When anti-Israel sentiment started to grow around the world at the beginning of this century, partly as a long-term impact of the UN resolution declaring Zionism as a form of racism in 1975, Natan Sharansky addressed the issue as to how identify such sentiment as antisemitism. Famously, he spoke of the three “Ds”, the demonization of Israel, the delegitimization of Israel, and the double standard applied to Israel.

Sharansky’s formulation has been very helpful over the years in framing that important question as to when criticism of the Jewish state spills over into antisemitism. Years later, today as antisemitism surges in a way that no one anticipated, that third category, the double standard, takes on greater relevance. Indeed, whether it is the collective Jew through the Jewish state or the individual Jew around the world, the signal characteristic of current antisemitism is the many ways how Jews are treated differently than most other peoples.

It starts with that 1975 UN resolution. The idea that the Jewish liberation movement in its historic homeland is inherently racist took hold over many years, vigorously promoted by Israel’s detractors, including the Soviet Union. The fact that Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East, the fact that minority rights are protected by the courts mattered little. And the reality that this notion about Israel had become so embedded in the minds and hearts of so many around the world found its worst expression when Israel was savagely attacked by Hamas on October 7, 2023. In many circles, rather than the normal human reaction of sympathy and support after such a brutal event, we got – implicitly or explicitly – that Israel got what it deserved. And when it dared to defend itself after this massacre, Israel was quickly accused of all-things genocide.

Even before October 7, the other manifestation of this double standard was the BDS movement which was already growing around the world. One can disagree with Israeli policies without treating the Jewish state as a pariah, particularly in light of the complexity of the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. Even a limited degree of fairness would see significant Palestinian responsibility for the position they are in, including the rejection of a two-state solution in 1947, the commitment to destroy the Jewish state in both the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Hamas charters, the rejection of Israeli offers to move toward two states in 2000 and 2008, and the continuation of anti-Israeli education in Palestinian schools.

Of course, these double standards directed at Israel have both direct and indirect impact on Jewish life around the world. While the vast majority of Jews are supportive of the Jewish state, they are not responsible for Israel’s actions and policies. In so many places, Jews are under physical and verbal attack simply because they are Jews no matter the individual’s views on Israeli policy. Just as the state of Israel is often regarded in a way that few or no other states are viewed, particularly with regard to its fundamental legitimacy, together with the fact that too often Israel’s basic right to defend itself when under attack from enemies is questioned or denied, so Jews around the world are seen as legitimate targets for attack merely because they are Jews who believe in the importance of the Jewish state to the Jewish people.

Added to that, there is the way the greatest tragedy of the Jewish people – the Holocaust – is used against the victims by the accusation, however gross is the comparison – that the Jews are now doing to another people what was done to them and therefore they are legitimately subject to boycotts and degradation. Indeed, often the moral guilt toward the Jewish people is cancelled out.

And then there is the classic accusation against the Jews which is alive and well, that when Jews accomplish great things it ends up being part of a conspiracy theory, embodied in the infamous Protocols of the Elders of Zion, which states that the purpose is to exercise global control over the world’s powers.

Together with this is the unique charge against Jews of being too strong and too weak at the same time. The inferiority accusation is characteristic of many manifestations of prejudice and racism, but the degree to which Jews are accused of both is largely non-existent elsewhere.

Let’s be clear: as troubling as these trends are, this is not the 1930s revisited. It is important not to glibly compare events to those troubling and disastrous times. To do so denigrates those murdered and makes it more difficult for today’s generations to understand and empathize for the Jews of that time.

The ways that Jews are treated differently today, however, is cause for major concern. What is required to prevent this trend from getting worse and even more dangerous is a combination of the historic methods and policies that brought antisemitism down in the decades after the Holocaust and innovative approaches to Jew hatred to address the technological and moral challenges in a post-Holocaust world.

ADL is an important resource of both the legacy successes and the innovative approaches that are necessary to win this battle. Together with partners in our own community and friends beyond it can and must be won.

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)