Summary
In Sharansky’s 2004 article, the “so-called “new anti-Semitism””: a form of anti-Semitism aimed at the Jewish state rather than at the Jewish people or the Jewish religion, which hides behind the veneer of legitimate criticism of Israel and is advanced in the name of human rights, and which the 3D Test of Anti-Semitism is proposed to expose (3D Test of Anti-Semitism: Demonization, Double Standards, Delegitimization, lines 341-345).
Details
- Its object distinguishes it from classical anti-Semitism: “Whereas classical anti-Semitism is aimed at the Jewish people or the Jewish religion, “new anti-Semitism” is aimed at the Jewish state.” (line 343)
- Its disguise is what makes it a “unique challenge”: “Since this anti-Semitism can hide behind the veneer of legitimate criticism of Israel, it is more difficult to expose.” (line 343)
- The task is made harder because “this hatred is advanced in the name of values most of us would consider unimpeachable, such as human rights” (line 343).
- Sharansky’s response is to “be clear and outspoken in exposing the new anti-Semitism”, by applying the 3D test of demonization, double standards and delegitimization (lines 345-351).
- The article’s account of a resurgence of anti-Semitic activity in the democratic world over the preceding four years — synagogues burned, rabbis abused, Jewish children attacked, cemeteries desecrated in Europe — is given in the older, people-directed form, before the “new” form is distinguished (line 337).
Where sources disagree
- Stern’s testimonies treat the classification of Israel-directed speech as unsettled and warn against settling it by definition for campus use: antisemitism, in his 2025 account, is at its most dangerous a two-element conspiracy theory about Jews, a core he says the IHRA, Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism and Nexus Document definitions share (Written Testimony of Kenneth S. Stern (2025), PDF p.20-21, p.24). Sharansky’s category instead classifies by the speech’s object and manner — demonization, selectivity, denial of the right to exist — without a conspiracy element.
- In From the River to the Sea, Haim Bresheeth-Žabner argues the reverse causal direction: Israel’s claim that all Jews are Zionists has given antisemites a material basis and restarted antisemitic movements in the West (From the River to the Sea: Essays for a Free Palestine, lines 1925-1927).
Related pages
3D Test of Anti-Semitism: Demonization, Double Standards, Delegitimization, 3D Test of Anti-Semitism, Antisemitism, Delegitimization, Natan Sharansky