Joseph Pearlman responds thoughtfully (Why anti-Zionism is seen as antisemitism, 1 January) to my letter (29 December) about freedom of speech on Israel in universities. The excellent Yachad survey of Jewish attitudes on Israel did indeed find that 90% of respondents supported Israel’s right to exist as a Jewish state. But his conclusion that therefore “current anti-Zionism will be experienced as antisemitism” won’t stand up.
In answer to the Yachad survey question “Do you consider yourself to be a Zionist?” 31% responded “No”, with a further 10% “Not sure”. So there we have 41% of British Jews who surely do not regard anti-Zionism as antisemitic. And the trend is also against him: those saying “Yes” dropped by 13% over the previous five years.
He also asserts that the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism is not discredited, as I stated, but simply “disputed”. The document, adopted by our government in December 2016, consists of a quite vague two-sentence statement followed by a “guidance” page of examples of criticisms of Israel that could be antisemitic. It is now known that IHRA itself only adopted those two sentences, not the guidance that has been pumped out alongside it. The Labour party under Jeremy Corbyn had the good sense not to fall for this scam.
Jonathan Rosenhead
London
• Congratulations to Joseph Pearlman for the best ever explanation why anti-Zionism is the new antisemitism. Please arrange for a copy to be delivered to Jeremy Corbyn.
Ruth Lewi
Potters Bar, Hertfordshire
