Antisemitism- What Should the Punishment Be?

On May 26, 2016, the 31 member states of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), of which the United States is a member, adopted a non-legally binding “working definition” of anti-Semitism. This definition is consistent with and builds upon the information contained in the 2010 State Department definition. As a member of IHRA, the United States now uses this working definition and has encouraged other governments and international organizations to use it as well.

"Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.

Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context, include, but are not limited to:

• Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view of religion.

• Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the media, economy, government or other societal institutions.

• Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.

• Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust

• Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

• Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.

• Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

• Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

• Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

• Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

• Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.

Defining Anti-Semitism

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Anti-Semitism” came about (in its Germanic form) in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1860, an Austrian Jewish scholar, Moritz Steinschneider, introduced the term antisemitische vorurteile (anti-Semitic prejudices). He used the expression in a piece he wrote countering the ideas of French philosopher Ernest Renan, who claimed that the Semitic race was inferior to the Aryan race.

The term anti-Semitism was made common by Wilhelm Marr, a German publicist and agitator. Unfortunately, his 1879 pamphlet, “The Way to Victory of Germanism over Judaism,” in which he used the term Antisemitismus, was very popular.

Jewish Treats: The Origin of the Word Anti-Semitism

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In the U.S.S.R. anti-semitism is punishable with the utmost severity of the law as a phenomenon deeply hostile to the Soviet system. Under U.S.S.R. law active anti-semites are liable to the death penalty.

Anti-Semitism

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Skeptic Bob said:

I got to say, I just can't take people seriously who claim it is anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government or express concern over the financial influence of AIPAC on our elected officials. If that is anti-Semitism then I guess that is just another word that has lost all meaning.

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Felis Leo said:

By that same token, Skeptic Bob, one should be aware and watchful that people who do hate Jews often try to make their views more palatable by couching their initial remarks with attacks on Israel or Zionism. Not every Jew hater is an idiot. Very few people will find someone as openly outright hateful as Louis Farrakhan palatable. But if one simply replaces the statement "perfidious Jew" with "perfidious Zionist," or "money grubbing kike" with "money grubbing Israeli settler" or a yellow star with an Israeli flag, and then suddenly the hatred is given license to proceed unmolested. And I see it more often than I care to name, and the fact that people ignore it and claim that it is merely criticism of Israel so long as it is covered with a fig leaf is maddening. I can only imagine it is what civil rights activists when people shrugged their shoulders and were told "Why do you all get so bristly when people talk about states rights?"

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truthatallcost said:

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed resolution HR 183 today, by a margin of 407-23. The resolution once again states that antisemitism is wrong, bad, canardful, full of tropes and wrongthinks, and just don't do it youse!

But I'm left to wonder where all of this is leading to. If congress, the senate, and White House will spend weeks of its publicly paid time to create resolutions, threats, and peer pressure in order to make one of the only members of congress who doesn't take money from AIPAC bend to their will , then what else might be in store for America? Perhaps we can understand how we feel about antisemitism with a poll.

For this poll, I'll be using the US government's definition of antisemitism, and add historical references to the origin of the word 'antisemitism', as well as punishments for antisemitism world wide as possible measures we could adopt here.



Origin of the word 'antisemitism'-

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Felis Leo said:

By that same token, one should be aware that people who do hate Jews often try to make their views more palatable by couching their initial remarks with attacks on Israel or Zionism. Very few people will find someone as openly outright hateful as Louis Farrakhan palatable. But if one simply replaces the statement "perfidious Jew" with "perfidious Zionist," or "money grubbing kike" with "money grubbing Israeli settler" or a yellow star with an Israeli flag, and then suddenly the hatred is given license to proceed unmolested. And I see it more often than I care to name, and the fact that people ignore it and claim that it is merely criticism of Israel is maddening. I can only imagine it is what civil rights activists when people shrugged their shoulders and were told "Why do you all get so bristly when people talk about states rights?"

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Skeptic Bob said:

Sure, but that shouldn't be assumed. I didn't assume people who criticized Obama were racist. Plenty of people DID accuse Obama's detractors of being racist, and yes, I'm sure actual racists hated Obama for racist reasons. But unless an Obama detractor expressed ACTUAL racism I didn't assume it. Likewise, I am not going to assume anti-Semitism just because someone is critical of Israel or AIPAC's financial influence.

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• None is warranted unless and until the anti-Semitic remark(s) meet one or both of the two following criteria:
  • Rise to the level whereby it can be shown probatively the speaker uttered the body of them to incite violence:
    • Actus reus --> The collection of anti-Semitic utterances
    • Mens rea --> Must be shown either explicitly or by a preponderance of evidence
  • Is an endogenous incitement of violence.
    • Actus reus --> The specific anti-Semitic utterance
    • Mens rea --> Self-evincing in the remark

• Each individual may freely apply whatever penalty s/he sees fit to apply, so long at it's lawful to apply said penalty.

