3 novembre 2022 – Euobserver
In qualità di studiosi specializzati in antisemitismo, studi sull’olocausto, storia ebraica moderna e campi correlati, assistiamo con crescente preoccupazione a sforzi motivati politicamente per strumentalizzare la lotta contro l’antisemitismo all’interno e contro le Nazioni Unite.
L’ambasciatore israeliano alle Nazioni Unite Gilad Erdan ha guidato questi sforzi. Nei suoi persistenti tentativi di indebolire i palestinesi e di proteggere il governo israeliano dalle critiche internazionali Erdan è arrivato al punto di denunciare l’agenzia delle Nazioni Unite per i rifugiati palestinesi (UNRWA) e la Corte penale internazionale (ICC) come “antisemite”.
Al di là di tale diffamazione, il Sig. Erdan ora cerca di cambiare radicalmente le regole del gioco spingendo l’ONU ad adottare la “Definizione operativa di antisemitismo” dell’International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA WDA).
Troviamo questa definizione profondamente problematica. Vaga e incoerente, l’IHRA WDA non soddisfa i requisiti di base di una buona definizione.
Piuttosto che garantire una maggiore chiarezza, l’IHRA WDA ha generato confusione su ciò che costituisce antisemitismo.
Di conseguenza, l’IHRA WDA è diventata molto controversa e contestata, anche tra gli ebrei. Le sue debolezze hanno spinto 350 eminenti studiosi di antisemitismo, studi sull’Olocausto e campi correlati ad approvare un’altra definizione più solida, la Dichiarazione di Gerusalemme sull’antisemitismo.
L’effetto divisivo e polarizzante dell’IHRA WDA deriva da undici “esempi contemporanei di antisemitismo” ad essa allegati, sette dei quali riguardano Israele. Ampie prove mostrano che questi esempi vengono utilizzati come armi per screditare e mettere a tacere come antisemitismo le legittime critiche alle politiche di Israele.
Tra coloro che denunciano tale uso improprio c’è Kenneth Stern, l’autore principale dell’IHRA WDA. Più recentemente, Antony Lerman, ex capo dell’Institute of Jewish Affairs del World Jewish Congress, ha aspramente criticato l’IHRA WDA per diversi difetti, inclusa la sua attenzione nei riguardi del cosiddetto “nuovo antisemitismo” legato a Israele, a scapito dell’attenzione verso forme virulente di antisemitismo ora in aumento.
Uno degli esempi dell’IHRA WDA dice: “Applicare doppi standard richiedendo a [Israele] un comportamento non previsto o richiesto da parte di nessun’altra nazione democratica”. Questo esempio è particolarmente soggetto ad abusi politici in seno alle Nazioni Unite, poiché può essere facilmente invocato per etichettare come antisemita qualsiasi risoluzione delle Nazioni Unite che critichi Israele.
Cerchiamo di essere chiari: accogliamo con tutto il cuore l’impegno delle Nazioni Unite a combattere l’antisemitismo e lodiamo l’ONU per i suoi fondamentali sforzi in questa direzione. Ciò a cui ci opponiamo e contro cui mettiamo fortemente in guardia è che le Nazioni Unite possano mettere a repentaglio questa lotta essenziale e danneggiare la propria missione universale di promuovere i diritti umani approvando una definizione che costituisce uno strumento politico per scoraggiare la libertà di parola e per proteggere il governo israeliano dalla responsabilità delle sue azioni.
Sappiamo che l’IHRA WDA è stata adottata da più governi, principalmente in Europa e negli Stati Uniti. Questo è di per sé problematico. Tuttavia, se le Nazioni Unite approvassero l’IHRA WDA, il danno sarebbe esponenzialmente maggiore.
Il governo israeliano sarebbe incoraggiato e abilitato a intensificare la sua campagna contro gli organismi e gli esperti delle Nazioni Unite, usando come un’arma e sfruttando l’IHRA WDA come standard delle Nazioni Unite per “stabilire” che l’UNRWA, la CPI, il Consiglio per i diritti umani e organismi come la Commissione d’inchiesta sono antisemiti.
