Volume 4 No 1 - Journal for the Study of Antisemitism

2012] INTERNATIONAL LAW AND ANTISEMITISM 69
action, providing governments and organizations a framework within which
to define, condemn, and deter antisemitic acts and language; the Protocol
stands as a historic milestone in that a formal document addressed to the
international community, for the first time, sets forth the criteria for distinguishing
legitimate criticism of Israel from antisemitism/anti-Zionism. The
representatives expressed great concern that the worldwide resurgence of
antisemitism continues to accelerate; they were, they said, “appalled” at the
persistent manifestations of age-old stereotypical myths: the blood libel,
poisoning of wells, conspiracies to dominate governments, the economy,
the media, and public institutions in the manner of a “new Protocols of the
Elders of Zion,” and Holocaust denial elaborated as a big lie to justify the
creation of Israel and to depict Israelis as behaving like Nazis. The meeting
noted the worsening scourge of hatred online and urged the establishment
of an international task force of Internet specialists (parliamentarians and
experts) to create criteria to identify and monitor antisemitism and other
forms of hate online, and to develop policy recommendations for governments
and international organizations to deal with the problem. Canada, the
first country to do so, committed itself to implementing the Protocol in September
2011, when its foreign affairs minister and its citizenship, immigration,
and multiculturalism minister signed it, explaining that the Protocol
“complements what Canada is already doing,” that this step was taken
because, in considerable part, “Our government has lost faith in the Durban
process . . . which . . . promoted racism rather than combat it.” 62
ICAA’s third annual meeting was scheduled to take place in 2011 in
the United States, but instead met in Brussels in June 2012.
CONCLUSION
While instances of antisemitism and other expressions of hatred worldwide
have not declined in recent years—quite the contrary—substantial
progress in condemning and outlawing antisemitism has been made since
the norm-setting precedents established in Europe in the early 1990s.
Although those forceful instruments are not binding in law, they have much
of its moral force and helped impel the UN General Assembly to reverse the
antisemitic posture it has adhered to for much of its history. Efforts to combat
antisemitism through the instrumentality of national and international
law (and conventions, resolutions, covenants, declarations) by relentless
advocacy and public monitoring of developments will persist and will con-
62. Citizenship and Immigration Canada, “Canada becomes first country to
sign the Ottawa Protocol,” news release, Ottawa, September 19, 2011,
www.cic.gc.ca; www.cpcca.ca.