Want to fight anti-Semitism? Check your anti-Semitic antecedents at the door.

By James M. Dorsey

It’s ok to be anti-Jewish as long as you support Israel. That is Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu’s bottom line.

Mr. Netanyahu is willing to risk losing European officialdom and prominent mainstream intellectuals and activists in the fight against anti-Semitism to garner the support of the global far-right, despite its anti-Jewish roots and sustained links to racism and neo-Nazism.

Mr. Netanyahu and his de facto envoy to the global far-right, Diaspora Affairs and Combating Anti-Semitism Minister Amichai Chikli, intend to broadcast that message at an international conference on combatting anti-Semitism scheduled to open in Jerusalem later this month.

In doing so, Messrs. Netanyahu and Chikli appear to be oblivious to the contradiction between the Trump administration’s adoption and abuse of their equation of criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism to crackdown on pro-Palestinian students and their embrace of far-right groups with problematic histories and beliefs.

The list of Messrs. Netanyahu and Chikli’s conference invitees and the prominence of those who withdrew their participation once they saw the speakers’ line-up tells the story.

The list reflects Mr. Netanyahu’s long-standing cuddling up to religious leaders and far-right groups and figures whose theological and ideological roots are tainted by strains of anti-Semitism and, no less objectionable, Islamophobia.

Messrs. Netanyahu and Chikli have taken their embrace of the far-right to the next level by inviting for the first time some of its most prominent representatives to an Israeli government-sponsored event.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog is the conference’s sponsor.

Even so, the far right’s attendance persuaded German anti-Semitism czar Felix Klein, former German parliamentarian Volker Beck, a campaigner for Nazi victims’ rights, and philosopher Bernard Henri-Levi to cancel their participation.

One of France’s foremost intellectuals, Mr. Henri-Levi, who is staunchly pro-Israel, was slated to be one of the conference’s keynote speakers.

“If we associate ourselves with extreme right-wing forces, we discredit our common cause; it also goes against my personal convictions and will have a negative impact on our fight against anti-Semitism within our societies,” Mr. Beck said.

Messrs. Klein and Beck opted to boycott the conference even though the organisers did not invite Germany’s far-right Alternative for Deutschland Party, which came in second in last month’s parliamentary elections.

Messrs. Netanyahu and Chikli’s invitation of the far right threatens to widen the growing wedge between Israel and significant segments of the Jewish Diaspora who are weary of Europe’s populist movements and the United States’s Trumpist Republicans.

The influential Union for Reform Judaism and the Central Conference of American Rabbis spotlighted the wedge with a letter to the US Senate expressing concern about Mr. Trump’s nomination of far-right former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee as ambassador to Israel..

“Gov. Huckabee’s views may be shaped in significant part by his deeply held evangelical faith, including what is known as ‘Christian Zionism.’ This ideology professes a love of Israel rooted in the belief that Jewish sovereignty over the biblical land of Israel will hasten the return of Jesus… As Jews and Zionists, we are gravely concerned by a teaching in which the well-being of Jews, of Israel, and of America are not ends in themselves but means to the fulfilment of Christian eschatology,” the two organisations said.

Speaking about the Republicans, Haaretz columnist Hanin Majadli warned that “the alliance between the Israeli right, the Jewish-Zionist community in the United States, and Trump not only provides ammunition for anti-Semitic notions but also preserves a dangerous illusion – the belief that a pact with the radical right is a guarantee for perpetual protection.”

In Ms. Majadli’s view, the opposite is true. “The history of political alliances with authoritarian forces teaches us that when there is no longer a strategic need for a particular minority group, that group quickly becomes a scapegoat,” Ms. Majadli said.

Ms. Majadli’s analysis calls into question Messrs. Netanyahu and Chikli’s allowing the far right to whitewash their anti-Semitic antecedents with their participation in the Jerusalem conference.

“My presence in Jerusalem for this major conference against anti-Semitism demonstrates our absolute commitment to this fight,” said Jordan Bardella, the head of France’s National Rally.

The Rally, formerly known as the National Front, was founded by Jean-Marie Le Pen, who called the Nazi gas chambers a “detail” of World War II history, and Pierre Bousquet, a former member of the French division of Germany’s Nazi Waffen-SS.

Other far-right invitees include:

• Hungarian European Parliament member Kinga Gal, whose Fidesz Party vilified Hungarian-born philanthropist George Soros in a Netanyahu-backed campaign that many Jews feared would fuel anti-Semitism;
• Visegrad 24 founder Stefan Tompson, a self-described public relations expert whose news website and X accounts publish unverified information that feeds into Israel’s narrative;
• Evangelical Christian Zionist missionary Michael Evans, a convert from Judaism suspected of using his Israeli infrastructure to convert Jews to Christianity;
• Spanish European Parliament member Hermann Tertsch, whose Vox party is home to Holocaust deniersand neo-Nazis;
• Lawmaker Charlie Weimers, whose Sweden Democrats has neo-Nazi and anti-Semitic roots and advocates banning circumcision, the import of kosher food, and restrictions on religious education that would affect Jewish schools.

Last year, the European Jewish Congress and the Council of Swedish Jewish Communities warned Israel’s foreign minister against partnering with “populist parties and movements” who believe that Israel, Jews, and the far-right have a “common enemy.”

Speaking about the Sweden Democrats, Aron Verstandig, the Swedish Council’s chairman, said, “They are very pro-Israel but very anti-Jewish.”

Mr. Verstandig asserted that the Sweden Democrats were bypassing the Swedish Jewish community to seek Israeli legitimisation.

“If they were truly interested in rehabilitating their problematic image, what would be necessary would be to come clean regarding their responsibility for anti-Semitism in Sweden, their neo-Nazi history, and change their policies,” Mr. Verstandig said.

Other eyebrow-raising conference invitees include Bosnian Serb separatist leader Milorad Dodik, who risks arrest by Bosnian prosecutors, and controversial Argentine President Javier Milei.

Beyond letting the fox into the chicken coop, the conference seems also designed to solidify far-right support for Israel’s annexationist agenda in Gaza and the West Bank.

Messrs. Herzog and Netanyahu are billed as speakers together with Giora Eiland, the lead author of a Forum of Reserve Commanders and Fighters plan that called for the ethnic cleansing and Israeli occupation of northern Gaza, and settlement leader Daniella Weiss, who is jumping to resettle Gaza.

The conference organizers will offer participants tours of the occupied West Bank to “explore the diverse aspects of life and co-existence in the region, delve into ancient biblical sites and gain a comprehensive understanding of the region’s strategic importance” and the Israeli border with Gaza.

Dr. James M. Dorsey is an Adjunct Senior Fellow at Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies, and the author of the syndicated column and podcast, The Turbulent World with James M. Dorsey.