Tel-Chai Nation

The French National Assembly voted in favor of an important resolution this past week, although there is a problem in one part:

France's Parliament on Tuesday passed a resolution declaring the country views anti-Zionism a form of anti-Semitism.

France's National Assembly adopted the motion 154 in favor and 72 opposed, which includes language outlined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.

“For some years now, France, the whole of Europe, but also almost all Western democracies are facing a rise in anti-Semitism,” the resolution states.

“Anti-Zionist acts can at times hide anti-Semitic realities. Hate toward Israel due to its perception as a Jewish collective is akin to hatred towards the entire Jewish community.”

"At times"? While the resolution itself is a step in the right direction, IsraellyCool spotted the flaw:

By recently passing a resolution recognizing anti-Zionism as a form of antisemitism, the French parliament simply adopted the respected International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism. While this is a step in the right direction, the French parliament appears ignorant about Zionism and anti-Zionism. For instance, the French resolution declared, “Anti-Zionist acts can at times hide antisemitic realities.” By contrast, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism includes “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.” In other words, anti-Zionism does not merely “hide antisemitic realities” as the French parliament claims. Anti-Zionism is antisemitic in itself because it singles out the Jews by demonizing the Jewish people and denies its right to national self-determination.

Unsurprisingly, many critics of Israel deny that anti-Zionism equals antisemitism. This is particularly true among critics affiliated with the political Left. They tend to deny that they harbor any hatred of Jews. Instead, they merely see themselves as “Israel critics”. Israel critics claim that equating anti-Zionism with anti-semitism seeks to stifle criticism of Israel and Israeli policies, especially towards the Arab population in Judea, Samaria and Gaza. However, anti-Zionism has nothing to do with criticism of specific Israeli policies. Antisemitism is a total rejection of the Jewish nation state’s right to exist as an independent state within any borders.

And Zionism is synonymous with patriotism. I think the National Assembly's still got a ways to go if they want to prove they don't have a problem with self-determination, because what they did now only gives a clue to their opposition to self-determination among their own populace.

Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, France, islam, Israel, jihad, terrorism, war on terror