Inoltre i difensori dei diritti umani e le organizzazioni che contestano le violazioni israeliane sarebbero completamente esposti a campagne diffamatorie basate su accuse in malafede di antisemitismo, danneggiando la loro libertà di espressione e altri diritti fondamentali protetti e promossi dalle Nazioni Unite.
La missione e il mandato delle Nazioni Unite si basano su un serio dibattito sulle preoccupazioni relative ai diritti umani. L’adozione dell’IHRA WDA trasformerebbe qualsiasi discussione fattuale sulle violazioni e responsabilità israeliane in un aspro dibattito sulla presunzione di antisemitismo
Ciò potrebbe anche indebolire la capacità delle Nazioni Unite di agire come mediatore neutrale in Israele e Palestina. Le debolezze e la strumentalizzazione dell’IHRA WDA hanno implicazioni dirette per la capacità delle Nazioni Unite di combattere l’antisemitismo e tutte le altre forme di razzismo su basi universali. L’alto rappresentante delle Nazioni Unite Miguel Moratinos è stato incaricato dalle Nazioni Unite di sviluppare una “risposta rafforzata a livello di sistema [all’antisemitismo] basata su un approccio ai diritti umani”.
Oltre a contraddire un approccio basato sui diritti umani [universali, ndt], l’IHRA WDA inevitabilmente politicizzerebbe quella risposta e quindi comprometterebbe la capacità delle Nazioni Unite di combattere efficacemente l’antisemitismo.
Invece di identificarsi formalmente con una definizione vaga e divisiva che è stata distorta per proteggere il governo israeliano, l’ONU dovrebbe rafforzare la sua lotta contro l’antisemitismo basandosi sui suoi principi universali sui diritti umani, in conformità con la sua Carta.
Nella ricerca di un orientamento l’ONU dovrebbe essere libera diconsultare una varietà di risorse, inclusa la Dichiarazione di Gerusalemme sull’antisemitismo. Diamo il benvenuto al recente rapporto del Prof. E. Tendayi Achiume, relatore speciale delle Nazioni Unite sulle forme contemporanee di razzismo, in cui “mette in guardia contro la dipendenza dall’IHRA WDA come strumento guida per e presso l’ONU e le sue entità costituenti” e invita “gli Stati membri delle Nazioni Unite e i suoi funzionari [a] rifiutare fermamente e agire in modo responsabile per porre fine alla strumentalizzazione politica della lotta contro l’antisemitismo”.
Esortiamo gli Stati membri delle Nazioni Unite e i suoi funzionari ad agire in base all’avvertimento del Relatore speciale Achiume e a invitare e tenersi pronti a sostenere le Nazioni Unite nei loro passi avanti.
Elenco delle firme [Data la non perfetta corrispondenza tra i titoli accademici italiani e quelli anglosassoni si è preferito lasciare l’elenco in originale, ndt]
Meir Amor, Dr., Department of Sociology and Anthropology (retired), Concordia University, Montreal
Ofer Ashkenazi, Professor, Director The Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Aleida Assmann, Professor of English Literature and Cultural Theory, Konstanz University
Jan Assmann, Professor, Egyptologist and Religious Studies, University of Heidelberg
Leora Auslander, Arthur and Joann Rasmussen Professor of Western Civilization in the College and
Professor of European Social History, Department of History, University of Chicago
Angelika Bammer, Professor of Comparative Literature, Affiliate Faculty of Jewish Studies, Emory
University
Omer Bartov, Samuel Pisar Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Department of History,
Faculty Fellow, Watson Institute for International & Public Affairs, Brown University
Moshe Behar, Dr., Arabic & Middle Eastern Studies, School of Arts, Languages & Cultures, The
University of Manchester
Peter Beinart, Professor of Journalism and Political Science, The City University of New York (CUNY);
Editor at large, Jewish Currents
Joel Beinin, Donald J. McLachlan Professor of History and Professor of Middle East History, Emeritus,
Stanford University
Elissa Bemporad, Jerry and William Ungar Chair in East European Jewish History and the Holocaust;
Professor of History, Queens College and The City University of New York (CUNY)
Doris Bergen, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor of Holocaust Studies, Department of History
and Anne Tanenbaum Centre for Jewish Studies, University of Toronto
Werner Bergmann, Professor Emeritus Dr., Sociologist, Center for Research on Antisemitism,
Technische Universität Berlin
