The Anti-Defamation League, along with several other community organizations, sponsored a community briefing on September 25, 2011 regarding the prospects for peace in light of the unilateral Palestinian initiative to have the United Nations declare a Palestinian state.

ADL Regional Director Scott Levin was a featured speaker before the over 300 people in attendance.  In addition to explaining the reasons why the Palestinian initiative is not a path to peace, he spoke about the backlash that may come from the opposition of the United States and Israel to unilateral efforts of the Palestinians.  Levin cited numerous examples of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic statements already filling the blogosphere only days after the Palestinians submitted their request to the UN.

To best prepare for what may be a rise in anti-Semitic sentiments, Levin urged the community to better educate itself and its neighbors as to why unilateral action not only fails to be in the best interests of Israelis and Palestinians, but is also not in the best interests of the United States.  In addition, Levin reminded the audience not to overreact and to carefully differentiate between anti-Semitic statements and legitimate criticism of Israel.  As a tool to help weed out legitimate criticism from attempts to defame Jews, he provided them with Natan Sharansky’s “3D Test,” which looks at whether the Jewish state is being demonized for its action, whether there is a double standard when criticizing Israel in relation to other countries, and whether there is an attempt to delegitimize the Jewish state.