TWO OUT OF THREE AIN'T BAD:

Anti-Semitism in 3D (NATAN SHARANSKY, Feb. 23, 2004, Jerusalem Post)

I propose the following test for differentiating legitimate criticism of Israel from anti-Semitism. The 3D test, as I call it, is not a new one. It merely applies to the new anti-Semitism the same criteria that for centuries identified the different dimensions of classical anti-Semitism.

* The first D is the test of demonization.

Whether it came in the theological form of a collective accusation of deicide or in the literary depiction of Shakespeare's Shylock, Jews were demonized for centuries as the embodiment of evil. Therefore, today we must be wary of whether the Jewish state is being demonized by having its actions blown out of all sensible proportion.

For example, the comparisons of Israelis to Nazis and of the Palestinian refugee camps to Auschwitz – comparisons heard practically every day within the "enlightened" quarters of Europe – can only be considered anti-Semitic.
Those who draw such analogies either do not know anything about Nazi Germany or, more plausibly, are deliberately trying to paint modern-day Israel as the embodiment of evil.

* The second D is the test of double standards.

For thousands of years a clear sign of anti-Semitism was treating Jews differently than other peoples, from the discriminatory laws many nations enacted against them to the tendency to judge their behavior by a different yardstick.

Similarly, today we must ask whether criticism of Israel is being applied selectively. In other words, do similar policies by other governments engender the same criticism, or is there a double standard at work? [...]

* The third D is the test of deligitimation.

In the past, anti-Semites tried to deny the legitimacy of the Jewish religion, the Jewish people, or both. Today, they are trying to deny the legitimacy of the Jewish state, presenting it, among other things, as the last vestige of colonialism.

While criticism of an Israeli policy may not be anti-Semitic, the denial of Israel's right to exist is always anti-Semitic. If other peoples have a right to live securely in their homelands, then the Jewish people have a right to live securely in their homeland.

Mr. Sharansky is a genuine moral hero and the first two items here are easily agreed upon, but the third seems founded on a dubious proposition. Jews do not have a "right" to Israel as a function of their Judaism--any more than Mormons have a right to create a nation of their own in the "homelands" of their faith. Instead, the population of Israel has the same "right" to self-determination as any other people and the obligation to defend themselves if they wish to insure that right is honored. That's why the great threat to the continuance of a Jewish state is internal--population decline--rather than external--the military threat from Arab neighbors.

Posted by Orrin Judd at February 25, 2004 7:42 AM