Michael Berkowitz, Professor of Modern Jewish History, Department of Hebrew & Jewish Studies,
University College London
Lila Corwin Berman, Murray Friedman Chair of American Jewish History, Temple University
David Biale, Emanuel Ringelblum Distinguished Professor Emeritus, UC Davis
Frank Biess, Professor of Modern European History, University of California-San Diego
Daniel Blatman , Professor Emeritus, Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, The
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Donald Bloxham, Richard Pares Professor of History, University of Edinburgh
Daniel Boyarin, Taubman Professor of Talmudic Culture Emeritus, UC Berkeley
Micha Brumlik, Professor Dr., fmr. Director of Fritz Bauer Institut-Geschichte und Wirkung des
Holocaust, Frankfurt am Main
Jose Brunner, Professor Emeritus, Buchmann Faculty of Law and Cohn Institute for the History and
Philosophy of Science, Tel Aviv University
Bryan Cheyette, Professor and Chair in Modern Literature and Culture, University of Reading
Geoffrey Claussen, Associate Professor of Religious Studies, Lori and Eric Sklut Scholar in Jewish
Studies and Chair of the Department of Religious Studies, Elon University
Stephen Clingman, Distinguished University Professor, Department of English, University of
Massachusetts, Amherst
Raya Cohen, Dr., fmr. lecturer Department of Jewish History, Tel Aviv University and Department of
Sociology, University of Naples Federico II
Alon Confino, Pen Tishkach Chair of Holocaust Studies, Professor of History and Jewish Studies,
Director Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, University of Massachusetts,
Amherst
Sebastian Conrad, Professor of Global and Postcolonial History, Freie Universität Berlin
Frank Dabba Smith, Rabbi Dr., Leo Baeck College
Sidra DeKoven Ezrahi, Professor Emerita of Comparative Literature, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
Hasia R. Diner, Professor Emerita, New York University
Monique Eckmann, Professor Emerita, University of Applied Sciences and Arts, Western Switzerland
(HES-SO), Geneva; fmr. member Swiss delegation to the IHRA (2004-2018)
Vincent Engel, Professor, University of Louvain, UCLouvain
Jennifer Evans, Professor, Department of History, Carleton University; Member College of New
Scholars, Royal Society of Canada
David Feldman, Professor of History, Director of the Birkbeck Institute for the Study of Antisemitism,
University of London
Anna Foa, fmr. Associate Professor, Department of History, Cultures, Religions, Sapienza University
of Rome
Ute Frevert, Director of the Max Planck Institute for Human Development, Berlin
Efrat Gal-Ed, Professor Dr., Institute of Jewish Studies, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf
Katharina Galor, Hirschfeld Senior Lecturer in Judaic Studies, Brown University
Alexandra Garbarini, Charles R. Keller Professor of History, Faculty Affiliate in Jewish Studies,
Williams College
Sander Gilman, Distinguished Professor of the Liberal Arts and Sciences Emeritus, Emory University
Shai Ginsburg, Associate Professor, Chair of the Department of Asian and Middle Eastern Studies and
Faculty Member of the Center for Jewish Studies, Duke University
Amos Goldberg, Professor, The Jonah M. Machover Chair in Holocaust Studies, Head of the Avraham
Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Harvey Goldberg, Professor Emeritus, Department of Sociology and Anthropology, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Sylvie-Anne Goldberg, Professor, Jewish Culture and History, Head of Jewish Studies at the Advanced
School of Social Sciences (EHESS), Paris
Svenja Goltermann, Professor Dr., Historisches Seminar, University of Zurich
Dorota Glowacka, Professor, Humanities, University of King’s College, Halifax
Leonard Grob, Professor Emeritus of Philosophy, Fairleigh Dickinson University
Jeffrey Grossman, Associate Professor and Chair Germanic Languages and Literatures, Member
Program in Jewish Studies, University of Virginia
Atina Grossmann, Professor of History, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, The Cooper Union,
New York
Wolf Gruner, Shapell-Guerin Chair in Jewish Studies, Professor of History and Founding Director of
the USC Dornsife Center for Advanced Genocide Research, University of Southern California
Ruth HaCohen, Artur Rubinstein Professor Emerita of Musicology, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
