The end of antisemitism: how the fight against hate became a weapon of repression
JVL Introduction
In this article in Contending Modernities, Barry Trachtenberg traces the fate of the concept of “antisemitism”.
It blossomed in C19 and C20s as an ideology of anti-Jewish hatred that blamed Jews for the brutal disruptions of industrialization, capitalism, urbanization—for everything disruptive about modernity itself
But post-1948, there was a gradual then an accelerating weaponisation of the concept, reaching a crescendo with the IHRA definition and the Heritage Foundation’s Project Esther in the States.
Trachtenberg traces this deformation and inversion of the concept to the point where we now have a playbook for using antisemitism accusations to sanction Palestinian human rights organizations, undermine international law and justify genocide – all in the name of protecting Jews.
“Antisemitism” no longer even attempts to capture the actually existing and growing Jew hatred we face today. We need, rather, “to reclaim that fight on the basis of an ethical framework that rests upon common humanity rather than exceptionalism”.
RK
This article was originally published by Contending Modernities on Fri 19 Dec 2025. Read the original here.
The end of antisemitism: how the fight against hate became a weapon of repression
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A very important article by Barry Trachtenberg. The conclusion he draws cannot be faulted viz.
‘The term [anti-Semitism] has been so thoroughly emptied out, inverted, and weaponized that it now describes its opposite: not a defense of a vulnerable people against state violence but a mechanism for expanding state violence against vulnerable peoples.’
That is why many people in the Palestine solidarity movement turn off when the word ‘anti-Semitism’ is used because they know instinctively what its purpose is and that isn’t to combat genuine anti-Jewish hatred.
We see that in the concern of the British State and Mark Rowley about slogans such as ‘Globalise Intifada’. The alleged concerns of the British state for anti-Semitism stand in contrast to its indifference to any other form of racism. This is even more true of the overtly racist Donald Trump.
Our job is to challenge the very concept of Holocaust uniqueness. Because if it’s unique then by definition it has no lessons to impart as we are seeing with the silence of all the Holocaust memorial organisations.
Excellent, informative article. Needs to be widely circulated.
Because I myself am repeatedly touching on this very subject and have been using the analyses and arguments named by the author, to underline and defend his position, I could not agree more.
In Holland – as in the many other countries – people seem to be totally ignorant of the closely interrelated two USA Policy Documents – Project-2025-and-Project-Esther – that have been written by the ultra-Christian-orthodox, extremely racist and ditto fascist, plus unapologetically theocratic (so anti-democratic and wholesome authoritarian) Heritage Foundation.
The interrelation consisting of the use of pro-Palestinian sympathies – directly connotated to (imho the highly legitimate Resistance Movement) “Hamas”, in order to establish the (“to be punishable by the USA-Justice system”) accusation of pro-terrorism, on the progressive, left leaning, UDHR minded side of the USA population.
I do also regularly use the very same arguments, against the structural, extreme abuse by pro-Zionist forces all over the world (including by Zionist Christians), of the IHRA definition of antisemitism.
Thirdly I – on a daily base – do consider the obsessive worldwide advertisement by pro-Zionist forces of Islamophobia (in a great variety of explicit expressions), a cynical strategic tool, to justify the presence of the Zionist settler Movement on Palestinian territory,
In the process opportunistically changing cause and consequence of the (totally justified) resistance (both by verbal criticism as by the manifestation of material counter-violence) from both Islamic individuals and Islamic States against the Zionist crusaders, trying to replace the autochthonous Palestinians, by allochthonous (politically) Zionist Jews.
In Holland the ultra-Zionist (pro-Eretz-Israel) Jew, Geert Wilders has been engaging from the nineties, in replicating the Mossad delivered message of “Eurabia” throughout Europe, in order to try to establish the (false) perception, that Zionism is all about fighting the “Umvolkung” of Europe (instead of the “Umvolkung” of Palestine by Zionist settler colonials).
Brilliant, enlightening article. And ‘antisemitism’ has of course been used to subvert democracy, as practically everyone on the left is well aware of.
This is an important and detailed article. Note, Wikipedia and some other online articles credit the adding of ‘anti’ to ‘semitic. to a German racist in 1870. And Edward Said in ‘Orientalism’ makes the point that some of the intellectuals behind the classification of ‘semitic’ would now be labelled racists.
The article does not address the ‘semitic’ refers to ‘language speakers’, which are deemed to Arabs, including Palestinians. So logically Zionists should be labelled ‘anti-semitic’.
The article should really explicitly call for the avoidance of use of the term. It should be noted that African and people of African heritage do not have a specific term when facing racism; neither do the Irish: the Chinese: Aborigines and many other peoples. A colleague use to point o a concept, ‘the hierarchy of the oppressed’, a tactic to be avoided.
The article is also correct about the attempts to treat the holocaust under the Third Reich as unique. An example of Eurocentrism and of European colonial values.
brilliant should be read by everyboddy including Starmer Lammy Reeves Mark Roland . I was in Australia earlier this year. one of my many visits. love the people and the country. The horror on Bondi beach was evil beyond words, but to weaponise and use anti semitism to say to Australia this is a result of you supporting a Palestine state is also evil and beyond words. The gross misuse of anti semitism devalues its reality and is no help to Jews everyware.