Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism

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Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism
Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism logo.jpg
Created2020-2021
PresentedMarch 25, 2021
Commissioned by Van Leer Jerusalem Institute
PurposeGuide on antisemitism

The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA) is a document meant to outline the bounds of antisemitic speech and conduct, particularly with regard to Zionism, Israel and Palestine. Its creation was motivated by a desire to confront antisemitism and by objections to the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, which critics have said stifles legitimate criticism of the Israeli government and curbs free speech. [1] [2] The drafting of the declaration was initiated in June 2020 under the auspices of the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem by eight coordinators, most of whom were university professors. Upon its completion the declaration was signed by about 200 scholars in various fields and released in March 2021.

Contents

The declaration includes a 16-word definition of antisemitism which reads: "Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish)." [3] It also includes 15 guidelines, divided into three sections, that seek to aid in the identification of antisemitism and give examples of speech and conduct with regard to Israel and Palestine that are and are not antisemitic. [3] [4]

The declaration was positively received by a cohort of Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives, who urged the U.S. State Department to use it alongside the IHRA definition. [5] [6] In its response to the Representatives, the State Department reaffirmed its support for the IHRA definition and did not take any steps to adopt the JDA. [7] The declaration has been criticized on multiple grounds: A common refrain is that by seeking to rebut the IHRA definition, the JDA undermines consensus and sets back the fight against antisemitism. The declaration has also been criticized for sidelining the issue of antisemitism by seeking to engulf it in the fight against all other forms of racism and discrimination. Its reputability has been questioned, given that a number of its signers have been accused of antisemitism.

Creation

Purpose

According to the document's preamble, The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism was created in order to clarify the "limits of legitimate political speech and action concerning Zionism, Israel, and Palestine", and to be used by those seeking to identify and oppose antisemitism. [3] It does so through its definition of antisemitism and by providing guidelines intended to characterize distinctions between antisemitic speech and legitimate criticism of Israel. [8] Its creators intended for it to be used as an alternative or supplement to the IHRA definition. [9]

Coordinators

The Jerusalem Declaration was coordinated and authored by an eight-member group that included seven academics and a journalist/filmmaker. The group consisted of two Britons, three Germans, two Israelis and an American.

Declaration Coordinators
CoordinatorOccupationNationality
Seth Anziska Associate Professor of Jewish-Muslim Relations, University College London American
Aleida Assmann Professor, Literary Studies, Holocaust, Trauma and Memory Studies, University of Konstanz German
Alon Confino Professor of History and Jewish Studies, Director of the Institute for Holocaust, Genocide, and Memory Studies, University of Massachusetts Amherst Israeli
Emily Dische-BeckerFreelance journalist, filmmaker [10] German
David Feldman Professor, Director of the Institute for the Study of Antisemitism, Birkbeck, University of London British
Amos Goldberg Chair in Holocaust Studies, Head of the Avraham Harman Research Institute of Contemporary Jewry, Hebrew University of Jerusalem Israeli
Brian Klug Senior Research Fellow in Philosophy, St Benet's Hall, Oxford; Philosophy faculty, University of Oxford British
Stefanie Schüler-Springorum Professor, Director of the Center for Research on Antisemitism, Technische Universität Berlin German

Drafting and signing

The declaration's coordinators began drafting the document online in June 2020, [9] and the declaration was publicly released on March 25, 2021, nine months later. [11] [12] Following its completion, the declaration was signed by about 200 scholars in various fields including Jewish studies, Israel studies, Middle Eastern studies, comparative literature, and sociology. [1] [13] [3]

Name

The declaration is called the "Jerusalem Declaration" because it was created under the auspices of the Van Leer Institute in Jerusalem. [14] The group that drafted its text also intended to do so in Jerusalem but could not as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. [4]

Guidelines

The declaration's 15 guidelines are divided into three sections. Section A deals with general manifestations of antisemitism and provides examples like Holocaust denial and the Rothschild conspiracy theory. Section B gives examples of speech and conduct relating to Israel and Palestine that are inherently antisemitic according to the authors, including holding Jews collectively responsible for Israel's actions or requiring Jews to disavow Israel or Zionism. Section C gives examples of speech and conduct with regard to Israel and Palestine that are not necessarily antisemitic according to its authors, including supporting Palestinians, double standards against Israel and anti-Zionism. [14] [15] [3]

