people of Zionism ideology is congruent with the Aryan race of Nazi ideology and is a gimmick to legitimize and to normalize genocide.

The entire human race has a duty to hate, to loathe, and to scorn Zionism, the Zionist movement, the Zionist colonial settler conglomeration, the Zionist state, and every Zionist on the planet.

[Social Justice is neither]

Genocidal self-loathing on full display here if true, otherwise it's just genocidal rationalizations.

[Jonathan Affleck]

I have no self-loathing at all. A depraved and evil Zionist is the ultimate self-hater and the nonpareil antisemite as well as a perverted atrocious genocidal racist toward a Palestinian.

When the Charge of Antisemitism is Justified

Two types of racism define Zionism.

The first racism consists of genocidal hatred of Palestinians simply for existing. Zionists hate Palestinian natives because Palestinians are — as Ben-Gurion and Ben-Tzvi realized — true descendants of ancient Judeans and pose an insurmountable existential dilemma for the white racist colonial-settler invaders, who have stolen Palestine on the basis of a ridiculous fairy tale of their own descent from ancient Judeans.

The second Zionist racism consists of Zionist racism directed against Diaspora Jews and probably deserves a unique name. Antisemitism among non-Jews of the late 19th century and of the first half of the 20th century results from the advantages European Jews had during European modernization.

If gentile or traditional antisemitism is a thesis, which asserts that the rise of the Jews is wrong. Zionism is a counter-thesis, which asserts that there is nothing wrong with the rise of the Jews and that the real problem results
1. from the manner of this rise and
2. from the defects created in the course of this flawed rise.

Jews were becoming wealthier faster than the non-Jews among whom they lived, but Jewish status and power did not increase concomitantly. Non-Jews were accusing Jews of materialism, avarice, parasitical occupation, physical weakness, and lasciviousness for non-Jewish women. The nascent Zionists internalized this critique and concluded that gentile criticism could be overcome and Jewish defectiveness healed only by committing genocide on the natives of Palestine and by stealing the country of these natives.

While Zionist racism against Palestinians results in genocide and expulsion, Zionist racism against Diaspora Jews, who are proud of their heritage and who reject the depravity of Zionist ideology and actions, is the hatred of true believer for the benighted old believer. The scorn and contempt of the murderous and genocidal Zionist for the Diaspora Jewish witness to Zionist depravity knows no bounds. Even if nowadays the Diaspora Jewish witness is less likely to be assassinated, Zionists work tirelessly to defame and to exclude such a witness as well as to create discrimination against him.

Zionists suffer deserved hatred. A decent person hates Zionism, the Zionist state, and every Zionist because of the boundless criminality.

Here is the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

"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."

The above definition describes the hatred that the Zionist feels for the Diaspora Jew that rejects Zionism and the following image fleshes out Zionist bigotry and prejudice (today’s antisemitism) against the proud ethical Diaspora Jew that rejects Zionism without qualification and without reservation. Zionists often express rhetorical (at least) manifestations of antisemitism against non-Zionist or anti-Zionist Jewish community institutions like the Jewish Voice for Peace and Boston Workers Circle Center for Jewish Culture and Social Justice.

Zionism is not in any way part of Judaism. Zionism, Zionists, and the Zionist try to transform Judaism, Jewishness, and Jewish identity into a program of genocide. From the standpoint of Judaism, Zionism represents the utmost depravity.

[Jonathan Affleck]

If you are curios about the image, here's a link.
https://www.elivalley.com/comics/israel-man-and-diaspora-boy

[The Margrave of Azilia]

I'm interested in what that rascal Youngkin has done *this* time.

[The Margrave of Azilia]

OK, here's Youngkin's executive order from January:

https://www.governor.virginia.gov/media/governorvirginiagov/governor-of-virginia/pdf/74---eo/74---eo/EO-8---Commission-to-Combat-Antisemitism.pdf

It sets up a Commission to Combat Antisemitism which is supposed to give a report by Dec. 1.

And here's their Web site

https://www.commonwealth.virginia.gov/va-government/boards-and-commissions/combat-antisemitism/

I'm interested in seeing what they crank out.

