The well-known antisemitic allegations took off during the Corona • This is how antisemitic elements use the virus to attack Judaism and Israel • Judaism during the Corona
Illustration image (the photographer has nothing to do with the news) // Photo: AFP
There is a particularly thin and delicate boundary between clear expressions of anti-Semitism, and criticism of the State of Israel and Zionism, which is perceived as legitimate.
During the Corona period, this border became thinner than ever.
While for many of us in recent years the recognition has sharpened that a significant part of the expression of anti-Zionism and anti-Israel is an embodiment of old and bad anti-Semitism - for the professional community that has been dealing with the issue for years this is a more complex discussion.
Naturally, in this state of affairs the fear is that this anti-Semitic and anti-Israeli discourse will enter the mainstream and gain momentum.
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In general, although in many ways, the updated definition of anti-Semitism by the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) has helped produce a diagnosis.
"It is also important to know that there are expressions that, although they cannot be defined as anti-Semitic, are still in a gray area in which they create a fertile ground for antisemitic discourse," explains Carol Nuriel, CEO of the Anti-Defamation League in Israel.
"One of the main reasons for this is the sophisticated use of the terms 'Jew / Israeli' or 'Judaism / Israel'. Moreover, we are witnessing the attempt to use anti-Zionism as a so-called legitimate expression of hatred, but all too often anti-Semitism is rooted in the denial of state rights. "Israel to exist as the nation state of the Jewish people."
During the days of the plague, anti-Semitism and anti-Israel expressions were used interchangeably, with classical medieval anti-Semitism being "repackaged" to suit the present period.
In this way, in the days of the plague, not only the Jews were accused of spreading the plague but also Israel - of creating and spreading the virus.
We have, therefore, two intertwined elements - a medieval conspiracy theory and a contemporary conspiracy theory, which also connects the State of Israel to the matter.
Clues and claims that Israel is behind the virus appeared at the beginning of the epidemic in Turkey, where the pro-establishment ATV station claimed an "expert" that the person who spread the virus was the one who found the cure, while noting that Israel already has a vaccine - hence blaming the virus.
In the same vein, Fatah Arbakan, the leader of the Islamist Rafah party and the son of the former Turkish prime minister, said that while there is no conclusive evidence "Zionism may be behind the virus".
An article published on a left-wing website in Venezuela (Aporrea) in early May claimed that "Zionists" used the corona virus to encourage a coup against the regime of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela: "Due to the Corona epidemic that has paralyzed the industry. There is currently a new offensive aimed at promoting a supreme force of armed fascist groups (in Venezuela). It is a known fact that the coup is a matter for the White House serving the international economic power of Zionism and imperialism."
A commentator in the country on several networks posted an Instagram post that read: "The #IsraHell virus is just as murderous as the corona virus. It has also eaten the lungs of the Palestinian people since the Nakba in 1947 until today."
Another example is Press TV, a semi-establishment television station in Iran, which aired a number of reports that scores were behind the virus: "Zionist elements have developed a more deadly strain of the corona virus against Iran."
The Iranian-backed Spanish television station HispanTV reported that the virus was the result of a Zionist conspiracy. "The virus serves Zionism's goals of reducing the number of people in the world," they argued. As part of a messiah rooting the narrative that Zionists are part of the world's capitalist elites And for them the virus is a way to control the world order.