The declaration does not take explicit stances for or against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement or the one-state solution, but rules they are not antisemitic "on the face of it". [16]

Reception

US State Department

In April 2021, several Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives led by Representative Jan Schakowsky wrote a letter to the United States Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, urging him to make use of tools against antisemitism beyond the IHRA definition, including the Jerusalem Declaration and Nexus Document. Organizations including Americans for Peace Now and J Street supported the letter while the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and American Jewish Committee (AJC) opposed it. [5] [6]

Responding to the letter, Acting Assistant Secretary Naz Durakoğlu said "the Biden Administration embraces and champions the IHRA nonlegally binding working definition of anti-Semitism in its entirety, including its examples, and the Administration continues to encourage other countries as well as international bodies to do the same". The State Department did not directly address the Jerusalem Declaration in its response. [7]

Criticism

In an April 2021 opinion article in Al Jazeera , Mark Muhannad Ayyash, an associate professor at Mount Royal University criticized the Jerusalem Declaration, saying it was "an orientalist text that fails to produce true opposition to the core problem of the IHRA definition: the silencing and erasure of Palestine and Palestinians". He also said the declaration presents Palestinians as "hostile, reactionary, and emotional", and that "there is very little substantive difference between [the Jerusalem Declaration's 10th] guideline and the IHRA definition's claim that arguing that Israel is a racist endeavour constitutes antisemitism". [17]

In an April 2021 article in The National Interest , Gerald Steinberg and Asaf Romirowsky said that the Jerusalem Declaration legitimizes increasing violence against Jews and their institutions by politicizing and attempting to undermine efforts to reach a consensus on antisemitism. The authors criticized the declaration for its extensive use of "weasel words" like "on the face of it" and "in and of itself/themselves", which they said obscures the fact that arguments are often reinterpreted in different contexts and take on meaning beyond that of the words used to express them. The authors also claimed the Jerusalem Declaration "marginalizes the core issues of antisemitism" by subordinating it to the fight against all other forms of discrimination. [18]

In an April 2021 essay in Fathom Journal , Cary Nelson, former president of the American Association of University Professors, criticized the Jerusalem Declaration on the basis that it seeks to accommodate manifestations of "new antisemitism" rather than challenge them. Nelson said the declaration's preamble is dismissive of the ways that antisemitism has stood apart from other forms of racism historically and how that history has shaped Jewish identity. He also said the declaration makes generalizations about antisemitism that do not apply under many circumstances, like claiming that the hallmark of classic antisemitism is "the idea that Jews are linked to the forces of evil". Nelson also said that many amongst the signers of the declaration are "fierce and uncompromising anti-Zionists who cross a line into antisemitism", including Sergio Luzzatto, a historian at the University of Connecticut who, according to Nelson, believes the medieval blood libel was true. [19] [20]

In an April 2021 op-ed in Haaretz , David Schraub, a law professor at the Lewis & Clark Law School, criticized the Jerusalem Declaration's framing of some forms of speech and conduct as not antisemitic "in and of themselves". According to Schraub this framing has resulted in the "JDA ... being interpreted almost solely as a tool for denying things are antisemitic". He said as a result the JDA has been embraced by those whose main concern about antisemitism is that "we hear too much about it" and whose own conduct could be labeled antisemitic by the declaration. Schraub gave the examples of Richard Falk, a 9/11 truther [21] [22] and signer of the declaration, and Yvonne Ridley, who endorsed the declaration and once said "the Zionists have tentacles everywhere". [23] [24]

In an April 2021 opinion article in The Jewish Chronicle , David Hirsh, a lecturer in sociology at Goldsmiths University of London, criticized the Jerusalem Declaration on the grounds that it "does not help the fight against antisemitism", and has a blind spot for antisemitism that originates on the political left. The JDA, he wrote, is flawed because it "asks institutions to affirm that BDS ... singling out Israel as uniquely colonial or apartheid, and saying that Israel has no right to exist, are not, 'in and of themselves', antisemitic", when, according to Hirsh, those things "are at the heart of contemporary left antisemitism". [25]