[questioner7]

“criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic” — for Americans, it should be “…any other country receiving Israel-level amounts of United States’ military, diplomatic and economic support”. Such support arguably makes Americans more responsible for Israel’s acts than for the acts of countries not similarly supported by the U.S., and more justified in singling Israel out for criticism. Also, Israel holds itself out as a Western-style democracy, so its behavior reflects on other Western-style democracies in a way that the behavior of other countries does not, giving them the right to scrutinize Israel more.

[SRG]

FWIW, after reading Martin Gilbert's history of the Jews under Arab/Muslim reign, "In Ishmael's House", I concluded that the existence of the state of Israel was justified far beyond any rational disagreement even if the Holocaust had never occurred.

[Jonathan Affleck]

Gilbert is a white racist genocide-supporting Zionist propagandist, who must be scorned.

My Mother's Story

After the depraved and evil white racial supremacist Zionist colonial settlers perpetrated genocide on the native Palestinian population from Dec 1947 through 1949, the disgusting Zionist leadership realized that it could not hold stolen Palestine without an influx of cannon fodder, bullet catchers, and mine finders. The villainous Zionist leadership contrived to destroy the communities of Jewish Arabs and Jewish Berbers to force the members of these communities to emigrate to stolen Palestine even though in the minds of the perverted Zionist leadership, Jewish Arabs and Jewish Berbers were considered genetically and racially inferior. The vile Zionist leadership hoped that Jewish Arabs and Jewish Berbers would die in the service of Zionism and would thereby remove themselves from the gene pool.

Mom was 16 when a white racial supremacist Zionist "snake oil salesman" ‬ (שליח) tricked her family into leaving their homes for the Zionist state. As soon as the family arrived, the vile white racist Zionist anti-Jews doused every member of the family in insecticide because to the sick and perverted Zionist anti-Jews, a Jewish Berber was dirty and primitive. My mom's father was a respected scholar and refused to allow his family to live in homes stolen from Palestinians. Zionist anti-Jews beat him almost to death. I suppose he was lucky. If he had been Palestinian, the Zionist anti-Jews would have murdered him. My grandfather had no desire to become an ersatz native collaborator in the service of white racial supremacist genocidal European Zionist colonial settler anti-Jews. He took the whole family out of the Zionist state as quickly as possible.

The entire human race has a categorical imperative to hate, to scorn, and to loathe every Zionist on the planet.

[SRG]

Cool story, bro.

[Roger S]

As Kanye West says, antisemitism is the new N-word.

[Rev. Arthur L. Kirkland]

Meanwhile, in other right-wing religious news:

" Supporters of Arizona's GOP gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake reenacted the Biblical Battle of Jericho, marching around the Maricopa County Tabulation and Election Center in Phoenix on Saturday seven times while blowing horns and singing the popular Christian song "Awesome God." "

Carry on, clingers.

[Frank Drackman]

Carryon Yourself, "Reverend" Jerry, any chance of you getting released from https://www.cor.pa.gov/Facilities/StatePrisons/Pages/Greene.aspx
Shrinks with every day (Lt Gov) ( Senator Erect) Stuttering John Fetterman doesn't get a chance to review your Commutation "Package", next LG isn't as likely to be as forgiving of your "Proclivities"

Frank "detests men of all ages"

[Jonathan Affleck]

The criminal genocidal Zionist state is illegal under international law.

Zionism is a vile and disgusting ideology of replacement genocide.

From 1881 onward, white racial supremacist European Zionists, planned to dispossess and to commit genocide on Palestinians in order to steal the homeland of Palestinians.

It is hard to be more perverted and repugnant than a Zionist.

The Zionist colonial settler anti-Jews put the long planned genocide into operation in Dec 1947 after the international community banned genocide in Dec 1946.

It is hard to be more vile and disgusting than a Zionist.

The Zionist colonial settler anti-Jews put the long planned genocide into operation in Dec 1947 after the international community banned genocide in Dec 1946.

Anti-genocide is jus cogens -- a peremptory international legal norm that cannot be derogated.

The criminal genocidal Zionist state exists because of support from white racist states.

