Fake accusations of anti-Semitism and falsification of history against Palestinian organizations and migrants
The right-wing governments of the US, Israel and many European countries and their supporters are using elaborate methods of instrumentalizing accusations of anti-Semitism against Palestinians and Arab migrants. The Israeli prime minister blamed the Palestinians in 2015 of inciting Adolf Hitler to commit the holocaust of the Jewish people. Netanyahu´s government invests hundreds of millions of dollars each year in a huge propaganda network, which pursues the ideological conflation of criticism of Israel and anti-Zionism with hatred of Jews in the public opinion. Some of the main targets of their smear campaigns and disinformation are Palestinian organizations and NGOs who criticize Israel´s policies of war and settlements and protect the human rights of the Arab population under occupation. In Germany, the buzz word »immigrated anti-Semitism« is used more and more to stir up hatred against refugees from Palestine, Syria or other regions of the Middle East. Recently, the German Parliament has passed a so-called »anti-Semitism resolution«, supported by the votes of the radical-right party AfD and the abstention of the Left Party. This resolution not only criminalizes the international calls for a boycott of Israeli products and equates them with holocaust denial, but it also demands special laws against »foreigners«, who will be threatened by deportations or other forms of repression for criticism of Israel or anti-Zionist stance. Is Germany, the land of the perpetrators, an extreme case? Especially when compared with the USA, it is evident that the wave of repression against Arab population is making its way through the entire western world.
Ali Abunimah
is a journalist and director of the Chicago-based, widely acclaimed web portal The Electronic Intifada, a nonprofit, independent publication focusing on Palestine. Further he is the author of »One Country, A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse« (2006) and »The Battle for Justice in Palestine« (2014).