Is preaching the end of the State of Israel – as the far left does – anti-Semitism?

“Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of Jews, which can be expressed as hatred towards Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed against Jewish and non-Jewish individuals and/or against their property, against institutions communities and Jewish religious facilities.”

With these words, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), an international organization that promotes teaching, memory and research on the Holocaust, defines anti-Semitism, a topic that has resurfaced on social media since podcaster Bruno Aiub, Flow presenter Monak, defended unrestricted freedom of expression and the possibility of creating a Nazi party , along the lines of the American Constitution. The speech provoked repudiation from Jewish institutions and led not only to the resignation of the youtuber, but to the opening of an investigation by the Public Ministry of São Paulo about the alleged apology for Nazism, imputed to Aiub and deputy Kim Kataguiri (DEM-SP), who participated in the episode.

For days, the debate involved influencers, intellectuals and even the Holocaust Museum, which, through social networks, made a cordial invitation for Monark to visit its facilities in Curitiba. Last Wednesday (15), it was the turn of the Partido da Causa Operária (PCO) to take a stand on what happened. , with an article entitled “The Jewish Lobby Behind the Monark Censorship”. The post – which, until the closing of this report, continued on Twitter and on the PCO portal – continues: “Capitalists linked to the State of Israel are part of one of the most pernicious mafias on the face of the Earth”.

Not the first time that political groups reproduce harmful stereotypes associated with Jews or even openly defend the end of the State of Israel. In 15, on the occasion of the death of former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, the Socialism and Freedom Party (PSOL) published a text with the words: “The genocidal Nobel Peace Prize winner has died”, to which the Israeli Federation of the State of Rio (Fierj) replied that “rarely has one seen in such a short text such a large amount of lies and hatred”.

Four years earlier, the then candidate for councilor Babá, from the same party, appeared in videos burning flags of the State of Israel. The caption’s website contains a text by 2018 addressing conflicts in the Gaza Strip, which speaks of “a genocidal state-sponsored bloodbath of Israel and its chief butcher Benjamin Netanyahu”. A “pariah state”, according to the author of the text.

On the other hand, in January of that year, the Free Brazil Movement (MBL) also found itself grappling with the accusation of anti-Semitism, not only because of Kataguiri’s endorsement of Monark’s speech on Flow, but because of a post made by the movement’s coordinator, Ricardo Almeida. “There is a lot of conspiratorial anti-Judaism circulating in the Islamic world, but the link is not necessary. I myself have no anti-Semitic streak and wish the State of Israel to be destroyed by a major war, when the prospect of a successful war against Israel exists,” he wrote.

To the newspaper Folha de S. Paulo, Almeida, who is Muslim, stated that he “peremptorily rejects anti-Semitism and anti-Zionism and all their criminal ramifications” and that the tweet was written in the context kidding. “I do not intend the ‘destruction’ of Israel, but the peaceful solution of the conflict. As for the MBL, the position of the movement is well known in the defense of Israel as the only democracy in the Middle East and of active proximity to the Jewish community”, he affirmed.

Ignorance of history perpetuates empty jargon

The speech , however it aroused the reaction of the Organized Jewish Youth. In an interview with

Gazeta do Povo , the organization’s president, Pérsio Bider, commented on the anti-Semitic content of the speeches that advocate for the end of the State of Israel. “Unfortunately, part of the left is unaware of the conflict and the realities of the Middle East, repeating outdated but historical jargon about Israel. They insist on the narrative of the ‘villain’ Israel against the ‘victim’ Palestine, without the responsibility to understand that there is not only a villain side or a victim side”, he said.

”When someone preaches destruction of a single country in the world and that country is precisely the only Jewish country, what message are you trying to convey? Being against the government of Israel or any company, person or any other representative of the country, does not make a person anti-Semitic, but from the moment that he deliberately criticizes, judges, condemns, attacks and preaches the destruction of Israel alone, it is a way of anti-Semitism”, completes the leader.

According to Bider, the Jewish Youth has a team of volunteers dedicated to “monitoring, searching, investigating and tabulating all anti-Semitic statements and actions”. The group then proceeds according to the case – from a note of repudiation and complaints on the platform itself to forwarding to the legal sector of the Brazilian Israeli Confederation, to the Federal Police, to the Federal and State Public Ministry and to the Civil and Military Police. “The complaints are varied, from simple hate speech, with a lot of disinformation and lack of historical knowledge, to threats, which are all taken to the responsible authorities”, explains the president.

