Antisemitism or Jew-hatred is hostility to,prejudice towards,or discrimination against,Jews. This sentiment is a form of racism,and a person who harbours it is called an antisemite. Primarily,antisemitic tendencies may be motivated by negative sentiment towards Jews as a people or by negative sentiment towards Jews with regard to Judaism. In the former case,usually presented as racial antisemitism,a person's hostility is driven by the belief that Jews constitute a distinct race with inherent traits or characteristics that are repulsive or inferior to the preferred traits or characteristics within that person's society. In the latter case,known as religious antisemitism,a person's hostility is driven by their religion's perception of Jews and Judaism,typically encompassing doctrines of supersession that expect or demand Jews to turn away from Judaism and submit to the religion presenting itself as Judaism's successor faith—this is a common theme within the other Abrahamic religions. The development of racial and religious antisemitism has historically been encouraged by the concept of anti-Judaism,which is distinct from antisemitism itself.
The World Jewish Congress (WJC) was founded in Geneva,Switzerland in August 1936 as an international federation of Jewish communities and organizations. According to its mission statement,the World Jewish Congress's main purpose is to act as "the diplomatic arm of the Jewish people". Membership in the WJC is open to all representative Jewish groups or communities,irrespective of the social,political or economic ideology of the community's host country. The World Jewish Congress headquarters are in New York City,and the organization maintains international offices in Brussels,Belgium;Jerusalem;Paris,France;Moscow,Russia;Buenos Aires,Argentina;and Geneva,Switzerland. The WJC has special consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.
Deborah Esther Lipstadt is an American historian and diplomat,best known as author of the books Denying the Holocaust (1993),History on Trial:My Day in Court with a Holocaust Denier (2005),The Eichmann Trial (2011),and Antisemitism:Here and Now (2019). She has served as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism since May 3,2022. Since 1993 she has been the Dorot Professor of Modern Jewish History and Holocaust Studies at Emory University in Atlanta,Georgia,US.
New antisemitism is the concept that a new form of antisemitism developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries,typically manifesting itself as anti-Zionism. The concept is included in some definitions of antisemitism,such as the working definition of antisemitism and the 3D test of antisemitism. The concept dates to the early 1970s.
The American Jewish Committee (AJC) is a civil rights group and Jewish advocacy group established on November 11,1906. It is one of the oldest Jewish advocacy organizations and,according to The New York Times,is "widely regarded as the dean of American Jewish organizations".
Manfred Gerstenfeld was an Austrian-born Israeli author and chairman of the steering committee of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. He founded and directed the center's post-Holocaust and anti-Semitism program.
The Washington Report on Middle East Affairs is an American foreign policy magazine that focuses on the Middle East and U.S. policy in the region.
The World Jewish Congress lawsuit against Swiss banks was launched in 1995 to retrieve deposits made into the three largest Swiss banks by victims of Nazi persecution during and prior to World War II. WJC negotiations were initiated with the Government of Switzerland and Swiss banks,and later expanded to cover Swiss insurance companies,over burdensome proof-of-ownership requirements for accounts and insurance policies. Strong support from both federal and state United States politicians and officials,threats of sanctions against the three Swiss banks,as well as leaked documents from a bank guard pressured a settlement of the suit in 1998 in a U.S. court for multiple classes of people affected by government and banking practices. The Swiss government itself was not a signatory to the deal. As of early 2020,US$1.29 billion has been disbursed to approximately 458,400 claimants.
Kenneth S. Stern is an American attorney and an author. He is the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate,a program of the Human Rights Project at Bard College. From 2014 to 2018 he was the executive director of the Justus &Karin Rosenberg Foundation. From 1989 to 2014 he was the director of antisemitism,hate studies and extremism for the American Jewish Committee. In 2000,Stern was a special advisor to the defense in the David Irving v. Penguin Books and Deborah Lipstadt trial. His 2020 book,The Conflict Over the Conflict:The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate,examines attempts of partisans of each side to censor the other,and the resulting damage to the academy.
Secondary antisemitism is a distinct form of antisemitism which is said to have appeared after the end of World War II. Secondary antisemitism is often explained as being caused by the Holocaust,as opposed to existing in spite of it. One frequently quoted formulation of the concept,first published in Henryk M. Broder's 1986 book Der Ewige Antisemit,stems from the Israeli psychiatrist Zvi Rex,who once remarked:"The Germans will never forgive the Jews for Auschwitz." The term was coined by Peter Schönbach,a Frankfurt School co-worker of Theodor W. Adorno and Max Horkheimer,based on their critical theory.
Ira N. Forman is a former executive director of the National Jewish Democratic Council from January 1996 through June 2010. From May 2013 until January 2017 he served as the United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism.
The Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism is an office of the Under Secretary for Civilian Security,Democracy,and Human Rights at the United States Department of State. The office "advances U.S. foreign policy on antisemitism" by developing and implementing policies and projects to support efforts to combat antisemitism.
Hannah Rosenthal is an American Democratic Party political official and Jewish non-profit executive who served as the U.S. Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Antisemitism from 2009 until 2012 during the Obama administration.
Criticism of Israel is a subject of journalistic and scholarly commentary and research within the scope of international relations theory,expressed in terms of political science. Israel has faced international criticism since its establishment in 1948 relating to a variety of issues,many of which are centered around human rights violations in its occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
The Office of the Special Envoy for Holocaust Issues is an diplomatic office of the Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs at the United States Department of State. Established in 1999,the office develops and implements U.S. policy to ensure Holocaust property restitution,secure compensation for Nazi-era wrongs,and promote Holocaust commemoration.
The working definition of antisemitism,also called the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism or IHRA definition,is a non-legally binding statement on what antisemitism is,that reads:"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." Accompanying the working definition,but of disputed status,are 11 illustrative examples whose purpose is described as guiding the IHRA in its work,seven of which relate to criticism of the Israeli government. As such,pro-Israeli organizations have been advocates for the worldwide legal adoption of the definition.
On May 25,2023,the administration of US President Joe Biden unveiled The U.S. National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism. President Biden called his administration's plan the “most ambitious and comprehensive U.S. government-led effort to fight antisemitism in American history.”
The exploitation of accusations of antisemitism for political purposes,especially to counter anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel,may be described variously as weaponization of antisemitism,instrumentalization of antisemitism,or playing the antisemitism card. Such bad faith accusations have been criticized as a form of smear tactics. Some writers have compared this to playing the race card.
Global Antisemitism Review Act,officially the Global Anti-Semitism Review Act of 2004 is a U.S. law passed in 2004 that established the Office of the Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism.