No peace agreement is valid if it leaves the Zionist state intact.

Every Zionist must be hunted down for arrest:

1. to be tried for offenses of genocide,
2. almost certainly to be convicted, and
3. to be sentenced to a quick jab in the arm or to a long prison term.

Every Zionist individual and organization must be stripped of all assets. Every Zionist must die penniless and impoverished.

Once international Zionism is neutralized by arrest or by death-sentence of all international Zionists, the international community can be pressured to abolish the Zionist state as international law requires.

The international community must demand immediate surrender of the Zionist state along with handover of the Zionist colonial settler leadership for trial before a Nuremberg-style International Tribunal.

When the Zionist state refuses these lawful demands, the international community must start to carpet-bomb or to fire-bomb every settlement

1. that depraved Zionist colonial settler anti-Jews have established in stolen Palestine and
2. whose residents consist solely of criminal genocidal Zionist colonial settler anti-Jews.

Zionism must be completely eradicated from the planet for anyone to take seriously either the international anti-genocide legal regime or international law.

[Jonathan Affleck]

It is mind-boggling that so many states accept a mindlessly stupid definition of antisemitism, which was crafted under the guidance of a Zionist propagandist and vicious bloodthirsty Zionist genocide-perpetrator, who participated in genocide in 1947–9 after Auschwitz and after the 1946 Nuremberg International Military Tribunal.

I refer to Yehuda Bauer. The Nuremberg IMT hanged Julius Streicher for lesser offenses than those Bauer has committed.

The Nuremberg IMT (1946) is the starting point of the international anti-genocide legal regime, which made genocide a crime against humanity. The Rome Statute created the International Criminal Court where people like Bauer can be tried and convicted for genocide-conspiracy and genocide-incitement after 2002. To try, to convict, and to sentence Bauer to death for acts of genocide from Dec 1947-1949, the international community needs to create a Nuremberg-like Tribunal. For an act of genocide, a depraved Zionist must receive the same sentence that a depraved Nazi received for a comparable act of genocide. No one can take international anti-genocide law seriously if it is not applied uniformly.

Honorary Chairman and Advisor to the IHRA

The IHRA has an Honorary Chairman, Professor Yehuda Bauer, and an Advisor to the IHRA, Dr Wichert ten Have. The Honorary Chairman and the Advisor to the IHRA are available to consult with and guide the IHRA Chair, Executive Secretary and working group members on key content issues. Biographies and photos of Professor Yehuda Bauer and Professor Wichert ten Have are available in the IHRA Press Kit.

Bauer attended high school in Haifa and at sixteen, inspired by his history teacher, Rachel Krulik, he decided to dedicate himself to studying history. Upon completing high school, he joined the Palmach. He attended Cardiff University in Wales on a British scholarship, interrupting his studies to fight in the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, after which he completed his degree.

Bauer is a vicious bloodthirsty white racial supremacist despicable human being, who can’t conceive of a white European genocide of non-Europeans because in his depraved beliefs non-Europeans are just vermin to be expelled or to be exterminated.

It is far from clear that the IHRA definition of antisemitism leaves open the door for a campaign of BDS or for any but the mildest criticism of the Zionist state.

[David Bernstein]

I assume this is satire. If not, seek counseling.

[Jonathan Affleck]

A depraved white racist Zionist invariably makes an accusation of mental defect when he has no rational response.

Vicious bloodthirsty white racial supremacist European Zionist colonial settlers committed long planned genocide from Dec 1947-1949 after the international community banned genocide in Dec 1946 and made anti-genocide jus cogens.

The international community only has two options:

1. abolish the criminal genocidal Zionist state or
2. call into question the international anti-genocide legal regime and all of international law.

[Ridgeway]

You should ask him what he thinks of Section 230.

[Shabbetai Ẓevi]

Jews are chosen, all bow to thy masters!!

[Alpheus W Drinkwater]

"...because they want to condemn the idea of having a state for the Jewish people as inherently racist..."

"...All of these criticisms, by the way, are protected by academic freedom, even though antisemitic."

