The American Anti-Defamation League has carried out one of its regular polls to discover anti-semitic attitudes in Europe. Hungary, Poland, Spain top most of their measures but sharp differences are blurred. There is no question on Palestinians (see discussion below). Plus Haaretz +972 on anti-semitism in 2012.

This post contains news and comments from 2003 about anti-semitism in Europe, prompted by an EU poll on threats to peace and a speech by Ariel Sharon. The suspicion of resurgent European anti-semitism began to be voiced as the EU became more powerful, Israel occupied Palestinian territory in 1967 and a new generation entered political life.

How and why a ‘working definition’ of antisemitism in the EU became attributed to the EUMC and circulated as their definition has been told elsewhere. Here Richard Kuper refers to that history and provides the actual definition produced by the EUMC – which makes clear when criticism of Israel is, and isn’t, anti-semitic

Far-right Republicans, joined by the “Emergency Committee for Israel”, are attempting to smear the Occupy Wall Street movement as antisemitic. Prof of Journalism Eric Alterman points out that “The question to ask about anti-Semitism is not whether it exists, but whether its existence has any significant political or cultural implications.” Not in OWS, with, as you would expect in New York, a significant Jewish presence in its ranks.
Plus a message of support from members of the British Jewish community for ‘Occupy London’…

A supposedly neutral parliamentary commission (see http://jfjfp.com /?p=24325) has found the growing anti-semitism in Canada that its methods ensured it would. They are subject to detailed analysis by CJPME. Meanwhile a poll by Canadian Studies finds ‘positive feelings’ towards Jews are almost double those towards Muslims

The slogan of the Occupy protesters on Saturday was ‘Human need before corporate greed’. In London and New York the focus has been on the financial centres which for known, historic reasons have high-profile Jewish-owned firms. The US right used this to condemn the protest as anti-semitic. Tthere have undoubtedly been some anti-semitic displays – Ynet news, 2, – their charge also rests on a sighting of ‘the anti-Israel’ Code Pink and ‘other Arab’ groups’. 3, list of Code Pink founders and staff and link to page with their pictures and biographies.
Perhaps Ynet is confusing the semitic faces of the Jewish members with Arab ones.

To the surprise of many, Monday’s news carried pictures of the occupation of Wall Street, with some banners calling for an end to military aid to Israel and deploring the oppression of Gazans. Blogger Max Ajl reports from the scene, and below, an interview with him . 3rd, a report links J14 with occupy wall street (http://occupywallst.org)

A founder of Human Rights Watch has moved from complaints of a general anti-Israel bias to accusing the Arab media of genocidal propaganda and the UN of fuelling anti-semitism and sees no gulf between Mahmoud Abbas and those who make their name through hate speech . 1st, an Economist critique of the article by Robert L. Bernstein, 2nd.

Last May, Larry Derfner wrote that he supported a Jewish state because, despite its unfairnesses, in the end it replaced something worse – anti-semitism. In response, Richard Silverstein argued that such objections would not apply to a democratic Israel and, moreover, classical zionism consigned diaspora Jewry to being a mere bank of money and people to keep Israel supplied

Documentary maker Eli Ungar-Sargon, aware that Palestinians are seen in the US and srael as very anti-Semitic, set out to investigate racism amongst Israelis – and found a disturbingly high level of anti-Arab feeling – and ignorance of the political options – which, unlike the ‘marginal’ anti-semitism of Palestinians, is ‘mainstream’ in Israel

Since 9/11, Christian bigots and their Jewish Zionist allies have shared a rhetoric of Islamist take-over of the West, aided by compliant government. The slaughter by Breivik, and his pro-Israel ‘manifesto’, has shocked them into forgetting their own role in creating Islamophobia writes Ali Abuminah

Semite – the Hebrew, Arab and Aramaic people descended fom Shem, Noah’s oldest son. In the violent hatred that has shifted from one cousin to the other (though most Muslims today are not Semitic) the accomplices of Norway’s mass killer are all those who feed this hatred. Uri Avnery pinpoints this new anti-semitism, a statement of solidarity from the Palestinian BDS National COmmittee confirms the perception of Islamophobia and lastly Gavan Titley and Alana Lentin attack those who peddle the toxic tale of multicultural failure

A body set up in Canada to investigate the ‘new anti-semitism’ seems to be an open-minded, parliamentary committee In fact it is none of those, argue members of the Faculty of Palestine, a grouping of over 400 academic staff, rather it wants to block the pro-Palestinian feeling on university campuses.

Former Chairman of Canadian commission for combatting anti-semitism says criticising Israel for war crimes may be distasteful but it’s not anti-semitic. Irwin Cotler is not the only defender of Israel who is impatient with this glib charge

Taking one sentence out of the Macpherson report on police racism does not provide a definition of anti-semitism argues Antony Lerman

Richard Kuper takes us through the EUMC document- see post on this page -and its history to explain why academics have rejected its definition of anti-semitism as the only one.