by Alex Winston
Fifty years after the UN declared Zionism is a form of racism, its legacy still continues to fuel antisemitism and distort human rights discourse.
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Fifty years ago, the world witnessed a change in international attitude that was the harbinger of the antisemitism we are witnessing in the modern world.
Fifty years ago, on November 10, 1975, the United Nations General Assembly voted to adopt Resolution 3379, which determined that Zionism “is a form of racism and racial discrimination.”
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Fifty years ago, Israel’s then-ambassador to the UN, Chaim Herzog, lambasted the assembly from the dais, telling those gathered, “It is indeed fitting that the United Nations, which began its life as an anti-Nazi alliance, should, 30 years later, find itself on its way to becoming the world center of antisemitism.”
The vote passed with 72 nations in favor, 35 against, and 32 abstentions. Those who voted yes included all the Arab nations, as well as those in the Communist bloc, plus others seeking favor from the Soviet Union. Only a handful of democracies, among them the United States, Canada, Australia, and most of Western Europe, opposed it. It was quintessential Cold War voting at its finest, but it was more than damaging to the Jewish state.
Herzog, whose speech would become one of the defining moral stands in Israel’s diplomatic history, tore up the resolution on the podium. “It is no more than a piece of paper,” he declared, “and we shall treat it as such.”
Language of human rights is being turned into a weapon against Jews
For Israel and for Jews worldwide, the message was horrifying. The international body, which had been founded in the wake of the Holocaust, had turned the language of human rights into a weapon to be used against the Jewish people.It was a major turning point in the globalization and acceptance of the political language of antisemitism. It was the beginning of Israel’s global delegitimization.
In December 1991, under US pressure and in the afterglow of the Gulf War, the UN formally repealed the resolution. It was hailed as a diplomatic victory, but the damage had already been done. The rot had already set in.
For 16 years, the phrase “Zionism is racism” entered the global lexicon. Via textbooks, media, and political rhetoric, a veneer of legitimacy to antisemitism was acceptable under the guise of “anti-Zionism.” Even after its repeal, the idea lived on in the reports of NGOs, the language of “human rights” forums, and the slogans of campus movements.
It would be a nice trip down memory lane if that were the end of the story. The ramifications of what happened that day in New York are still being felt now.
1975 MARKED the playbook of how to use one of the Jewish people’s greatest beliefs – its eternal connection to the Land of Israel – against it. In a post-October 7 world, we have once again seen the demonization of Jews masquerading under the guise of “anti-Zionism.”
Antisemitism has exploded across Western capitals, universities, and online spaces, all with the same package.
In May of last year, a rally in Melbourne, Australia, featured the chant, “All Zionists are terrorists.” One activist, Hash Tayeh, was later charged under Victoria’s Summary Offences Act for using “insulting words in public.”
On July 9, just a few months later, Meta Platforms announced a policy change to remove social media posts that target “Zionists” when the term is being used to represent Jewish people or Israelis rather than simply supporters of the political movement of Zionism. That was a reactive measure to the antisemitic abuse. Not a proactive measure.
Last week, after Maccabi Tel Aviv fans were barred from traveling to the UK for a soccer match against Aston Villa in Birmingham, activists plastered “Zionists not welcome” signs and Palestinian flags around the city.
We have all seen posters, placards, and social media invitations to events, notably across US campuses, with the loud proclamation “ZIONISTS NOT WELCOME!”
These are just several examples. There are many, many more.
Nowadays, language change has been accompanied by an attitude change as well. The delegitimization of Israel has gone into overdrive in the two years since Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel.
“In the Middle East, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Persian Gulf, only one presence is allowed, and that is the Arab presence,” Herzog declared during his speech, more relevant than ever. “No other people, regardless of how deep are its roots in the region, is to be permitted to enjoy its right of self-determination.”
To mark people out for being Zionist, or even worse, to label them as racist because of their Zionism, is to deny the Jewish people the very right to identity and self-determination that every other nation takes for granted.
“I come here to denounce the two great evils which menace society in general and a society of nations in particular. These two evils are hatred and ignorance,” Herzog uttered. “These two evils are the motivating force behind the proponents of this draft resolution and their supporters. These two evils characterize those who would drag this world organization, the idea of which was first conceived by the prophets of Israel, to the depths to which it has been dragged today.”
Fifty years later, Israel is still facing the same battle it was then, and more prominently in the West than at any time since the Holocaust. Fifty years later, it is still facing hatred and ignorance.
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Alex Winston
Source: https://www.jpost.com/diaspora/antisemitism/article-873282
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