Prof. Bernstein, if you aren't already tired of this comment thread, could you explain why you consider that particular criticism antisemitic? This is perhaps the nub of the argument that you make here and elsewhere that I'm not really understanding.

[Bob from Ohio]

"knee-jerk nit-picking"

That's what the Virginia Chapter of the American Association of University Professors is doing.

[David Bernstein]

If AAUP-VA wants to argue that holding Israel to a double-standard is not antisemitic, they should make that case directly.

[grb]

I find the double-standard defense against any criticism of Israel itself a double-standard. Where it it applied elsewhere? Look at an appropriate example: During the anti-apartheid movement that peaked in the 1980s, was it a legitimate rejoinder to say there was worst oppression in the world via some grand oppression-rating system? I have a vague memory of South Africa’s defenders trying that argument, but it convinced no one. Likewise, was it evidence of anti-White bias that people joined the anti-apartheid battle rather than the – say – “worthier” cause of North Korean oppression. Not in the least.

By the (now hackneyed) “double-standard” defense against Israeli criticism, there is some platonic ideal of maximum oppression out there and to inveigh against anything else is made illegitimate by the existence of a target above. There are countless reasons why any protest or cause is adopted, expands and takes hold. In the case of Israel, some people may see the Israelis as people like themselves and hold them to a higher standard. Whether that’s fair or not, it isn’t anti-Semitism. They may see in Israel’s actions a reflection of past misdeed from their own heritage. Again, that’s not anti-Semitism. They may have been focused on the issue by the ugly actions of Palestinian terrorists in the past. Regrettable to be sure, but not anti-Semitism. They may have even been brought to the cause because it’s “trendy”. That’s open to criticism as being shallow, but not anti-Semitic. Personally, I think the “double-standard equals anti-Semitism” canard applies to the tiniest percent of Israel’s critics.

You may believe my judgement wrong. You may even be be right to some degree. But either way you have to prove it in specific cases. Because the “double-standard” defense alone is an empty, meaningless strawman evasion.

[Michael P]

Which other democratic success stories do you see in the region, or even the world, that have -- within living memory -- faced attempted annihilation by multiple neighbors, and still face frequent attacks by people who want to annihilate them?

[David Bernstein]

They are *obviously* suggesting, as the most hostile and dishonest elements in the academy do, that any criticism of Israel's policy toward the Palestinians is antisemitic under the IHRA definition. It would have been quite easy for them to phrase their criticism in a way that would not have obviously suggested that.

[David Bernstein]

"They may see in Israel’s actions a reflection of past misdeed from their own heritage." This normally comes up in people saying "how can Jews do to Palestinians what my ancestors did to Jews?" And that, indeed, is totally antisemitic.

[David Bernstein]

Gotta say that I haven't heard of any other nation-state created in the 20th century out of the ruins of empire being called inherently racist, including countries that expelled their minorities (like Pakistan, Greece, Poland, among others).

[David Bernstein]

"any other nation-state created in the 20th century out of the ruins of empire"

[grb]

Except not one Israel critic in a thousand thinks that. Do you really believe otherwise? There are plenty of national sins aside from the one tenuous connection you propose, and that’s only a small part of the category you address, which is just one of dozens of factors you don’t address. Your whole faux-argument reminds me of people who respond to Black Lives Matter by asking the pious “shouldn’t all lives matter”? It’s a telling rejoinder if someone is only pretending to be serious.

As I noted, people don’t adopt causes per a hierarchy of theoretical importance. As I noted, a myriad of other factors are involved, many arbitrary or capricious You see that with just a casual glance at the world around you. It takes determined willful blindness to peddle your “double-standard equals anti-Semitism” slur. It’s so obviously phony.

And very easy to replicate: (1) Cycle thru dozens of causes, movements, and protests; (2) “prove” each one involves a “double-standard”; (3) propose the libel or slander most delightful as reason. When it’s only empty pretense, the whole world is your oyster.