Aaron J. Hahn Tapper, Professor, Mae and Benjamin Swig Chair in Jewish Studies, Director of the
Swig Program in Jewish Studies and Social Justice, University of San Francisco
Anna Hajkova, Associate Professor of Modern Continental European History, Warwick University
Rachel Havrelock, Professor of English and Jewish Studies, University of Illinois, Chicago
Elizabeth Heineman, Professor of History and of Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, University
of Iowa
Deborah Hertz, Wouk Chair in Modern Jewish Studies, University of California, San Diego
Dagmar Herzog, Distinguished Professor of History and Daniel Rose Faculty Scholar Graduate Center,
The City University of New York (CUNY)
Dafna Hirsch, Dr., Department of Sociology, Political Science and Communication, The Open
University of Israel
Marianne Hirschberg, Professor, Faculty of Human Sciences, University of Kassel
Jill Jacobs, Rabbi, Executive Director, T’ruah: The Rabbinic Call for Human Rights, New York
Uffa Jensen, Professor Dr., Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technische Universität, Berlin
Jonathan Judaken, Professor, Spence L. Wilson Chair in the Humanities, Rhodes College
Irene Kacandes, The Dartmouth Professor of German Studies and Comparative Literature,
Dartmouth University
Marion Kaplan, Professor Emerita of Hebrew and Judaic Studies, New York University
Brian Klug, Hon. Fellow in Social Philosophy, Campion Hall, University of Oxford; Emeritus Fellow,
Faculty of Philosophy, University of Oxford; Hon. Fellow, Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/nonJewish Relations, University of Southampton
Thomas A. Kohut, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III Professor of History, Williams College
Alexander Korb, Dr., Associate Professor in Modern European History, Stanley Burton Centre for
Holocaust and Genocide Studies, University of Leicester
Tony Kushner, Professor, Parkes Institute for the Study of Jewish/non-Jewish Relations, University of
Southampton
Dominick LaCapra, Professor Emeritus of History, Cornell University
Ferenc Laczó, Assistant Professor in European History, Maastricht University
Ben Lapp, Associate Professor of History, Montclair State University, New Jersey
Nitzan Lebovic, Professor, Department of History, Chair of Holocaust Studies and Ethical Values,
Lehigh University
Claudia Lenz, Professor of Social Science, Chair for prevention of racism and antisemitism, MF
Norwegian School of Theology, Religion and Society, Oslo
Mark Levene, Dr., Emeritus Fellow, University of Southampton and Parkes Centre for Jewish/nonJewish Relations
Giovanni Levi, Professor Emeritus of Modern History, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Simon Levis Sullam, Associate Professor of Modern History, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice
Hanno Loewy, Director of the Jewish Museum Hohenems, Austria
Ian S. Lustick, Bess W. Heyman Chair Emeritus, Department of Political Science, University of
Pennsylvania
Sergio Luzzatto, Emiliana Pasca Noether Chair in Modern Italian History, Department of History,
University of Connecticut
Shaul Magid, Professor of Jewish Studies, Dartmouth College
Avishai Margalit, Professor Emeritus in Philosophy, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Jessica Marglin, Associate Professor of Religion, Law and History, Ruth Ziegler Early Career Chair in
Jewish Studies, University of Southern California
David Mednicoff, Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies and Public Policy and Chair
Department of Judaic and Near Eastern Studies, University of Massachusetts, Amherst
Eva Menasse, Novelist, Berlin
Paul Mendes-Flohr, Professor Emeritus of History and Religious Thought, University of Chicago;
Professor Emeritus at the Divinity School, The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Leslie Morris, Professor of German and Jewish Studies, Chair Department of German, Nordic, Slavic &
Dutch, University of Minnesota
Dirk Moses, Professor, Anne & Bernard Spitzer Chair in International Relations, The City College of
New York (CCNY)
Samuel Moyn, Henry R. Luce Professor of Jurisprudence and Professor of History, Yale University
Harriet L. Murav, Professor, Center for Advanced Study, Catherine and Bruce Bastian Professor of
Global and Transnational Studies, Department of Slavic Languages and Literatures, Comparative and
