Gerald Steinberg 2 (2)Click here to read full article.

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The network of non-governmental organizations that claim to promote human rights and humanitarian agendas, and are centrally involved in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, often use antisemitic themes and images in their campaigns. Some of these reflect classical antisemitism, while other cases involve the singling out of Israel, double standards, obsessive condemnations of responses to terror and campaigns for boycotts, divestment, and sanctions, as declared in the NGO Forum of the 2001 Durban Conference.

Before the creation of the State of Israel, anti-Semitic attacks, including the use of bigoted tropes such as blood libels, theological accusations, and racist depictions, were directed at the Jewish people. “New anti-Semitism,” a more recent phenomenon, substitutes hatred of the Jew with demonization of Israel.

Groups engaged in these campaigns include large international NGOs such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch, as well as fringe Palestinian NGOs such as MIFTAH and Badil. While many of these organizations’ budgets comprise of European government funding, these organizations employ classical and theological anti-Semitism, at times also using rhetoric that constitutes anti-Semitism.

The ongoing government funding for NGOs that engage in antisemitic activities and use antisemitic rhetoric highlights the persistent double standard: Hatred of Jews is tolerated in a way that would be unthinkable for other racial, ethnic, or religious groups; moreover, Jewish and Israeli targets are often denied the right to define what constitutes discrimination against them.