Investigative Anti-Semitic Acts

According to the Organization of American States (OAS) Commissioner for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism, Fernando Lottenberg, there is a resurgence of this type of prejudice from several aspects, which manifests itself in different ways.

”There is from the complete denial of the Holocaust to the most ‘subtle’ denials, implying that ‘it wasn’t all that’ or that ‘the Jews contributed’, coming from far-right neo-Nazi groups. Another form is inappropriate comparisons: anti-vaccine activists, for example, who compare themselves to victims of Nazism. So you have on the far left Stars of David being equated with the swastika and an accountability of Jewish communities around the world for what happens in the Middle East. As a result, people were attacked in New York and Los Angeles. And not least, there is Islamic fundamentalism, jihadism that also attacks Jews”, explains the expert.

According to Bider, all these types of anti-Semitism are typified by legislation and are therefore liable to of investigation. “We have already had many cases of complaints that we have sent, aggressors who have been called to the police station and respond to lawsuits, including many preventive detainees”. It so happens that, even though anti-Semitism can be framed as racism or racial slurs, the law has loopholes so that deliberate attacks on the Jewish people can be interpreted as legitimate criticisms of the State of Israel.

“There are initiatives to improve art. 15 of the racism law and include more anti-Semitic conduct, such as Holocaust denial. There are still some initiatives in Congress to criminalize anti-Semitism, but this needs to be presented and approved urgently, including an emphasis on hate speech on the internet”, explains the president of the Jewish Youth.

On this topic , the lawyer and vice president of the Israeli Confederation of Brazil, Daniel Bialski, also spoke to

Gazeta do Povo

“The Israeli Confederation of Brazil and all its federations are attentive and vigilant and have acted to combat all kinds of affronts throughout the country and even participating in groups fighting racism and anti-Semitism around the world. And, fortunately, in many cases, when we intend to take immediate action, we come across police agencies and even the Public Prosecutor’s Office – State and Federal (Prosecutor’s Office) – determining the opening of criminal and civil investigations aimed at punishing these practices.”

“In the case of Monark this is what happened and we only collaborated by reinforcing how much the community feels affronted. In relation to the absurd, racist and offensive statements by the PCO and its leaders, we will also call the competent authorities to open investigations to determine responsibility for these anti-Semitic bravado”, declared the lawyer. Until the publication of this text, the MP-SP did not return the contact of the report to confirm the opening of the investigation.

For Lottenberg, the country is on the way to expand the fight against anti-Semitism of all aspects. ideological: “The definition of anti-Semitism proposed by the IHRA is not legally binding, but it is operational: it offers concrete examples of the problem. That kind of generalization that deals with a ‘genocidal state’ is considered anti-Semitism, yes, as it concerns Jews as a whole. Brazil has become an observer of the IHRA and, with that, we have more elements to go after people who make this kind of statement.”

According to the director of the Philos Project – an organization that seeks cooperation between Christians and religious communities in the Middle East -, Igor Sabino, a doctoral candidate in Political Science at UFPE, for the fight against anti-Semitism to advance, it is necessary to get out of the web of polarization. “People on the left make a point of denouncing the hatred of Jews on the right, but silence when it happens on the left. And vice versa. The case of the PCO, however, is very emblematic. It must be made clear that criticizing Israel in itself is not anti-Semitism. But trying to delegitimize it and use it to propagate all kinds of conspiracy theories is yes”, explains the expert.

“The PCO text, for example, does exactly that. It takes anti-Jewish stereotypes propagated by the Nazi party itself and replaces ‘Jews’ with the State of Israel. I view this kind of anti-Semitism with great concern. It has grown a lot, especially among young people on social media. I have no data on this, but it seems to me to be a phenomenon similar to the popularization of neo-Nazi anti-Semitism. The difference of the latter is that the former is socially accepted. In some circles questioning Israel’s legitimacy is synonymous with virtue, with a commitment to the struggle for Palestinian human rights. Nothing could be further from the truth.”