Positive Antisemitism
Positive Antisemitism
German banks are once again freezing Jewish money, and Jewish people are again being banned from speaking.
On “Positive” Antisemitism and the equating of Zionism and Judaism.
Confessing support for Palestinian resistance, including non-Hamas resistance, is now often consistently antisemitic, even legally.
Through Paragraph 130 and Paragraph 140 “Approval of Crimes,” since October 7, numerous protesters have been arrested, beaten, and injured, often just for a single sentence.
“From the River to the Sea, Palestine will be free”
In Bavaria, this slogan could soon lead to investigations “for using symbols of terrorist organizations”: “One of the most important slogans of worldwide pro-Palestinian demonstrations could thus be classified as a criminal offense in Germany, pursued as strictly as the swastika or other Nazi symbols have been in the past.”
This slogan, which is of particular importance because it is undoubtedly the most frequently used Palestine-related slogan, is considered antisemitic because the territory between the Jordan (“River”) and the Mediterranean (“Sea”), which includes Gaza, the West Bank, and Israel, is involved.
In this context, the slogan would deny Israel’s right to exist.
Ironically, the Likud party, led by Netanyahu, uses a negated variation of the slogan (“between the Sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty”) in its founding documents.
By criminalizing many aspects of Palestine solidarity as “antisemitic,” Germany adopts the claim of the State of Israel to represent the entire Jewish people.
The German state endorses this claim so strongly that Olaf Scholz considers Israel and its security a “German national interest.”
This self-denying fight against antisemitism goes so far that the goals and consequences of this fight are sometimes completely contradictory:
Jewish activists advocating for a “Free Palestine” are arrested for “antisemitism.”
For example, the “Jewish Voice for Peace in the Middle East” (Jewish Voice), the largest Jewish anti-Zionist organization in Germany, writes after several arrests at Palestine rallies:
“(…) The equating of Judaism and Zionism (is) the true antisemitism, not to mention the instrumentalization of Jewish identity to justify the Israeli occupation, ethnic cleansing, and genocide of Palestinians. (…)
If you’re curious what genuine antisemitism looks like? Look at how the German state, police, and media treat Jewish people in Berlin in 2024. To this day, Germany boasts the best and most sophisticated antisemitism the world has to offer, hidden behind empty, meaningless narratives about memorial culture and atonement.”
This form of equating Judaism, a millennia-old identity that has suffered through centuries of persecution, with a state that promotes a specific, radical, intra-Jewish interpretation of religious practice (Zionism), is what constitutes “Positive” antisemitism.
It is the counterpart to “Negative” antisemitism, which is expressed especially through radical Islamist and right-wing extremist views, rejecting the state of Israel precisely because of its Jewish character.
Because even openly Jewish organizations are accused of antisemitism, it can be assumed that the often false charge of antisemitism stems from either a fundamental misunderstanding—in the sense of conflating Zionism and Judaism—or active criminalization of criticism of Israel.
This Positive Antisemitism, meaning the equating of Judaism and Zionism to instrumentalize especially German history, went so far that on March 27 of this year, the savings bank (Sparkasse) blocked the account of the pro-Palestinian Jewish organization, Jewish Voice.
Nearly 79 years after the end of German fascism, German financial institutions are once again freezing Jewish money, in a self-denying manner under the guise of “combating antisemitism.”
To unblock the account, Jewish Voice was asked to provide documents including the names and addresses of its members.
“Requesting a list of members with names and addresses is not only without legal basis, but also morally incomprehensible for a German bank. I believe this is an attempt to politically influence the Sparkasse; I can’t think of any other explanation.” said lawyer Ahmed Abed in an interview with Junge Welt.
The imperative of “fighting antisemitism” in unconditional support for Israel from the German Federal Republic now reveals itself more openly than ever; to cleanse Germany’s sins, Jewish money is again being frozen.
The contradiction expressed in civic Positive Antisemitism highlights the geopolitical economic interests that Germany also pursues in Palestine more than ever before.