European Union Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia’s, March 2004.

The purpose of this document is to provide a
practical guide for identifying incidents, collecting data, and
supporting the implementation and enforcement of legislation
dealing with anti-Semitism.

Working definition: “Antisemitism is a
certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred
toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of
antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish
individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community
institutions and religious facilities.”

In addition, such manifestations could also
target the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.
Anti-Semitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm
humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for “why things go
wrong.” It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and
action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character
traits.

Contemporary examples of anti-Semitism in
public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the
religious sphere could, taking into account the overall context,
include, but are not limited to:

• Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming
  of Jews in the name of a radical ideology or an extremist view
  of religion.

• Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or
  stereotypical allegations about Jews as such or the power of
  Jews as collective – such as, especially but not exclusively,
  the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews
  controlling the media, economy, government or other societal
  institutions.

• Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or
  imagined wrongdoing committed by a single Jewish person or
  group, or even for acts committed by non-Jews.

• Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or
  intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish people at the
  hands of National Socialist Germany and its supporters and
  accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).

• Accusing the Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of
  inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.

• Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or
  to the alleged priorities of Jews worldwide, than to the
  interests of their own nations.

Examples of the ways in which anti-Semitism
manifests itself with regard to the state of Israel taking into
account the overall context could include:

• Denying the Jewish people their right to
  self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a
  State of Israel is a racist endeavor.

• Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior
  not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.

• Using the symbols and images associated with classic
  anti-Semitism (e.g., claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood
  libel) to characterize Israel or Israelis.

• Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that
  of the Nazis.

• Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the
  state of Israel.

However, criticism of Israel similar to that
leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as
anti-Semitic.

Anti-Semitic acts are criminal when they
are so defined by law (for example, denial of the Holocaust or
distribution of anti-Semitic materials in some countries).

Criminal acts are anti-Semitic when the
targets of attacks, whether they are people or property – such
as buildings, schools, places of worship and cemeteries – are
selected because they are, or are perceived to be, Jewish or
linked to Jews.

Anti-Semitic discrimination is the
denial to Jews of opportunities or services available to others
and is illegal in many countries.