[David Bernstein]

Because I hadn’t seen the text if the executive order and I gave the Aaup folks too much credit, thinking that surely they were responding to something at least colorably potentially problematic. And yes, there is such a conspiracy, in particular among NGOs going back to Durban 2001, to use lawfare to do it, and the IHRA definition is a setback to their agenda

[Jonathan Affleck]

I worked with Martin McMahon when he overcame political question doctrine to bring civil charges of genocide under the Alien Tort Statute against depraved and evil hyperwealthy US Zionists (including some of my relatives). See Al-Tamimi v. Adelson, 916 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2019).

There should be a conspiracy to abolish the criminal genocidal Zionist state. I would join.

There should also be a mobilization to compel the US DOJ to enforce US federal criminal law against every white racist Zionist under US jurisdiction -- specifically:

18 U.S. Code § 1091 - Genocide

18 U.S. Code § 2339A - Providing material support to terrorists.

§ 1091 is a capital crime.

§ 2339A defines genocide to be a form of terrorism.

A white racist Zionist believes a person should be able to get away with a capital crime because his ancestors practiced Rabbinic Judaism.

How do I know? I used to be a Zionist.

[1] Several of my father's relatives worked for the Jewish Agency and the Jewish Nation Fund during the 1940s. The Zionist leadership was aghast

A. when the 1946 Nuremberg Tribunal included a charge of genocide against German Nazis and

B. when the UN banned genocide in Dec 1946.

From Dec 1946 through Dec 1947, my father's relatives and others at the two agencies planned the logistics of genocide of the Palestinians because the leadership (a) had realized that Zionism had become an international capital crime and (b) had concluded that the window of opportunity was closing during which vicious bloodthirsty white racial supremacist European Zionist colonial settlers could get away with genocide.

[2] I was outside the Mosque of Abraham when Baruch Goldstein celebrated Purim in 1994 by spree murdering worshipers. I watched each one of the 29 dead as he was carried out. I had an epiphany (and still suffer from PTSD).

A. Baruch Goldstein is the logical outcome of Zionism.
B. Zionism has murdered Judaism by transforming Judaism into a program of genocide.

Americans often confuse genocide with mass murder and believe incorrectly that Holocaust-like systematic killing is required for genocide. If kings still ruled in Europe and if the King of France decreed that all Jews in France must convert to Christianity or leave, the King of France would have committed the crime of genocide of the French Jewish religious group

• even if no one died on account of the King’s decree and
• even if 70 years later the size of the population of French Jewish exiles was larger than the size of the French Jewish population at the time of the decree

because the King of France exterminated or physically destroyed the Jewish religious group within the territory of France.

Of course, the racial supremacist Zionist colonial settlers in stolen Palestine routinely murder Palestinians either individually or in groups.

It is outrageously offensive and disgusting that a depraved and evil white racist Zionist anti-Jew is a lawyer and teaching law at a US law school when he should be prison either serving a long prison term or awaiting a quick jab in the arm.

[Jonathan Affleck]

A democracy does not start by committing genocide on most of the residents.

Modern Jews all descend from non-Judeans that converted to Judaism.

One may make the same point by stating that Greco-Roman Judeans never left Judea but Judaism went forth from Palestine.

When Zionists make their ridiculous and false claim of Rabbinic Jewish indigenousness, they imply that Palestinians are not indigenous and therefore illegitimate in Palestine. Delegitimizing Palestinians is a method to legitimize and normalize genocide of Palestinians.

Zionist delegitimization of Palestinians is exactly congruent to Nazi delegitimization of Jews.

With respect to Jews, the Nazi period can be divided into two phases:
a. the genocide phase,
1. during which the Nazi government attempted to induce Jews to leave German controlled regions “voluntarily” and
2. which took place from January 1933 until the start of the Holocaust in 1941; and
b. the mass-murder phase from the start of the Holocaust in 1941 until the defeat of Germany in 1945.

As soon as the Nazis took power in Germany in January 1933, they put a tremendous amount of effort into delegitimizing Jews in Germany (and in any territories coming under German rule). This effort was meant to legitimize and normalize genocide of Jews.

While Nazi genocide during the 30s was like Zionist genocide of Palestinians today mostly confined to making conditions of life so miserable for the victims targeted for genocide that said targeted victims would “voluntarily” leave their homeland, Nazi genocide of Jews culminated in the Holocaust. It is reasonable to extrapolate that ongoing genocide of Palestinians will culminate in mass murder of Palestinians.

