The International De-legitimization Campaign Against Israel Analysis and Counter-Strategy

Key Findings:

This paper offers the Government of Israel and major Diaspora Jewish organizations key policy guidelines for developing a coherent counter-strategy to counter the international campaign to de-legitimize the State of Israel. The JPPI view is that de-legitimization should be regarded as a long-term strategic threat to be countered with a structured framework. 

De-legitimization is the deliberate act of denying the legitimacy of the State of Israel as the nation-state of the Jewish people. It is an international campaign, stemming from the realm of perceptions around both Jews and the ongoing Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It continuously develops practical means to damage Israel and a key element of Diaspora Jewish identity.

It is propagated in numerous circles in the West, presented as “moral,” advanced by elements of civil society (including the UN), spread on the internet (especially on social media), and has trickled into mainstream public discourse. Muslims/political Islam, Palestinians and Western far-left activists comprise its primary engine. The end goal is to turn Israel into a pariah (like apartheid South Africa), and isolate it from the world until it collapses. 

As part of the battle against de-legitimization, it is necessary for Israel to draw a line between criticism and de-legitimization and directly attack perpetrators of de-legitimization. These joint actions will exert a separating force between delegitimization efforts and Israel’s image. Extension of the definition of de-legitimization to "any criticism of Israel or support for punitive measures against it” should be avoided. Several thorny questions are raised:

Should rejection of Jewish nation-statehood for authentic ideological or religious reasons (e.g, Haredim who reject any national-secular definition) be considered de-legitimization? Should Left-wing advocacy for a bi/multi-national state in the historical land of Israel, whilst denying the Jewish people a distinct nation-state, be considered de-legitimization? Is it right to lump these two categories together? JPPI concludes that both constitute de-legitimization, yet the way each should be regarded requires different approaches, especially for preservation of Israel’s democratic fabric. Moreover, lumping misguided critics together with malicious deniers of Israel’s right to exist impedes the focus required for adjusting policies.

JPPI’s proposed indicators and tools to classify anti-Israel expressions or acts suspected of de-legitimization, and examine them according to their point of origin, intent, and context: 

1. Essentialization: where criticism of Israel is not confined to a particular policy or behavior, but descends, explicitly or implicitly, to the essence of the state, e.g. UNGA Resolution 3379
2. Conceptual language: use of specific language developed to contain assumptions and implied meanings, and adopted for routine use by the wide public, e.g. “apartheid state” (a clear attempt to paint Israel as a second South Africa); “Nazi state” (a comparison of Israel to Nazism); a “racist, settler-colonial” state that commits “genocide” and “ethnic cleansing”
3. A record of clear statements or acts of de-legitimization 
4. Use of double standard 
5. Use of “Lawfare:” the intent to portray Israel as a criminal state that must, like all criminals, be punished to the fullest extent of the law; constant and unrelenting (systematic) legal attacks on Israelis and Israel’s right to defend itself against national security threats

JPPI finds a drift dynamic from criticism to de-legitimization in the “gray area” between the two, which is entirely unconfined to radical fringes. Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky suggests that anti-Zionism becomes antisemitism when it includes any of the “three Ds”: De-legitimization; Demonization; and Double Standard. The inherent overlap of de-legitimization and antisemitism has found some recognition in the international community. 

Although the international de-legitimization campaign has not succeeded in creating a strategic impact on Israel and the Jewish people, it has poisoned the atmosphere around Israel in certain parts of the West and beyond, and could do further damage.