Adi Kantor

Alongside the global spread of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israeli, and antisemitic narratives, fueled by the “green-red alliance” (formed between Islamists and radical leftists) in the West during the Israel–Hamas conflict, there is growing concern about the influence of the far-right movements, particularly in Europe. These movements see the war in the Gaza Strip as an opportunity to strengthen public support and promote their antisemitic ideology. It is crucial for the State of Israel to recognize the dangers posed by the far-right movements in the West, as well as the normalization of antisemitic narratives on both ends of the political spectrum in the public discourse following the October 7 massacre and the subsequent war. Israel should develop a long-term strategy for addressing this emerging threat, which not only endangers Israel’s interests but also undermines the security of Jews and Israelis around the world, while challenging the stability of liberal democracies.

Adi Kantor, a research associate on Contemporary Antisemitism in the United States at the INSS, reviews the development of the concept of antisemitism in scholarly discourse and the treatment of the theoretical and ideological sources on which antisemitism is based. She describes the ways that the concept of antisemitism has changed and the main issues that have accompanied and shaped the scholarly discourse about it in the contemporary era. This article aims to provide a theoretical and conceptual basis and infrastructure tools for those seeking to examine and characterize the phenomenon of contemporary antisemitism.

This report, produced by the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS), in collaboration with the Jewish Agency for Israel, examines and analyzes the phenomenon of contemporary antisemitism in the political discourse of five major Western European countries—Germany, France, Britain, Spain, and Ireland. The research is based on systematic mapping of public expressions of antisemitism by elected officials, over a period of one year, from late 2019 until late 2020. The findings indicate that some politicians in Western Europe—on both the right and the left—deliberately and maliciously use antisemitic ideas and expressions for political gains. This can be seen in the context of the increasing strength of extremist and populist parties on both sides of the political spectrum, which have contaminated the political and public discourse with antisemitic statements and attitudes. Indeed, the present analysis indicates that the scale is tipping toward those who espouse antisemitism and away from those who try to moderate it, particularly given the process of sociopolitical radicalization, growing polarization, and the rise of once marginalized extremists at the expense of the moderate center. These processes have been accelerated by social media, which has been exploited to spread hateful content almost without any significant limits, at least for the time being. All this has contributed to antisemitism’s increasingly becoming part of the political mainstream; the politicization of antisemitism as a means for political rivals to attack one another; and the appearance of cracks in the broad consensus both to preserve the memory of the Holocaust and fight against antisemitism. These cracks are manifested primarily by distorting and rewriting history mainly on the right and by anti-Israel discourse on the left. Although it has unique characteristics, antisemitism must not be perceived as a local and domestic challenge for Jewish communities alone but rather as manifesting a much wider phenomenon of hate speech, hateful discourse, and sometimes even violence. The increasing politicization of antisemitism demonstrates the magnitude and influence that its destructive consequences have for the entire society, Jews and non-Jews alike, and therefore it needs to be recognized as a global concern.

Below is a collection of articles that have been written as part of a comprehensive research project on contemporary antisemitism in the United States. During 2020, our research team studied the phenomenon employing a multi-pronged methodology which includes open-source documents, and dozens of interviews and learning sessions with Israeli and American officials, academics and civil society leaders. Our objective is to provide a comprehensive analysis geared towards concrete policy recommendations to improve the response to multiple challenges that rise from antisemitism in the United States. The articles in the collection cover a multitude of aspects relating to the manifestation of antisemitism in the United States – including theoretical background, a situational report and a response analysis. Longer and more comprehensive articles were written by members of our research team, and shorter analyses pinpointing specific issues were written by top experts who we met as part of our research journey and who agreed to contribute to the project. The series of articles that comprise the project will be published over the course of 2021 – watch this space as we fill the line-up with clickable links.

The wave of asylum seekers that arrived in Europe over 2015-2016 generated a major challenge for the EU. The need to provide for over a million people, most of whom fled from regions of conflict, created major tensions among the EU countries with respect to the division of the asylum seekers. This tension threatened the unity and stability of the EU, both internally within each member country and likewise between the member countries. In the domestic-political realm, Eurosceptic politicians have exploited the fear of asylum seekers among the public in order to attack the EU and strengthen the opposition to European integration in their respective countries. This dividing issue was one of the main factors behind Britain’s decision to leave the EU. In addition, the opposition to acceptance of the asylum seekers led to serious friction between the gateway countries, namely Greece and Italy, which have been saddled with the burden of initially absorbing the asylum seekers, and the northern and eastern EU countries, which have refused to accept the principle of a fair division of asylum seekers among the EU members. Even the decision of the European Commission, which was ratified by the European Court of Justice, did not lead to a policy that was agreed upon by EU members. The combination of unbending political opposition to accept the asylum seekers, the lack of strong EU institutions to deal with immigration matters, and the low level of solidarity among the European countries is likely to become an even more serious threat to the EU if the arrival of asylum seekers continues at a high rate.

The desire to establish a united European collective is currently tested by weighty issues challenging the unity of the European Union and the ability of its leaders to shepherd it toward a secure future. A central issue, especially following the immigration crisis of 2015, is the destabilization of relations between East and West European nations. This essay examines how tensions between East European nations (the Visegrád Group) and the EU’s Western members are manifested, considers if the tensions in fact undermine EU stability, and analyzes the implications for Israel.