The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism can be found in detail here with contemporary detailed examples; it is further provided below:

“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

I wholeheartedly agree with this definition provided by the IHRA, along with the modern day examples, on their website, with the following response to common claims that Pro-Palestinian activists, like myself, are being antisemitic in our criticisms of the Israeli Government. 

1. "Criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic"

It is critical to note that the IHRA recognises that "criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic" and it is on this point where much debate is happening.

I along with the vast majority of Pro-Palestinian supporters criticise Israel for their actions towards the Palestinian people, but Pro-Israeli supporters, in some cases, argue that the criticism that is levelled against Israel is "more than that levelled against other countries", conducting what they argue are "similar" acts, and is therefore "antisemitic". They point to the Syrian Civil War in which 100,000's of people have been killed, mostly by the Forces of (now former) President Bashar Al-Assad, the 100,000's killed in the Yemen Civil War and the 100,000's killed in Iraq during their effective Civil War between Sunni and Shia Muslims. In their view "when there's no Jews, there's no news." 

While I do emphasize that it is difficult to see their country, that they so whole heartedly love, criticised regularly, and while I do see how, given that Jewish people have been subjected to some of the most horrendous crimes in history (the worst of which was the holocaust, murdering 6 million of them), that they see criticism of Israel as an attack on them specifically, because they are Jewish, I would very much argue that such criticism against the State of Israel is fair and would be (and in fact is) levelled at other countries in the same or similar situation.

The Wars mentioned that Pro-Israeli supporters say are not as criticised much as their Wars against the Palestinian people, were critically Civil Wars, which involved Syrian's killing Syrian's, Yemini's killing Yemini's and Iraqi's killing Iraqi's, respectively for those mentioned, on the most part (of course not discounting that some foreign fighters, particularly in Syria and Iraq, have played a role too). They did not involve one National Group killing 100,000's of another National Group, as Israel will have done to the Palestinians, once all of the deaths resulting from the Genocide in Gaza have occurred and been counted. In such cases, while all killing is to be strongly condemned, it inevitably doesn't invoke nearly as much criticism because it's (although not completely because all killing of innocent people is plain wrong and is thus of International importance), a matter of Internal Politics within the respected countries that are more difficult to influence and stop.

While on the matter of the Syrian Civil War, there was in fact a genocide committed by ISIS against the Yazidi Christians in Iraq, which was condemned worldwide and helped sparked a Western Intervention, to defeat the ISIS group. So the criticism levelled against Israel for what Amnesty International has recognised to be a genocide, with the United Nations finding that Israel's War Methods have been "consistent with genocide" and Human Rights Watch finding that Israel has committed "acts of genocide", is very much consistent with regional and worldwide norms.

Furthermore, Israel receives significant Military Aid ($22 billion in US Military Aid for the Gaza Genocide alone with another $8 billion approved in January 2025), as well as being sold arms, most significantly from Germany and the UK (the UK's are of relatively low value but they provide critical parts for the F-35 jets used to bomb Gaza). America further provides an annual $3.3 billion in arms aid to Israel. No other country, other than Ukraine, has received a similar level of support from Western Nations, so it is of utmost importance that such support is scrutinised, and when those weapons are used to kill 10,000's of innocent civilians, to achieve the objective of "destroying Hamas", with limited success, criticism is very much warranted. One only has to wonder what the reaction of the United States and its Allies would have been if Ukraine indiscriminately targeted Russian civilians with Western weapons, killing 10,000's of them, yet alone if this had achieved only limited military success against Russia and not the promised outcome of defeating them. There would rightly be significant criticism and I would very much doubt that Western support would have continued in such a case. 

2. "Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation."

Further to the above, going back to IHRA's definitions, they specifically say that one of their examples of antisemitism is:

"Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation."

The key phrase there is "any other democratic nation". All of those other examples often quoted by Pro-Israeli supporters to claim that Israel is being "unfairly criticised" were perpetrated by non-Democratic countries and in ISIS's case, a wholly undemocratic entity. Israel, unlike those others, is a Democratic Nation, so it is very important that they are held to the high standard the World expects Democratic Nations to behave, i.e. following International Law. When the International Criminal Court has issued Arrest Warrants against Israel's leaders, as well as Hamas, as it has consistently done against all Global Leaders who have committed War Crimes within its jurisdiction, there is undeniably a "Case to Answer", and justified criticism for the actions of the State. One must note that those other countries (Syria, Yemen, Iraq) mentioned too are not International Criminal Court signatories, so they have not been able to investigate the undeniable heinous crimes that have been committed there, hence why they haven't issue Arrest Warrants for their leaders, while they have for Israel and Hamas, because Palestine is a signatory to the Rome Statute, thus giving the ICC justification to investigate crimes committed in Gaza and/or by its Citizens.

3. "Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis."

Another comment I have regarding the IHRA definition of antisemitism regards this "contemporary antisemitism example": 

"Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis."