In a July 2021 essay in Mosaic , Joshua Muravchik, a professor at the Institute of World Politics, criticized the Jerusalem Declaration for seeking to contextualize antisemitism within a broader fight against all other forms of discrimination because that framing ignores that Jews are often discriminated against by other minorities. He claimed that "In asserting, as a rebuke to the IHRA definition, that the struggle against anti-Semitism is inseparable from similar struggles, the JDA seems to be addressing the wrong audience; much of the anti-Semitism that plagues Jews arises from non-majority groups." [26]

Response to criticism

In Fathom articles from April and May 2021, Michael Walzer, an original signer of the Jerusalem Declaration, responded to criticisms registered against him and the declaration, and reaffirmed his support for the IHRA definition. He conceded that like the IHRA definition, the Jerusalem Declaration can be misinterpreted. He said the organizers of the declaration should have rejected the signatures of the declaration's antisemitic signatories. He also said he had signed the declaration because he "thought that JDA offered to create a little distance, nothing more, between antisemitism and the Israel/Palestine battles" which he said he knows "often overlap". With regard to calls to repeal the IHRA definition in Great Britain, he said that "rescinding IHRA or replacing it with a definition perceived as more permissive would send a very bad message to students and teachers at British universities". [27] [28]

See also

Related Research Articles

New antisemitism is the concept that a new form of antisemitism developed in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, typically manifesting itself as anti-Zionism. The concept is included in some definitions of antisemitism, such as the working definition of antisemitism and the 3D test of antisemitism. The concept dates to the early 1970s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Voice for Peace</span> American anti-Zionist advocacy group

Jewish Voice for Peace is an American Jewish anti-Zionist and left-wing advocacy organization. It is critical of Israel's occupation of the Palestinian territories, and supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) campaign against Israel.

StandWithUs (SWU) is a nonprofit right-wing pro-Israel advocacy organization founded in Los Angeles in 2001 by Roz Rothstein, Jerry Rothstein, and Esther Renzer.

David Hirsh is a Senior Lecturer in Sociology at Goldsmiths, University of London, and co-founder of Engage, a campaign against the academic boycott of Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Zionism</span> Opposition to Zionism

Anti-Zionism is opposition to Zionism. Although anti-Zionism is a heterogeneous phenomenon, all its proponents agree that the creation of the modern State of Israel, and the movement to create a sovereign Jewish state in the region of Palestine—a region partly coinciding with the biblical Land of Israel—was flawed or unjust in some way.

Antisemitism in Canada is the manifestation of hatred, hostility, harm, prejudice or discrimination against the Canadian Jewish people or Judaism as a religious, ethnic or racial group.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Anti-Defamation League</span> International Jewish organization

The Anti-Defamation League (ADL), formerly known as the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith, is a New York–based international non-governmental organization that was founded to combat antisemitism, bigotry and discrimination. ADL is also known for its pro-Israel advocacy. Its current CEO is Jonathan Greenblatt. ADL headquarters are located in Murray Hill, in the New York City borough of Manhattan. The ADL has 25 regional offices in the United States including a Government Relations Office in Washington, D.C., as well as an office in Israel and staff in Europe. In its 2019 annual information Form 990, ADL reported total revenues of $92 million, the vast majority from contributions and grants. Its total operating revenue is reported at $80.9 million.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Criticism of Israel</span> Disapproval towards the Israeli government

Criticism of Israel is a subject of journalistic and scholarly commentary and research within the scope of international relations theory, expressed in terms of political science. Israel has faced international criticism since its establishment in 1948 relating to a variety of issues, many of which are centered around human rights violations in its occupation of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.

