Press Release
‘A Manifestation of the New Anti-Semitism’Rep. Chris Smith (R-NJ) issued the following statement on Monday: “At a hearing I chaired on combating anti-Semitism in 2004, the great Jewish human rights leader—and former prisoner of conscience in the Soviet Union—Natan Sharansky testified that there was not only a ‘resurgence of anti-Semitic activity in the democratic world’ but also a ‘new anti-Semitism’ that is ‘far more subtle’ and ‘poses a unique challenge’. “He said that while ‘classical anti-Semitism is aimed at the Jewish people or the Jewish religion’ the new anti-Semitism is ‘aimed at the Jewish State’. “Noting that the Jewish State should not be above criticism, he testified that this new anti-Semitism ‘can hide behind the veneer of legitimate criticism of Israel’. “Rep. Ilhan Omar’s outrageous tweet that ‘Israel has hypnotized the world may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel’ or her tweet that politicians are being bought by AIPAC to support Israel are not legitimate criticism but a manifestation of the new anti-Semitism.”
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