US Zionist group lists criticism of Israel as ‘anti-Semitism’ cases 

US Zionist group the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) released a report this week documenting over 3,000 cases of alleged anti-Semitic incidents in America since 7 October. Upon closer review, however, the tally appears to rely on an expanded definition of anti-Semitism which equates criticism of Israel and its radical ideology of Zionism with anti-Jewish hatred.

Jewish American community magazine Forward, which broke down the figures, said that overall, a large proportion of the incidents appeared to be expressions of hostility toward Israel, rather than the forms of anti-Semitism on which the ADL has traditionally focused in previous years.

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In a statement to Forward, the ADL acknowledged that it significantly broadened its definition of anti-Semitic incidents following the October Hamas attack to include rallies that feature “anti-Zionist chants and slogans”. Such events appear to account for around 1,317 of the total cases, that’s 43.9 per cent of them.

Two-thirds of the total incidents documented involved protests against Israeli policies, and expressions of solidarity with Palestinians. By including such political opinions in its count, the ADL departs from its historic focus on quantifying clear-cut attacks, discrimination and harassment targeting Jews and Jewish institutions.

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A large share of the spike comes from demonstrations and campus activism denouncing Israeli violence, alleged war crimes in Gaza and the decades-long Israeli occupation of Palestine, not Jews per se. Nevertheless, ADL head Jonathan Greenblatt labelled the figures as embodying a threat to Jews “unprecedented in modern history.”

Critics argue that such inflated warnings about anti-Semitism triggers moral panic and shuts down legitimate debate about Israel’s apartheid and its brutal military occupation, as well as the current alleged genocide in Gaza. They accuse the ADL of a cynical gambit to exploit Jewish trauma arising from genuine anti-Semitism in order to shield Israel from accountability for human rights abuses and violations of international law.

The decision to categorise anti-Israel activism and speech critical of Zionism as unacceptable racism remains deeply contested. For the ADL under Greenblatt, though, there is no longer a meaningful distinction.