Antisemitism — the world's oldest and most persistent form of hatred — remains one of the most urgent challenges facing both the Jewish people and the democratic world. Far from being a relic of the past, antisemitism has mutated and resurged in the twenty-first century, manifesting across the ideological spectrum: from the white-supremacist far right and the intersectional far left, to the virulent Jew-hatred embedded in radical Islamist ideology promoted by movements such as Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Iranian regime. For Israel, confronting antisemitism is not merely a matter of historical memory — it is an existential concern. The same ideology that fueled the Holocaust, the pogroms of Czarist Russia, and centuries of European persecution is today weaponized to deny Israel's right to exist, to justify terrorist atrocities against Israeli civilians, and to delegitimize the Jewish state on the world stage. Effective hasbara in this domain means equipping advocates with the knowledge, language, and moral clarity to identify, confront, and dismantle antisemitic narratives wherever they appear.
Historical and Geopolitical Background
Antisemitism predates the modern nation-state by millennia. Its roots lie in ancient religious prejudice, medieval blood libels, and the systematic exclusion of Jews from European civic life. The Enlightenment did not eradicate it; rather, it transformed Jew-hatred into a pseudo-scientific racial ideology that culminated in the Nazi genocide — the systematic murder of six million Jews between 1941 and 1945. The Holocaust demonstrated, with devastating finality, that antisemitism left unchecked becomes a civilization-level catastrophe. The founding of the State of Israel in 1948 was, in part, the Jewish people's response to this historical vulnerability: the creation of a sovereign homeland where Jews could defend themselves. Yet Israel's very existence has since become a focal point for a new, politically laundered form of antisemitism. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, adopted by over 40 countries, explicitly recognizes that applying double standards to Israel, denying the Jewish people the right to self-determination, and comparing Israeli policy to Nazi atrocities are all manifestations of contemporary antisemitism. State sponsors of antisemitism — chief among them the Islamic Republic of Iran — fund terrorist proxies, produce eliminationist propaganda, and openly call for Israel's destruction, providing a geopolitical dimension to antisemitism that demands sustained strategic attention.
Key Issues in Contemporary Antisemitism
- The weaponization of anti-Zionism as a socially acceptable cover for classical Jew-hatred, particularly in progressive and academic spaces where open antisemitism would be condemned but the denial of Jewish statehood is normalized.
- The dramatic surge in antisemitic incidents globally since October 7, 2023, when Hamas's massacre of 1,200 Israelis was met in many Western cities not with condemnation, but with celebrations and a wave of threats, vandalism, and violence directed at Jewish communities.
- State-sponsored antisemitism emanating from Iran, Qatar, and allied regimes, which fund Hamas, Hezbollah, and an extensive propaganda apparatus designed to delegitimize Israel and incite hatred against Jews worldwide.
- Institutional antisemitism within international bodies such as the United Nations, which has passed more resolutions condemning Israel than all other countries combined, providing a veneer of legitimacy to antisemitic double standards on the world stage.
Israel's Position and Hasbara Strategy
Israel takes the fight against antisemitism seriously at every level of government and civil society. Yad Vashem, the World Holocaust Remembrance Center in Jerusalem, serves as the global authority on Holocaust documentation, education, and commemoration, ensuring that the moral and historical lessons of the Shoah are never forgotten. Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs actively supports the adoption of the IHRA Working Definition by governments and institutions worldwide, recognizing it as the essential legal and rhetorical framework for identifying and combating modern antisemitism. Following the October 7 massacres, Israel and its international advocates worked to document and publicize Hamas's genocidal ideology — rooted explicitly in the antisemitic tropes of the 1988 Hamas Charter — to ensure that the world understood the attack not merely as a political act, but as an expression of exterminationist Jew-hatred. Israel also champions the rights of Jewish diaspora communities facing rising threats, and supports organizations like the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and the Simon Wiesenthal Center in their work to monitor, expose, and combat antisemitic movements globally. The hasbara imperative is clear: advocates must connect contemporary attacks on Israel's legitimacy to the long, ugly history of antisemitism, demonstrating that the hatred directed at the Jewish state is not a principled political critique but a continuation of an ancient and murderous prejudice.
How to Engage: Talking Points and Advocacy Guidance
When engaging on the topic of antisemitism — whether in conversation, on social media, or in public forums — advocates should begin by drawing a clear, evidence-based distinction between legitimate policy criticism and antisemitism. Criticizing a specific Israeli government decision is not antisemitic; denying Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, or holding Israel to a standard applied to no other nation on earth, is. Use the IHRA Working Definition as your anchor — it is internationally recognized, carefully crafted, and provides concrete examples that make the argument irrefutable. When confronted with the claim that "anti-Zionism is not antisemitism," challenge the premise directly: if someone opposes the existence of every other nation-state on earth with the same passion they reserve exclusively for the world's only Jewish state, the burden of proof lies firmly with them to explain why. On the surge in post–October 7 antisemitism, the facts are unambiguous and should be stated without hesitation: Jewish communities in New York, London, Paris, and Sydney faced harassment, assault, and threats in the weeks following a Hamas massacre — a pattern that exposes the moral bankruptcy of those who frame Hamas's violence as "resistance." When dealing with Iran-linked or Islamist antisemitism, make clear that this is not a fringe phenomenon but a state-sponsored, ideologically coherent movement committed to genocide. Always humanize the victims: antisemitism kills real people, destroys communities, and, when ignored, escalates. The Holocaust did not begin in the gas chambers — it began with words, propaganda, and the normalization of hatred. Advocates who understand this history are equipped to recognize the warning signs early and respond with both moral urgency and intellectual precision.