From Golder’s Green to the grassy knoll

[Opinion. When I first began to examine this issue, even ASEANnow referred to the IHRA definition of antisemitism as its standard.

And now, from Canadian Jews, I find that antisemitism is not simple matter. In fact, one Jew’s definition of antisemitism may have a much finer line than another’s broad brush.

The title? Sometimes it is just a lone nutter.

Seems antisemitism is like that Supreme Court standard for obscenity: “I’ll know it when I see it.”]

B’Nai Brith misleads and misrepresents what is antisemitism

Independent Jewish Voices: 5 May 2026

B’Nai Brith Canada released its annual audit of antisemitism in Canada last week. This report is a dangerous document that promotes anti-Palestinian racism and misrepresents the important reality of antisemitism in Canada.

The audit relies on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, which has been widely criticized by experts as inaccurate and misleading. While it claims to distinguish between legitimate criticism of Israel and antisemitism, in practice IHRA repeatedly blurs that line, treating anti-Zionism and certain criticisms of Israeli state policy as inherently hateful.

The report claims that terms like ‘settler-colonial apartheid’ or ‘genocide’ are fodder for antisemitism. This makes it impossible to accurately describe Israel’s ongoing war crimes, which leading international human rights organizations and legal experts have shown Israel is culpable for, without being accused of antisemitism. It silences urgent criticism and dehumanizes Palestinians.

The audit frames anti-Zionist speech and action as inherently antisemitic. As anti-Zionist Jews, we fundamentally reject this framing. Claiming that anti-Zionism is antisemitic erases Jewish political diversity and prevents Palestinians from speaking about their lived experience as Zionism’s primary victims.

Jews, like all Canadians, deserve to feel safe. Many in our communities are facing real-world acts of antisemitism that are alarming, including attacks on Jewish community spaces and buildings, and the promotion of antisemitic conspiracies by the right-wing media apparatus.

But many in the Zionist lobby capitalise on the rise of real world antisemitism to promote their false narrative that a Jewish supremacist Israel is necessary for our safety, and that anti-Zionism is an existential threat to Jewish life everywhere.

Understanding antisemitism accurately requires evidence-based approaches that clearly distinguish between hate and political discourse, not ones that suppress legitimate debate.

So, what is your point?

My point is a more narrow definition of what constitutes antisemitism and, for that matter, Islam-hate.

Jews live in fear. What <deleted>! Everybody lives in fear of something (my wife, poverty aso).

3 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

My point is a more narrow definition of what constitutes antisemitism and, for that matter, Islam-hate.

Jews live in fear. What <deleted>! Everybody lives in fear of something (my wife, poverty aso).

Racist Jew hatred denial. So predictable.

20 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

My point is a more narrow definition of what constitutes antisemitism and, for that matter, Islam-hate.

Jews live in fear. What <deleted>! Everybody lives in fear of something (my wife, poverty aso).

I assume you think that was reasonable when it was actually ignorant and bigoted.

Jing, you may be one of the thinner-skinned. Are we all supposed to be afraid the leave the house because <something> might happen to us?!? Nonsense, and certainly not Jew-hatred. I've told you already. Jews do not deserve Israel. It was a nice place when they were civilised.

10 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Jing, you may be one of the thinner-skinned. Are we all supposed to be afraid the leave the house because <something> might happen to us?!? Nonsense, and certainly not Jew-hatred. I've told you already. Jews do not deserve Israel. It was a nice place when they were civilised.

10 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Jing, you may be one of the thinner-skinned. Are we all supposed to be afraid the leave the house because <something> might happen to us?!? Nonsense, and certainly not Jew-hatred. I've told you already. Jews do not deserve Israel. It was a nice place when they were civilised.

10 minutes ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Jing, you may be one of the thinner-skinned. Are we all supposed to be afraid the leave the house because <something> might happen to us?!? Nonsense, and certainly not Jew-hatred. I've told you already. Jews do not deserve Israel. It was a nice place when they were civilised.

Your ignorance and obsessive inflaming of anti-Jewish hatred is appalling.

Every other country in the world "deserves" to exist, but somehow not Israel.

The one tiny Jewish one. Not them. They're Jews.

Edited May 10May 10 by Jingthing

Because I am against all the killing and maiming by Israel in the Middle East against various Arab Countries does that make me Antisemitic?

36 minutes ago, Jeff the Chef said:

Because I am against all the killing and maiming by Israel in the Middle East against various Arab Countries does that make me Antisemitic?

No , its your dislike of Jews that makes you Anti semitic

37 minutes ago, Jeff the Chef said:

Because I am against all the killing and maiming by Israel in the Middle East against various Arab Countries does that make me Antisemitic?

I haven't noticed you posting about other countries accused of wrongdoing.

If its only the one Jewish country that gets you excited, then that's suspicious

Like when Syria was a bloodbath Arab on Arab with Russian help, did you post even once about that?

I doubt it.

