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Four reasons why imposing the IHRA definition on universities is bad for Jews:
(It's also bad for Palestinians and for academic freedom, but I'll focus on Jews) https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism
(It's also bad for Palestinians and for academic freedom, but I'll focus on Jews) https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definitions-charters/working-definition-antisemitism
1. The core definition is poorly phrased and is very restrictive. It defines antisemitism as hatred - that is, an emotion - but does not mention discrimination, prejudice, or other forms of anti-Jewish racism which do not necessarily manifest as "hatred".
The CST website, in its page on Antisemitism definition, starts with the sentence
"Antisemitism is hatred, bigotry, prejudice or discrimination against Jews."
Three of these terms do not appear in the core IHRA definition.
https://cst.org.uk/antisemitism/definitions
"Antisemitism is hatred, bigotry, prejudice or discrimination against Jews."
Three of these terms do not appear in the core IHRA definition.
https://cst.org.uk/antisemitism/definitions
2. The definition+examples omit key forms of antisemitism, especially structural discrimination. E.g., if exam falls on Jewish holiday and students are not given alternative - not clear the IHRA could help. There is reference to discrimination in the end; it's far too weak.
3. The definition is focussed on Israel-related speech, as a result, all attention is directed to questions such as "what does it mean to say "Israel's existence is a racist endeavour". Can we say "Israeli is Apartheid state"?
As the Israel/Palestine discussion sucks all attention, commonplace forms of othering and discrimination do not get attention. The definition protects Israel, but it's not clear it protects Jews.
4. In thinking on antisemitism in the UK we should aim to disaggregate the discussion from Israel/Palestine - as much as possible. The IHRA does the opposite. Especially in university context, this approach is likely to add to polarisation.
The definition is really not very good. It was written for monitoring, not as a hate-speech code, let alone as a global definition of anti-Jewish racism. Particularly on campuses, it could end up doing more harm than good.
And let's separate this discussion from Labour factional politics. This is not about Labour, this is about universities, and this could have various real life effects on campuses.