First and foremost, making such comparisons (not that I have directly made them myself, but nonetheless, defend people's right and to make such comparisons) is not at all saying that specific policies of Israel are the equivalent to those of the Nazis, or saying that Israel's actions are morally equivalent to the Nazis. The Nazis were one of the worst Governments ever to exist, and their mass extermination of 6 million Jewish people, along with millions of other people (Roma and Sinti, Black and others), one of the worst crimes in history, is thankfully never likely to ever be repeated by any other Government, on that scale. Such comparisons are only made by myself and many others, to highlight similarity (i.e. both have committed a genocide), not equivalence; ultimately the Gaza Genocide and its perpetrators are not equivalent to the holocaust or the Nazis, respectively, because it's 100,000's of deaths compared to millions of deaths, at the time of writing. Furthermore, the word compare means "a consideration or estimate of the similarities or dissimilarities between two things or people; it's not saying two things are exactly the same, thus, the act of "drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to those of the Nazis" cannot surely be considered in itself to be antisemitic, unless you do go on to say that they are equivalent. 

Secondly, this definition was adopted in 2016, before the Gaza Genocide, so while at that time it would have been wrong to compare Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, such comparisons today, in a time where even the current American Government of Donald Trump, among other Far-Right Governments in the World, are being compared to Nazis, it is all part of accepted mainstream political debate. 

While I very much emphasise with the hurt Jewish people feel hearing such comparisons, ultimately, if people are free to compare current American policy, or indeed the policy of any Far-Right governed country, to that of the Nazis, then why are people not free to compare current Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, especially that which has (allegedly) led them to commit genocide against the Palestinians? Ultimately, even the IHRA antisemitism definition says that:

"Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group."

So while Israel is committing many wrongdoings, Jews as a people are not responsible for their actions, and comparisons of Israel's actions to those of the Nazis, should not whatsoever, result in Jews as a whole being held accountable for those actions. 

4. "Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination."

My last comment to make on the IHRA definition of antisemitism is that while I fully accept that Jewish people have the right to self-determination, I also believe that the 700,000+ Palestinians who were ethnically cleansed from Israel in the 1948 Nakba, have a right of return to their homes that were stolen from them. Their homes were confiscated without any compensation; something fundamentally at odds with Internationally recognised Laws and norms regarding ownership. Even Jewish people who had their homes confiscated by Nazi Germany during the Holocaust have been able to obtain that property back, as recently as 2025, so Palestinians should be able to obtain their property back too from which they were illegally expelled more recently. Furthermore, Israel allows Jews from the world over to immediately "return" to Israel and obtain almost immediate Citizenship, despite their families not having lived in the land today known as Israel for almost 2,000 years, or longer, if at all (some Jews converted to Judaism after the Jewish people were expelled from the land which is now modern day Israel). If this was to happen in full, the children and grandchildren of those expelled, now number millions, so Jewish people's right to self-determination would have to be balanced with the Palestinians right to self-determination, resulting in an Israel where power is shared between Israelis and Palestinians, similar to how power is shared between the Republicans (i.e. Sinn Fein) and the Loyalists (DUP & others) in Northern Ireland.

Closing Comments

Overall, I have known Jewish people throughout all of my life and I have found them to be some of the kindest and most polite people I have met and of whom I have had the pleasure of knowing. I learned about the Jewish religion from the time of Primary School onwards and the "Shalom My Friend" song has lived strong in my memory, as a reminder that Judaism advocates for peace for all people, as well as Justice, as all religions at their core and in their pure moderate form do. I strongly believe that one of the keys to resolving the conflict in Israel and Palestine is to more robustly tackle antisemitism, especially in the United States, United Kingdom, France and Germany, from where, many Jews decide to leave every year to relocate to Israel, in some cases, because of the antisemitism they have experienced throughout their lives living in those countries. Should we more robustly tackle it, I believe that less Jews will feel like they are safer in Israel than they are in those countries, and thus, the continued expansion of Settlements, which is part of the illegal occupation of the West Bank, a severe impediment to the formation of a Palestinian State and for peace between Israel and Palestine, will be greatly reduced.

Further to this, I strongly believe that the Far-Right, embodied by people like Donald Trump and Elon Musk, present the greatest danger to Jewish people the world over, due to their support of extremist fascist ideology, that no matter what they say, is undeniably strongly antisemitic. Although most Israeli's advocate for closer ties with Donald Trump because he gives them what they want, I strongly believe that this is a significant mistake. Specifically, I believe that the Far-Right, the world over (as well as Hamas), wants Israel to commit a significant genocide of the Palestinian people, so ultimately, there will be less sympathy towards Jewish people for what was done to them in the holocaust, and moreover, more antisemitism towards them. They want to do this to remove potential barriers to actively discriminating against Jewish people and to encourage them, forcing if necessary, to leave Western countries for Israel, and who knows what afterwards, if most of the Worlds Jews end up in one place. They will say "The Holocaust? What about the genocide you committed against the Palestinian people?", and you'll suddenly see them turn Pro-Palestinian, to justify violence against Jewish people. One only has to look at the comments Donald Trump made during the US Election in which he said "Jews would be partly to blame if he loses (i.e. lost)" at how he sees Jewish people as a group separate from his own, which ultimately is not a good position to be in with him. 

It is for this reason, as well as the undeniably immoral ideology of the Far-Right, that I am working hard to counter their narrative, and I would very much encourage Israeli's, as well as all those who truly support Israel, to counter this narrative too. Further, while I am looking at ways to directly tackle antisemitism, I am already doing so resharing content from Jewish people who do speak up for Palestinians, overcoming the antisemitic narrative that accuses "Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or group," i.e. that Jews as a people are responsible for wrongdoing committed by Israel, as well as speaking openly about the Holocaust, reiterating it's true horror, countering some who claim it's been exaggerated or invented.