Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ANTISEMITISM 59
ing data, and supporting the implementation and enforcement of legislation
combating antisemitism. It enumerates as litmus tests the principal elements
of antisemitism in word and deed: “Anti-Semitism is a certain perception of
Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical
manifestations of anti-Semitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish
individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions
and religious facilities.” While focusing on “anti-Semitism in public life,
the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere,” it does not
neglect dealing with the way “anti-Zionism” often and almost inevitably
degenerates into antisemitism, such as, “Applying double standards by
requiring of [Israel] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic
nation,” and, among other stereotypical manifestations, targeting
Israel “as a Jewish collectivity.” In addition, the European Forum on
Antisemitism (representatives of Jewish groups and NGOs, founded in
2008) fosters FRA’s work (making the Working Definition available in 33
languages) and creating the Rapid Reaction Force to respond to antisemitic
threats and attacks on Jewish communities and individuals as quickly as
possible with legal assistance and coalition groups to combat antisemitism,
drawing upon the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists
and other organizations, and the Secure Community Trust in Britain. 48
A remarkable development under EU auspices is the creation of
“equality institutions” to enforce its equality and anti-discrimination legislation
in the member states. They are modeled on the American Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) under the 1964 Civil Rights
Act, and function independently with administrative and judicial powers.
Emulated by Britain with its Equality Opportunity Commission and a few
other countries in Europe, their scope was broadened to include racial, gender,
and other anti-discrimination provisions. One of the articles of the
Treaty of Amsterdam, which came into force in 1999, empowers the Council
of the EU to enact legislation to enforce equality and combat discrimination.
The original fifteen EU members agreed, for the most part willingly
and with practically no compulsion, and each has created its “equality institution”;
the requirement has been imposed on the twelve new EU members
(former members of the Soviet bloc), some of them resistant, as part of the
price of EU admission. While the list varies from country to country and
EU directives extend and refine it in a process of “leveling up,” almost all
EU countries provide for equal treatment and relief from discrimination
with regard to employment, religion or belief, racial or national or ethnic
origin, age, gender, and disability. In France, 18 specific categories of dis-
48. http://ec.europa.eu/justice-fundamental-rights/agency/index_en.htm; http://
www.european-forum-on-antisemitism.org.