Lobby pushes for criminalization of Israel's critics

European Jewish Association threatens greater use of litigation.

A protest against Israel’s crimes in Paris. (Paola Breizh/Wikimedia Commons)

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The Israeli government has incriminated itself once again in the last few days.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has stated that Israel intends to take control of Gaza. His coalition partner Bezalel Smotrich is promising further destruction on a massive scale and “cleansing” – code for displacing and potentially expelling Palestinians.

Everything they are doing and have threatened to do is illegal under international law. For a network of professional lobbyists, however, the bad guys aren’t those carrying out a genocide but those who oppose it.

The European Leadership Network (Elnet), a pro-Israel advocacy group, held a conference in Paris this week, which suggested that a “global intifada” was responsible for “the surge of anti-Semitism” since 7 October 2023.

The phrase “global intifada” almost certainly refers to the countless protests that have taken place against Israel’s brutality over the past 19 months. Elnet’s phrasing smears all the ordinary folk who have joined such protests by insinuating that they are anti-Semites.

The Paris conference follows an “analysis” published by Elnet’s French office earlier this month.

That paper alleges that by coveting freedom between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, campaigners for the “Palestinian cause” are really pushing for Jews to be massacred and kicked out of Israel. It describes the far left as a “breeding ground for anti-Jewish hatred in Europe” and argues that Muslim immigrants are especially receptive to the “Palestinian cause.”

By portraying immigrants as violent and fanatical – a xenophobic stereotype – Elnet betrays its own bigotry. Such bigotry was shared by participants in the Paris conference.

Claudia Plakolm, Austria’s Europe minister, used the occasion to promote her country’s “new mandatory integration program.” Under it, “every person entitled to asylum and subsidiary protection will have to sign and comply with a declaration against anti-Semitism,” Plakolm said.

Austria has adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism, which conflates opposition to Israel’s crimes with hostility. Plakolm, therefore, is essentially promising that refugees will be punished if they defend Palestinian rights.

It should be added that Austria is sending out mixed messages.

Austria is among the 17 EU governments that voted on Tuesday for a review of the association agreement with Israel – which theoretically makes cooperation conditional on respect for human rights. Yet – as Plakolm has demonstrated – Austrian politicians are continuing to humor the Israel lobby.

Her compatriot Magnus Brunner sits at the top table of the EU’s executive, the European Commission. He has been tasked with both fighting anti-Semitism and taking an aggressive approach toward immigration.

Brunner told the Paris conference, “The fight against anti-Semitism is an important part of strengthening our ties to Israel. And equally our ties to Israel are an important part of winning this fight.”

He did not spell out that by pushing the IHRA definition, Israel’s objective is to muzzle the Palestine solidarity movement.

Lawfare

As things stand, that definition is officially categorized as legally non-binding. The European Jewish Association (EJA) – another pro-Israel group – is nonetheless pushing for a “binding legal definition” flanked by criminal penalties.

The EJA has hired David Lega, formerly a Swedish member of the European Parliament, as a senior adviser. He is recommending that anti-Semitism be combated through the greater use of litigation.

Like other pro-Israel groups, the EJA contends that opposition to Zionism – the supremacist ideology under which Palestine has been colonized – is the same as anti-Semitism.

“Because of anti-Zionism, anti-Semitism is at its highest levels since World War II,” the group’s founder Menachem Margolin declared recently. So there can be little doubt that the EJA is pushing a strategy of lawfare against Israel’s critics.

How far will this agenda go?

Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s national security minister, argues that even allowing minimal aid to the people of Gaza is a “grave mistake.” His argument is entirely in keeping with the extreme version of Zionism to which he adheres.

Yet Ben-Gvir has no monopoly on cruelty. All of the parties that have been in government since Israel’s inception have oppressed Palestinians – including those supposedly liberal Zionists viewed as acceptable or even admirable by Europe’s political mainstream.

Zionism is an enemy of basic human rights. It is a toxic ideology that should be binned as a matter of urgency.

Pointing out such things is a duty for anyone who believes in dignity and equality. If the Israel lobby has its way, you could be taken to court for exercising that duty.

•First published by The Electronic Intifada, 21 May 2025.