Contesting Anti-Semitism: Human Rights, Israel Bashing, and the Making of a Non-Problem

摘要

Asad identifies a number of factors contributing to the perception that certain violations are "not happening," among these: who counts as an identifiable victim or deserving of sympathy; which violations garner attention; who counts as identifiable persecutors ("acts of god" do not usually make human rights violations). Because states and their leaders are presumed perpetrators, particularly powerful states or those with a reputation for domination, it is more difficult to see vulnerable peoples, or categories of peoples presumed to be vulnerable, as potential violators of human rights.