[David Bernstein]

This is closer to the typical campus "antizionist" than you are.

[Jonathan Affleck]

The depraved and evil genocidal white racial supremacist Zionist anti-Jew gets it wrong again.

It is true that I studied at Harvard and Yale, but I also studied at Brisk -- does the vile genocide-supporting Zionist anti-Jew even know what Brisk is. I used to learn gemara with the Talner Rebbe. The least of my illustrious Rabbinic scholar ancestors is the kitzur shulchan aruch.

What makes the depraved Zionist anti-Jew Jewish in his mind (certainly not in reality) except his atrocious commitment to ongoing genocide of Palestinians in their homeland?

[Jonathan Affleck]

I am freaked out this morning by the outrageous evil and depravity of Zionist colonial settler anti-Jews.

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/watch-israeli-forces-kill-palestinian-girl-near-ramallah/

I worked in Bitunia. She was nineteen. I could have met her when she was a baby.

[Jonathan Affleck]

Obviously true.

Palestine belongs to the native Palestinian population, whose ancestors once practiced Canaanite paganism, then Biblical Judaism, and then Christianity. Nowadays most Palestinians practice Islam, which is far closer to Biblical Judaism than is Rabbinic Judaism,

1. which is an alien Mesopotamian religion, whose Holy Scripture is the Babylonian (Mesopotamian) Talmud and
2. which has only tenuous connection to Palestine.

Modern Jews have no ancestral connection to Greco-Roman Judeans, who never left Palestine and are ancestors of modern Palestinians. Judaism was a vastly proselytizing religion in the Greco-Roman period.

The dipshit Tannaim discredited Judaism in Palestine by supporting the maniac Bar Kochba, who persecuted the peasantry (90% of the population). After the Romans crushed Bar Kochba, the population of Palestine rapidly converted to Christianity.

The Roman Exile is a metaphor for the transformation of Judaism from the religion of Judea into a religion that only the descendants of non-Judean converts practice.

Even if the Zionist colonial settlers had Greco-Roman Judean ancestors, no one can be allowed to benefit from genocide after the International community banned genocide in Dec 1946.

A Zionist colonial settler anti-Jew is a deplorable despicable criminal genocidal invader, interloper, thief, and impostor in stolen Palestine.

[Brett Bellmore]

Israeli troops kill Palestinian woman in car, say incident under review

"RAMALLAH, West Bank (Reuters) - Israeli troops killed a Palestinian woman in the occupied West Bank on Monday, medics said, in an incident in which the military said the soldiers opened fire on a vehicle that was accelerating towards them.

The incident in Beitunia, near the hub city of Ramallah, was the latest during an intensified military sweep of West Bank launched by Israel in March after a spate of Palestinian street attacks in its cities.

Palestinian medics said a 19-year-old woman from Hebron was shot dead. It was not immediately clear where she had been sitting in the car. The official Palestinian news agency Wafa said a 26-year-old man with her was detained by the troops.

An Israeli army spokesperson said troops, in Beitunia to capture a suspected militant, had spotted a "suspicious vehicle" approaching and that the driver - described only as a male - accelerated toward them despite their signalling him to stop.

"In response, the soldiers shot at the vehicle. Hits were identified. The incident is under review," the spokesperson said, without giving details on casualties or arrests."

[Jonathan Affleck]

I have lived in stolen Palestine under the control of the criminal genocidal Zionist government. My father's relatives are practically Zionist royalty.

The Waffen-IDF always claims anything or anyone it shoots up is suspicious. The Waffen-IDF never gives a warning.

Because the depraved and evil racial supremacist Zionist colonial settler anti-Jews wage a dirty demographic genocidal war against Palestinians, Zionist colonial settlers preferentially murder children and young women.

[Jonathan Affleck]

The hubris of the depraved and evil criminal genocidal Zionist state has no limit.

Israel will not cooperate with FBI inquiry into killing of Palestinian American journalist

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/14/shireen-abu-akleh-killing-israel-fbi-investigation

US Zionists are parasites that destroy America from the inside.