I appreciate the Special Commission on Combatting Antisemitism’s desire to combat antisemitism in Massachusetts, but am troubled by the bias shown by the commission’s noticeable deference to a Zionist-leaning/Israel-promoted interpretation of what constitutes antisemitism. There are many Jews in Massachusetts who are not Zionists, and the assumption that equates Israel and Zionism with Jewish self-identity is itself antisemitic. (Also, some Jews consider themselves Zionists without meaning it politically, i.e., not as followers of nationalist Zionism and its state, Israel.)

According to Kenneth Stern, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)’s guidelines to its 2016 antisemitism definition include antisemitism resulting from associating all Jews with the state of Israel, which is different from saying all anti-Zionism is antisemitic. Stern, director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate, has expressed deep concern over the way the IHRA definition is being used today (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyjYk8bsYT8).

I’ve watched the commission, with not a single pro-Palestinian or anti-Zionist Jew among its members, come very close to fully equating anti-Zionism with antisemitism. A local Jewish leader and a local Jewish columnist have both cautioned, and I agree, antisemitism could well increase rather than decrease if the commission’s bias continues.

Deb Friedman

Easthampton