Many of us recently learned that Facebook is considering adopting a controversial definition of antisemitism that would include the use of “Zionist” as an antisemitic slur. If adopted, legitimate critiques of the state of Israel that include the word “Zionist” may fall under Facebeook’s rubric of hate speech.
This situation is alarming.
We know how false and dangerous this line of reasoning is. While narrower in scope, Facebook’s definition of antisemitism takes cues from the working definition formulated by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which conflates antisemitism with all forms of anti-Zionism, including the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement. This definition, which is rapidly gaining traction in several regions of the world, is at the center of a coordinated effort to silence legitimate speech and prevent Palestinians and their allies from holding the Israeli government accountable for its unjust policies of dispossession, occupation, disenfranchisement, and incarceration.
Combatting the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and its offshoots, will be a defining and urgent struggle for the Palestinian rights movement in the coming years, and alongside our Palestinian allies, JVP will be at the forefront of this fight. There are just four days left for JVP to raise the funds we need to continue our work in 2021 for political freedom and social justice—will you join me and pitch in $36 today?
If adopted by Facebook, this definition would suppress political speech on the world’s largest social media platform and deprive Palestinians of a critical venue for expressing their political viewpoints to the world. And it would do nothing to address the growing threat of the actual and appalling antisemitism stoked by right-wing movements and states. Counter to Facebook’s stated goal of fostering connection, this kind of censorship would only erect walls, heighten division, suppress political freedom, and give a free pass to injustice.
Apart from a chilling effect on social media, any definition of antisemitism that includes anti-Zionism would, if accepted, threaten free speech, scholarly inquiry on the Middle East, academic freedom on campuses, and the ability of nonprofits to support projects in and for Palestine, while establishing a dangerous norm for governments across the world.
To dismantle antisemitism, we have to know its history, how best to identify its forms, and how to devise strategies for defeating its every instance. Conflating antisemitism with anti-Zionism makes this work impossible, and it rejects the powerful Jewish tradition of affirming social and racial justice—which supports the critique of Zionism—for which we stand.
If the charge of antisemitism becomes a tactic to suppress open criticism and debate on the State of Israel—its illegal annexations of Palestinian land, its ongoing practice of dispossessing Palestinians from their homes and lands, the violent suppressions of Palestinian freedom—then the charge will turn out to be a mere instrument exploited for the purposes of keeping reactionary forces in power. It will lose its power to describe reality truthfully. The historical reality of antisemitism in our times, including the rise of Neo-Nazis here and abroad, will be diminished or denied, and the actual struggle against all racisms will be robbed of the language it needs to show that the fight against antisemitism and for social justice in Palestine are linked struggles for all of us who demand a more just world.
No other organization fights for Palestinian rights and freedoms and animates Jewish social justice principles with the strength, integrity, and clarity of JVP. Help us win this battle, and the next.
In solidarity,
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