Is it always antisemitism? |
There is no justification or legitimacy for violence based on racism, Islamophobia or antisemitism. The use of violence against civilians for political purposes, including hate crimes, is terrorism. The perpetrators of those acts of violence are terrorists. What happened on Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday is an unforgivable terrorist act of hatred against Jews.
These kinds of acts of terrorism may be defined as antisemitism, but they may have been acts of terrorism not motivated by antisemitism but motivated by hatred towards Israel and Zionism – and the two are not the same.
I know that this argument will anger many because governments of Israel and the Jewish establishment, mainly in the United States, have equated antisemitism with criticism against Israel, including the use of boycotts and divestments from companies that work in the State of Israel or in the occupied territories.
I have stated many times, antisemitism is illegitimate at all times, in all places, always. Criticism of Israel is legitimate. There are those who criticize Israel who are also........