• Number 2:
  Good luck getting non-minorities to comprehend such remarks are anti-Semitic. Recently, several blackface incidents and "N-word" utterances have shown us that even now, too many "WASPs" don't understand how stereotypes demonize and dehumanize POC. It's unlikely they'll understand it vis-a-vis Jews.
• Number 6:
  I'm not sure what makes the noted conduct/utterances be anti-Semitic. I realize that his/her Jewishness isn't a rational basis for thinking/asserting, for instance, a Jewish US citizen is indeed more loyal to Israel than to the US; such an accusation must be substantiated by one or more behaviors that rationally (inductively or deductively) evince such loyalty/disloyalty.
• Number 9:
  I wonder why the provisions expressly cite "classic" symbols of are included, yet by doing so modern, newly developed symbols are thus excluded. The example should have omitted "classic" as a qualifier. As its written, this symbology example must, in order to cover modern anti-Semitic symbols, rely on the "including, but not limited to" qualifier in the list description.
• Number 10:
  ??? If/when moderal Israel adopts tyrannical policies similar to Nazi policy and dissimilar from the vast majority of other nations/parties policies, such comparisons are apt.
• Number 11:
  Presumably this refers to Jews the world over rather than Israel's citizens who are Jews. The example needs revising so that caveat is clear.

Xelor said:

Off-Topic:

Insofar as Jewishness is recognized as a race/ethnicity, and insofar as "racism" is used to refer to animus attitudes against "this or that" race or ethnicity, why do we have a distinct term, "anti-Semitic," for racism against Jews?​

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• Utterances:
  • None is warranted unless and until the anti-Semitic remark(s) meet one or both of the two following criteria:
    • Rise to the level whereby it can be shown probatively the speaker uttered the body of them to incite violence:
      • Actus reus --> The collection of anti-Semitic utterances
      • Mens rea --> Must be shown either explicitly or by a preponderance of evidence
    • Is an endogenous incitement of violence.
      • Actus reus --> The specific anti-Semitic utterance
      • Mens rea --> Self-evincing in the remark
• Comportment:
  • Anti-Semitic behavior of certain types -- such as denying folks jobs, admission to organizations, loans, etc. -- should be punished with at least five years of incarceration with no option for early release.
  • Anti-Semitic behavior that comports with the criteria of hate crime laws should be punished as per the provisions of said laws.

• Each individual may freely apply whatever penalty s/he sees fit to apply, so long at it's lawful to apply said penalty.

Felis Leo said:

Because, as it stands, racism generally as an ideology means that you believe certain races are inferior or superior based on certain qualities and characteristics that are inherent and inescapable to members of that race. Antisemitism is a subset of racism that refers to a set of conspiracy theories that revolve around Jews. Specifically, it refers to the ideas (1) that Jews are only loyal to their own ethno-religious tribe, (2) that in order to survive they seek to infiltrate societies and weaken them, typically by (3) controlling the levers of power through finance or political power, and (4) instigating conflicts between and among other nations for their own profit. Rarely do most forms of racism go in to such in-depth levels of fevered conspiracy theory beyond "they're a bunch of lazy, murderous rapists coming to steal our jobs!"

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Felis Leo said:

That is fine, and as I have said on another thread, the number of people who I have read on this debate forum who were both critical of Israel and who I believe are also antisemitic Jew-haters could be counted on the fingers of one hand. And while they are not the majority of Israel critics either here or in the Western Hemisphere, where attacking Jews directly is presently socially unacceptable, they generally try to drive conversation against Jews by proxy in attacking Israel for its treatment of Arabs or influence in American politics. I am sure we can name a few people off the top of our heads on this board who deeply hate Jews AND Israel simultaneously and create thread after thread about them endlessly.

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Xelor said:

Off-Topic:

Insofar as Jewishness is recognized as a race/ethnicity, and insofar as "racism" is used to refer to animus attitudes against "this or that" race or ethnicity, why do we have a distinct term, "anti-Semitic," for racism against Jews?​

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Mongidig said:

You all realize that this "massive" influence of AIPAC is something like 3.5 million dollars. Compare that to the Beer industry for example who contribute about 20 million dollars. The anti semites have you under their spell!

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truthatallcost said:

The US House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed resolution HR 183 today, by a margin of 407-23. The resolution once again states that antisemitism is wrong, bad, canardful, full of tropes and wrongthinks, and just don't do it youse!

But I'm left to wonder where all of this is leading to. If congress, the senate, and White House will spend weeks of its publicly paid time to create resolutions, threats, and peer pressure in order to make one of the only members of congress who doesn't take money from AIPAC bend to their will , then what else might be in store for America? Perhaps we can understand how we feel about antisemitism with a poll.

For this poll, I'll be using the US government's definition of antisemitism, and add historical references to the origin of the word 'antisemitism', as well as punishments for antisemitism world wide as possible measures we could adopt here.



Origin of the word 'antisemitism'-

Click to expand...

Skeptic Bob said:

I got to say, I just can't take people seriously who claim it is anti-Semitic to criticize the Israeli government or express concern over the financial influence of AIPAC on our elected officials. If that is anti-Semitism then I guess that is just another word that has lost all meaning.

Click to expand...