No Jews no news.

Edited May 10May 10 by Jingthing

10 minutes ago, Nick Carter icp said:

No , its your dislike of Jews that makes you Anti semitic

Let me say truthfully, I have never had any problem with any Jew I have ever had dealings with for over 70 years.

11 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I haven't noticed you posting about other countries accused of wrongdoing.

If its only the one Jewish country that gets you excited, then that's suspicious

Like when Syria was a bloodbath Arab on Arab with Russian help, did you post even once about that?

I doubt it.

No Jews no news.

I'll put you down as a undecided then.

2 minutes ago, Jeff the Chef said:

Let me say truthfully, I have never had any problem with any Jew I have ever had dealings with for over 70 years.

Syrian war

Arabs vs Arabs.

Over half a million dead.

Did you post once about that?

I don’t think you post about Putin's genocidal war on Ukraine either..

Slava vs Slavs.

Interesting

Just now, Jeff the Chef said:

I'll put you down as a undecided then.

Quacks like a duck.

3 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

Quacks like a duck.

Oh, get you Duckie.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

No Jews no news.

For me, because I thought Jews would be the one cohesive group of people with a conscience, able to create a democratic and civilised country.

It is all too obvious I was wrong.

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Syrian war

Arabs vs Arabs.

Over half a million dead.

Did you post once about that?

I don’t think you post about Putin's genocidal war on Ukraine either..

Slava vs Slavs.

Interesting

1 hour ago, Jingthing said:

Syrian war

Arabs vs Arabs.

Over half a million dead.

Did you post once about that?

I don’t think you post about Putin's genocidal war on Ukraine either..

Slava vs Slavs.

Interesting

No, Jing. You go with what you know. I know many Israelis, mostly dualies. Some of them even live in Israel.

My primary interest is resistance to military "service" and I am in touch both with resistance groups and individual COs.

I have educated myself about Israeli wars because, up to this point, I had only known Jewish intellectuals, resisters, anarchists, artists. I thought Jews were civilised from my contact with these people.

Too my knowledge, none of the other places you mention have COs or deserters or escapees, or at least none who are accessible to me.

You must realise many COs don't want to be outed. They just want not to have to kill anybody.

Don't know a damned thing about Syria or Darfur, though I certainly condemn Russia for their aggression just as I condemn Israel.

Call me whatever you like. I am a hater. I hate war and violence and Israelis seem to be just fine with it.

Let's turn that around. Have you commented on any of these other atrocities?

Edited May 10May 10 by unblocktheplanet
add

9 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

For me, because I thought Jews would be the one cohesive group of people with a conscience, able to create a democratic and civilised country.

It is all too obvious I was wrong.

In your statement, you are singling Jewish people out. The reality is that Jewish people are Homo sapiens, and as such are just as capable of creating violence as any other people on the planet. Jewish people, and the Israeli state (which is a separate thing entirely), are no more, and no less, responsible for the maintenance of global civility than any other people, and any other state. Antisemitism, I think, begins with a denial of these realities, for instance by holding Jewish people and the polities they create to a higher standard.

3 hours ago, Cory1848 said:

In your statement, you are singling Jewish people out. The reality is that Jewish people are Homo sapiens, and as such are just as capable of creating violence as any other people on the planet. Jewish people, and the Israeli state (which is a separate thing entirely), are no more, and no less, responsible for the maintenance of global civility than any other people, and any other state. Antisemitism, I think, begins with a denial of these realities, for instance by holding Jewish people and the polities they create to a higher standard.

3 hours ago, Cory1848 said:

In your statement, you are singling Jewish people out. The reality is that Jewish people are Homo sapiens, and as such are just as capable of creating violence as any other people on the planet. Jewish people, and the Israeli state (which is a separate thing entirely), are no more, and no less, responsible for the maintenance of global civility than any other people, and any other state. Antisemitism, I think, begins with a denial of these realities, for instance by holding Jewish people and the polities they create to a higher standard.

Wow, Cory, that is a really percipient observation! Foor for thought, indeed. You're right. I do hold Jews to a higher standard than I do Americans.

This does not explain antisemitism but it's a really good step forward. Thank you.

2 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Wow, Cory, that is a really percipient observation! Foor for thought, indeed. You're right. I do hold Jews to a higher standard than I do Americans.

This does not explain antisemitism but it's a really good step forward. Thank you.

Don’t really know how to read that (and pardon me for being dense), but, given what you’ve said in other posts here, I can only take your statement “I do hold Jews to a higher standard than I do Americans” literally (although the statement is somewhat nonsensical, since a great many Jews are Americans).

 

You had said, I assume in all seriousness, that you “thought” that “Jews would be the one cohesive group of people with a conscience,” able to create “a civilized country” (emphasis added). But, given two millennia of systemic antisemitism in Europe sprinkled with periodic pogroms and culminating in the Holocaust (and given that the nascent Israeli state was immediately attacked by all its neighbors), is it really any wonder that Israelis would instead create a deeply militarized state, obsessed with national security? Israeli Jews are, after all, merely human, not divine.

