The Working Definition of Antisemitism — A 2018 Perception

Abstract

The Working Definition of Antisemitism1 (hereafter WDA) has become recently, during the last four years, a much discussed and debated topic, more than in former years, in national as well as international fora, due to the rise in antisemitic manifestations worldwide. Antisemitism is nowadays recognized as a problem that challenges governmental agencies as well as NGOs, and the WDA is recognized as one of the means to struggle against it. Therefore, let us first take a look at the WDA as a text, and try to pinpoint its characteristics and their relevance to the present debates; a history of the WDA and its evolvement will follow, and finally—a reference to its status and role, as seen in 2018.