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Jack Jedwab: In France, as in Canada, yesterday’s 'dirty Jew' is today’s 'dirty Zionist'

It's clear that anti-Zionism has become the new face of antisemitism. Canada must stop pretending otherwise

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“Yesterday’s dirty Jew has become today’s dirty Zionist.”

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That stark warning came from Caroline Yadan, the Deputy for the 8th constituency of French citizens living abroad in France’s National Assembly and architect of what has become known as the “Yadan law,” during my interview with her in Paris on June 1. For Yadan, the issue is not whether Israel, like any other democracy, can be criticized. Of course it can. The issue is whether the language of anti-Zionism is increasingly being used to legitimize something far more dangerous: the denial of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination and, ultimately, calls for the destruction of the world’s only Jewish state.

Jack Jedwab: In France, as in Canada, yesterday’s 'dirty Jew' is today’s 'dirty Zionist' Back to video

In Yadan’s view, the contemporary demonization of Zionism cannot be treated as a neutral semantic debate. The word “Zionist,” she argues, has become a pretext — a more acceptable way of saying “Jew” while avoiding the appearance of traditional antisemitism. For too many people, a Jew is deemed acceptable only if he or she renounces attachment to Israel, declares........

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