World Literature, University of Illinois
Susan Neiman, Professor Dr., Philosopher, Director of the Einstein Forum, Potsdam
Adi Ophir, Professor Emeritus, Tel Aviv University; Visiting Professor, Brown University, the Cogut
Institute for the Humanities and the Center for Middle East Studies
Atalia Omer, Professor of Religion, Conflict and Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame and
the Dunphy Visiting Professor of Religion, Violence, and Peacebuilding at Harvard Divinity School
Thomas Pegelow Kaplan, Professor of History, Louis P. Singer Endowed Chair in Jewish History,
University of Colorado Boulder
Robert Jan van Pelt, University Professor, School of Architecture, University of Waterloo
Derek Penslar, William Lee Frost Professor of Jewish History, Harvard University
Andrea Pető, Professor, Central European University (CEU), Vienna; CEU Democracy Institute,
Budapest
Alessandro Portelli, fmr. Professor of Anglo-American Literature, Sapienza University of Rome
David Ranan, Dr., Political Scientist and Writer, London/Berlin
James Renton, Professor of History, Co-Director, International Centre on Racism, Edge Hill University
Na’ama Rokem, Associate Professor, Director Joyce Z. And Jacob Greenberg Center for Jewish
Studies, University of Chicago
Mark Roseman, Distinguished Professor in History, Pat M. Glazer Chair in Jewish Studies, Indiana
University
Göran Rosenberg, Writer and Journalist, Sweden
Ishay Rosen-Zvi, Professor of Talmud and Jewish Philosophy, Department of Jewish Philosophy, Tel
Aviv University
Michael Rothberg, 1939 Society Samuel Goetz Chair in Holocaust Studies, UCLA
Raz Segal, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies and Endowed Professor in the
Study of Modern Genocide, Stockton
Joshua Shanes, Professor and Director of the Arnold Center for Israel Studies, College of Charleston
David Shulman, Professor Emeritus, Department of Asian Studies, The Hebrew University of
Jerusalem
Dmitry Shumsky, Professor, Israel Goldstein Chair in the History of Zionism and the New Yishuv,
Head of the Institute of History, Department of Jewish History and Contemporary Jewry, The Hebrew
University of Jerusalem
Tamir Sorek, Liberal Arts Professor of Middle East History and Jewish Studies, Penn State University
David Sorkin, Lucy G. Moses Professor of Modern Jewish History, Department of History, Yale
University
Stefanie Schüler-Springorum, Professor Dr., Director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism,
Technische Universität Berlin
Michael Stanislawski, Nathan J. Miller Professor of Jewish History, Department of History, Columbia
University
Michael P. Steinberg, Barnaby Conrad and Mary Critchfield Keeney Professor of History; Professor of
Music and German Studies, Brown University
Lior Sternfeld, Associate Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Penn State University
Mira Sucharov, Professor and Associate Chair, Department of Political Science, Carleton University
Kylie Thomas, Dr., Senior Researcher, NIOD Institute for War, Holocaust and Genocide Studies,
Amsterdam
Anya Topolski, Associate Professor of Ethics and Political Philosophy, Radboud University, Nijmegen
Barry Trachtenberg, Associate Professor, Rubin Presidential Chair of Jewish History, Wake Forest
University
Enzo Traverso, Susan and Barton Winokur Professor in the Humanities, Department of History,
Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Peter Ullrich, Dr. Dr., Senior Researcher, Fellow at the Center for Research on Antisemitism,
Technische Universität Berlin
Alana M. Vincent, Associate Professor, Religious Studies, Department of Historical, Philosophical and
Religious Studies, Umeå University
Anika Walke, Georgie W. Lewis Career Development Professor and Associate Professor of History,
Washington University in St. Louis
Dov Waxman, The Rosalinde and Arthur Gilbert Foundation Chair in Israel Studies, University of
California Los Angeles (UCLA)
Sebastian Wogenstein, Associate Professor of German, Hebrew and Judaic Studies, University of
Connecticut
Moshe Zimmermann, Professor Emeritus, The Richard Koebner Minerva Center for German History,
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Steven J. Zipperstein, Daniel E. Koshland Professor in Jewish Culture and History, Stanford University
Moshe Zuckermann, Professor Emeritus of History and Philosophy, Tel Aviv University
(traduzione dall’inglese di Giuseppe Ponsetti)