Germany's new "Resolution against Antisemitism" is a self-serving joke: full of contradictions, abusing Holocaust memory to legitimize repression, racism, xenophobia, geopolitical interests, undermine Jewish pluralism & harm Jews it claims to serve. 🧵(1/)spiegel.de/politik/deutsc…
In addition to legal problems , from a social science perspective there are at least 4 categories of issues with this resolution: its claims, the tools it uses, whom it targets, & thereby the functions it serves -certainly not countering antisemitism (2/28)verfassungsblog.de/who-gets-to-de…
First, the claims: It centrally claims to follow Germany's obligation to (1) act upon lessons of the Holocaust, (2) combat antisemitism, & (3) "recognize, preserve, and protect the diversity/pluralism of Jewish life" (). In fact, it does the opposite (3/28)fragdenstaat.de/dokumente/2501…
By conflating antisemitism with criticism of Israel and presenting a narrow, one-sided idea of lessons of the Holocaust being about uncritical support for Israel, the resolution ignores and undermines the pluralism of views and ideologies among Jews it claims to support... (4/28)
... as evident for example in the protest letter by Jewish intellectuals in Germany that was written already months ago in response to an early draft of this resolution, and ignored by the politicians working on it (, English at end) (5/28)...taz.de/Dokumentation-…
... or the broad range of lessons that Jewish Holocaust survivors themselves share, which do not always focus on Jews or entail supporting Israel and instead can involve universal lessons of preventing violence against anyone and not harming others (6/28)onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.10…
... lessons that are also expressed to different degrees and by different people in Jewish Israeli society, as Hilik Klar's work shows - the German resolution ignores the important lessons of the Holocaust to "never be a bystander" or "perpetrator". (7/28)spssi.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.111…
It also ignores the diversity of beliefs about Jews' historical victimization, perceptions of present-day threat, antisemitism, etc. among Jews and their different ways of understanding collective victimization in relation to other targeted groups (8/28)onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.100…
The German resolution ignores the long history of anti-Zionist political thought & organizing, such as the popular Jewish Labor Bund, and that Zionism was only one of many Jewish responses to the persecution and then genocide Jews faced in Europe (9/28)jacobin.com/2024/01/shaul-…
In ignoring and repressing pluralism in Jewish ideologies and politics, the German resolution is doing the opposite of what it claims to do - and continuing to undermine the richness of Jewish culture the Nazis nearly destroyed in the Holocaust (10/28)versobooks.com/products/254-r…
The resolution's conflation of antisemitism &criticism of Israel is based on the IHRA definition, which has been criticized by scholars (incl Jewish scholars, from Holocaust Studies), offering the alternative Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (11/28)jerusalemdeclaration.org
Germany (like many other countries, e.g. the US) ignores the JDA &scholars' arguments, just like they ignore that the (Jewish) author of the IHRA definition himself has spoken out against using the IHRA definition widely and as a tool of repression (12/28) newyorker.com/news/persons-o…
And this is exactly what the resolution is: A tool of repression. It calls to use all "repressive possibilities" ("repressive Möglichkeiten konsequent auszuschöpfen"): suspension from universities, cutting funding for arts science, using it for citizenship & asylum status.(13/28)
It also calls for repressing BDS- even though boycott is a non-violent resistance tactic used in now celebrated liberation struggles: the Indian independence movement (Gandhi), MLK in the civil rights movement, or to end Apartheid in South Africa (14/28)commonslibrary.org/198-methods-of…
[And people are expected to use non-violent means of resistance no matter what because that is the right, morally virtuous, and most effective way to resist, right?!] (15/28)
Repression is rarely effective in crushing resistance, and if anything this repression in Germany will sorely backlash. But at the same time, it will continue to harm numerous minority groups explicitly named, blamed & targeted in the resolution: (16/28)academic.oup.com/book/57643
The resolution minimizes the main role of right-wing extremists in perpetrating antisemitic violence by pointing at Muslims, "leftist antiimperialists", and (implied through implications for immigration & citizenship status) immigrants who are to be targeted and repressed (17/28)
This follows the German trend of blaming Muslims, Palestinians, and other Arabs and people of color for antisemitism, to divert attention from mainstream German antisemitism, and disproportionately target & repress them for Palestine solidarity (18/28)jacobin.com/2024/03/the-co…
In addition to this racist & xenophobic function, repression based on conflating antisemitism and criticism of Israel has also disproportionately affected Jews - 1% of the German population but 25% of those affected by repression for "antisemitism" (19/28)dw.com/en/when-german…
- a trend that will be further legitimized by Germany's "Resolution against Antisemitism", doing the opposite of what it claims by harming rather than protecting Jews and the diversity of Jewish life (in addition to abusing Holocaust memory for racist & xenophobic goals) (20/28)
Another way this resolution harms Jews is by undermining solidarity between Jews& other minority groups: using antisemitism claims to target others & giving unequal recognition of victimization that can create negative attitudes b/w minority groups (21/)onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.100…
... instead of recognizing a different view, such as expressed by Jewish Voice for Peace and many other leftist Jews (and leftists in general), that solidarity is what keeps us (all) safe - from antisemitism and other societal ills. (22/28)haymarketbooks.org/books/1065-on-…
Finally, the German resolution has a major internal contradiction: the IHRA definition it is based on (as well as the JDA) rightfully points out that holding Jews collectively responsible for Israel's actions is antisemitic. But by insisting on conflating (all) Jews... (23/28)
... and Jewish life with support for Israel instead of disentangling the two, and punishing people for any criticism of Israel, unfortunately the likelihood of this collective blame of Jews and its harmful consequences is drastically increased. (24/28)journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1207/s1…
So, what functions does the "German Resolution against Antisemitism" serve? It's certainly not good for the Jews: it undermines Jewish pluralism, harms some Jews directly through repression, and all Jews indirectly by increasing the chances of collective blame &animosity (25/28)
It clearly only serves (some) non-Jewish Germans' interests and state interests: It provides a sense of national moral superiority , which in turn can also serve as moral licensing... (26/27)jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp…
e.g. to legitimize repression of unwanted groups and the virulent islamophobia, , (27a/28)reuters.com/world/europe/a…
It clearly only serves (some) non-Jewish Germans' interests and state interests: It provides a sense of national moral superiority , which in turn can also serve as moral licensing... (26/27)jspp.psychopen.eu/index.php/jspp…
... and xenophobia as well as right wing extremism in German society. (27c/28)theguardian.com/commentisfree/…
It also serves as another narrative thread in justifying Germany (the second largest supplier of weapons to Israel) increasing its arms exports to Israel even as Israel faces charges of genocide at the International Court of Justice . Oy vey, 🇩🇪... (28/28)euronews.com/my-europe/2024…
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