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A New Bogus Definition of Anti-Semitism
(National Interest) Gerald M. Steinberg and Asaf Romirowsky - In 2016, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) published a working definition of anti-Semitism, formally adopted by 30 governments, based on an earlier text adopted by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia. But for some ideological activists, the Israel-related examples of anti-Semitism are unacceptable. A public relations campaign to undermine the IHRA consensus was launched under the heading of the Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism (JDA). Falsely claiming support from "leading scholars of anti-Semitism," the funding source is carefully hidden, and the website - created with anonymous ownership - is registered in Iceland. A careful reading of the JDA text and context shows that while pretending to be neutral on the legitimacy of Israel and Zionism, their primary goal is delegitimation. Its authors marginalize the core issues of anti-Semitism, stating that "the fight against it is inseparable from the overall fight against all forms of racial, ethnic, cultural, religious, and gender discrimination." Gerald M. Steinberg is emeritus professor of political studies at Bar-Ilan University and heads the Institute for NGO Research. Asaf Romirowsky is executive director of Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME), and a senior fellow at the Begin-Sadat Center for Strategic Studies at Bar-Ilan.