Adopted by the 2020 JCPA Delegates Assembly
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In 2016, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), a consortium of (then) 31 countries—including the U.S. and Israel—developed and formally adopted the Working Definition of Antisemitism. This definition is a useful tool for combating hate and antisemitism in the U.S. and around the world.
Antisemitism and hate crimes against Jews are increasing. The shootings at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, at the Chabad of Poway in California, and at the Kosher grocery store in Jersey City, as well as the mass stabbing in Monsey have laid bare the effects of growing antisemitism in the U.S. over the past five years. The number of antisemitic incidents has risen by 61%, according the Anti-Defamation League. White supremacist activity has surged nationwide.1Since 2016, there has been an 89% increase of antisemitic incidents on college campuses.2 Of all anti-religious hate crimes reported to the FBI in 2018, almost 60% of those were directed at Jews and Jewish institutions, despite Jews making up less than 2% of the U.S. population.3 All but four states reported antisemitic incidents in 2018. A recent poll by the American Jewish Committee found that 88% of the Jews they spoke with considered antisemitism a problem in the U.S. today and 31% had avoided wearing, carrying or displaying things that might help people identify them as Jewish.4
Government and non-government agencies across the globe, including the U.S. Department of State, are using the Working Definition of Antisemitism to train police, prosecutors, and judges, and to educate and inform civil society monitors, and educators. On December 11, 2019, the President signed an Executive Order that directs the Department of Education to consider the IHRA definition and its contemporary examples—to the extent they are useful and in compliance with the First Amendment—when identifying evidence of discrimination or discriminatory intent under Title VI.5
Implementation of this Executive Order should allow for critique of Israeli policy or government, but draw the line when such expression becomes targeted, intentional, unlawful, discriminatory intimidation or harassment of Jewish students that deprives them of an equal educational opportunity. The availability of a Title VI remedy is important as a backstop, but the first obligation to respond to antisemitism on campus lies with teachers and administrators. The federal government should become involved only when a school or university fails to respond adequately in a timely manner.
The Jewish Council for Public Affairs adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) non-legally binding Working Definition of Antisemitism:
“‘Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.’
To guide IHRA in its work, the following examples may serve as illustrations:
Manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic. Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for ‘why things go wrong.’ It is expressed in speech, writing, visual forms and action, and employs sinister stereotypes and negative character traits.
Contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools, the workplace, and in the religious sphere include, but are not limited to:
JCPA believes that:
The Jewish community relations field should:
3 ucr.fbi.gov/hate-crime/2018/topic-pages/victims
4 www.ajc.org/AntisemitismSurvey2019
5 www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-combating-anti-semitism
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