 

Which was my initial point: to say that Jewish people, after all, are just like all other people, is the least antisemitic statement you can make. (I was not attempting to explain antisemitism in any broad sense.) Anyway, bye now.

1 minute ago, Cory1848 said:

Don’t really know how to read that (and pardon me for being dense), but, given what you’ve said in other posts here, I can only take your statement “I do hold Jews to a higher standard than I do Americans” literally (although the statement is somewhat nonsensical, since a great many Jews are Americans).

 

You had said, I assume in all seriousness, that you “thought” that “Jews would be the one cohesive group of people with a conscience,” able to create “a civilized country” (emphasis added). But, given two millennia of systemic antisemitism in Europe sprinkled with periodic pogroms and culminating in the Holocaust (and given that the nascent Israeli state was immediately attacked by all its neighbors), is it really any wonder that Israelis would instead create a deeply militarized state, obsessed with national security? Israeli Jews are, after all, merely human, not divine.

 

Which was my initial point: to say that Jewish people, after all, are just like all other people, is the least antisemitic statement you can make. (I was not attempting to explain antisemitism in any broad sense.) Anyway, bye now.

For Jews. with friends like unblocktheplanet, who needs enemies?

There are better definitions of antisemitism, there is JDA (Jerusalem Definition of Antisemitism) supported by around 370 scholars on the Holocaust and Antisemitism. This originates around 2021.

There is also Nexus from American Scholars which attempts to define antisemitism whilst protecting free speech on criticism of Israel.

IMHO, antisemitism has nothing to do with Israel or the right of Israel to exist. It simply means (irrational) hatred of Jews.

1 minute ago, JBChiangRai said:

There are better definitions of antisemitism, there is JDA (Jerusalem Definition of Antisemitism) supported by around 370 scholars on the Holocaust and Antisemitism. This originates around 2021.

There is also Nexus from American Scholars which attempts to define antisemitism whilst protecting free speech on criticism of Israel.

IMHO, antisemitism has nothing to do with Israel or the right of Israel to exist. It simply means (irrational) hatred of Jews.

I call BS.

We have a member here who has asserted that Israeli does not deserve to exist.

That's the one and only tiny Jewish nation in a world with 50 Islamic nations.

But only one the nation, the Jewish one, doesn't deserve to exist.

10 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I call BS.

We have a member here who has asserted that Israeli does not deserve to exist.

That's the one and only tiny Jewish nation in a world with 50 Islamic nations.

But only one the nation, the Jewish one, doesn't deserve to exist.

I call BS on your BS. You do like your straw man stuff.

You can deny Israel to exist, have no problems with Jews and not therefore be antisemitic.

That is my opinion.

Incidentally, I don’t deny Israel, the right to exist, but I do deny Israel, the right to exist in its current form and leadership. It has to share its land with Palestinians.

Just now, JBChiangRai said:

I call BS on your BS. You do like your straw man stuff.

You can deny Israel to exist, have no problems with Jews and not therefore be antisemitic.

That is my opinion.

Incidentally, I don’t deny Israel, the right to exist, but I do deny Israel, the right to exist in its current form and leadership. It has to share its land with Palestinians.

We'll have to agree to disagree then.

To clarify, I would have no problem if Israel was pressured to behave better. In fact, I support that.

Edited May 11May 11 by Jingthing

Just now, Jingthing said:

We'll have to agree to disagree then.

Agreed (or is it disagree?)

If I was to say that an African nation that had behaved badly did not "deserve to exist" people would call me a RACIST and they would be right.

Same thing when about Israel.

8 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

If I was to say that an African nation that had behaved badly did not "deserve to exist" people would call me a RACIST and they would be right.

Same thing when about Israel.

It’s not the same thing at all.

It’s the same as saying NAZI Germany shouldn’t exist.

17 hours ago, unblocktheplanet said:

Call me whatever you like. I am a hater. I hate war and violence and Israelis seem to be just fine with it.

Its not as if they have any other choice .

Israel is at war because they have no other choice

1 minute ago, JBChiangRai said:

It’s not the same thing at all.

It’s the same as saying NAZI Germany shouldn’t exist.

You went there. So Israel is Nazi. DISGUSTING.

You're deeper down than I thought.

Advocating changing the government is VERY DIFFERENT than saying a nation doesn't deserve to exist.

It took a long time to get reunified but Germany still exists and it's a good thing that they do.

I hate the Z fascist Putin government but I would never say the nation of Russia doesn't deserve to exist.

Heck I hate the fascist Trump government of my own country but I would never say that USA doesn't deserve to exist because of a bad regime.

That said, history shows that events do shift nations and borders driven by different complex geopolitical forces.

For example what happened to the Soviet Union.

Edited May 11May 11 by Jingthing