Combating Antisemitism: Models and Best Practices

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If we are to mount an effective campaign against antisemitism both now and in the future, it is essential that we leave this conference with tangible methods, models, and action plans in mind to help tackle this age-old threat, which has taken on a new form with hatred of Israel and its supporters at its core.

In so doing, we need to identify the areas for immediate action and suggest both long- and short-term strategies. We have to map out the needs and prioritize our agenda. Monitoring and reporting antisemitic activity, for example, needs to be carried out at a much higher and more sophisticated level, reflecting qualitative distinctions between manifestations of antisemitism, both regionally and internationally.  Of critical importance are education and media-savvy public awareness campaigns that teach about the evils of antisemitism and make clear its current characteristics.  This is a challenge that needs to be implemented more effectively than has been the case heretofore.  Overall, successful projects that have already been initiated must be maintained and expanded, and new ones devised and implemented.

The success of efforts to contain today’s antisemitism depends in large part on the efforts of national governments, parliaments, international institutions, political/civic leaders, NGOs, and civil societies worldwide.  In the West, it is especially important to address this problem at the local level, where it most frequently plays out, with special attention given to university campuses.  As key representatives from all the above-noted fields, along with scholars of the subject, community activists, and organizational officials, it is our responsibility to present the issue at hand, come up with effective solutions, and translate them into direct action.

Workshop participants should thus be prepared to discuss some or all of the following while citing planned ideas and activities as examples of best practices:  community action; government action; and working with other allies.  The workshop itself will proceed by focusing in part on a “national” approach, greatly in reference to the British/European context, and in part on a “local” approach, greatly in reference to the North American context.