The National Assembly in France passed a draft resolution this week defining anti-Semitism and declaring that hatred of the State of Israel is a form of anti-Semitism.
According to CBN News, the resolution passed 154-72 in the lower house of the National Assembly.
“For some years now, France, the whole of Europe, but also almost all Western democracies are facing a rise in antisemitism,” the resolution states. “Anti-Zionist acts can at times hide antisemitic realities. Hate toward Israel due to its perception as a Jewish collective is akin to hatred toward the entire Jewish community.”
The resolution also asks other European Union countries to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliances’ definition of anti-Semitism. That definition says that anti-Semitism includes “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
The National Assembly resolution said the definition is “the most precise designation of what contemporary anti-Semitism is.”
“It considers it an effective instrument for combating anti-Semitism in its modern and renewed form, in that it encompasses manifestations of hatred toward the State of Israel justified solely by the perception of the latter as a Jewish collective.”
Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz tweeted this week that he supported the French resolution.
“The adoption of the resolution confirms President Macron's remarks that anti-Zionism is the new face of anti-Semitism. I call on other countries to follow in France’s footsteps,” Katz said in a statement on Twitter.
Anti-Semitic attacks in France increased 74 percent in 2018, the French Interior Minister Christophe Castaner said earlier this year. He said there were 541 recorded anti-Semitic acts in 2018, up from 311 in 2017.
"Anti-Semitism is spreading like poison," he said.
Photo courtesy: Augustin de Montesquiou/Unsplash
Amanda Casanova is a writer living in Dallas, Texas. She has covered news for ChristianHeadlines.com since 2014. She has also contributed to The Houston Chronicle, U.S. News and World Report and IBelieve.com. She blogs at The Migraine Runner.