The "three Ds" or the "3D test" of antisemitism is a set of criteria formulated in 2003 by Israeli human rights advocate and politician Natan Sharansky in order to distinguish legitimate criticism of Israel from antisemitism. The three Ds stand for delegitimization, demonization, and double standards, each of which, according to the test, indicates antisemitism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions</span> Palestinian-led movement demanding international sanctions against Israel

Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) is a nonviolent Palestinian-led movement promoting boycotts, divestments, and economic sanctions against Israel. Its objective is to pressure Israel to meet what the BDS movement describes as Israel's obligations under international law, defined as withdrawal from the occupied territories, removal of the separation barrier in the West Bank, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and "respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of Palestinian refugees to return to their homes and properties". The movement is organized and coordinated by the Palestinian BDS National Committee.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law</span> Nonprofit organization

The Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law (LDB) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by Kenneth L. Marcus in 2012 with the stated purpose of advancing the civil and human rights of the Jewish people and promoting justice for all peoples. LDB is active on American campuses, where it says it combats antisemitism and anti-Zionism.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish Voice for Labour</span> British political organisation

Jewish Voice for Labour (JVL) is a British organisation formed in 2017 for Jewish members of the Labour Party. Its aims include a commitment "to strengthen the party in its opposition to all forms of racism, including anti-Semitism ... to uphold the right of supporters of justice for Palestinians to engage in solidarity activities", and "to oppose attempts to widen the definition of antisemitism beyond its meaning of hostility towards, or discrimination against, Jews as Jews".

The working definition of antisemitism, also called the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism or IHRA definition, is a non-legally binding statement on what antisemitism is, that reads: "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." It was first published by European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC) in 2005 and then by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2016. Accompanying the working definition, but of disputed status, are 11 illustrative examples whose purpose is described as guiding the IHRA in its work, seven of which relate to criticism of Israel.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany</span>

Comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany occur frequently in the political discourse of anti-Zionism. Given the legacy of the Holocaust, the legitimacy of and intent behind these accusations are a matter of debate, particularly with regard to their potential nature as a manifestation of antisemitism. Historically, figures like British historian Arnold J. Toynbee have drawn parallels or alleged a relationship between Zionism and Nazism; British professor David Feldman suggests that these comparisons are often rhetorical tools without specific antisemitic intent. French philosopher Bernard-Henri Lévy argues that such comparisons not only lack historical and moral equivalence, but also risk inciting anti-Jewish sentiment. Historian Deborah Lipstadt has called the comparison a form of "soft-core" Holocaust denial The Working Definition of Antisemitism considers such criticismn to be a form of antisemitism." This is controversial because of concerns that it could be seen as defining legitimate criticisms of Israel as antisemitic, as it has been used to censor pro-Palestinian activism. Alternative definitions such as the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism have been proposed.

With regard to the Arab–Israeli conflict, many supporters of the State of Israel have often advocated or implemented anti-BDS laws, which effectively seek to retaliate against people and organizations engaged in boycotts of Israel-affiliated entities. Most organized boycotts of Israel have been led by Palestinians and other Arabs with support from much of the Muslim world. Since the Second Intifada in particular, these efforts have primarily been coordinated at an international level by the Palestinian-led BDS movement, which seeks to mount as much economic pressure on Israel as possible until the Israeli government allows an independent Palestinian state to be established. Anti-BDS laws are designed to make it difficult for anti-Israel people and organizations to participate in boycotts; anti-BDS legal resolutions are symbolic and non-binding parliamentary condemnations, either of boycotts of Israel or of the BDS movement itself. Generally, such condemnations accuse BDS of closeted antisemitism, charging it with pushing a double standard and lobbying for the de-legitimization of Israeli sovereignty, and are often followed by laws targeting boycotts of Israel.

Zionist antisemitism or antisemitic Zionism refers to a phenomenon in which antisemites express support for Zionism and the State of Israel. In some cases, this support may be promoted for explicitly antisemitic reasons. Historically, this type of antisemitism has been most notable among Christian Zionists, who may perpetrate religious antisemitism while being outspoken in their support for Jewish sovereignty in Israel due to their interpretation of Christian eschatology. Similarly, people who identify with the political far-right, particularly in Europe and the United States, may support the Zionist movement because they seek to expel Jews from their country and see Zionism as the least complicated method of achieving this goal and satisfying their racial antisemitism.

The Nexus Project is an American non-profit organization dedicated to combating antisemitism through education, advocacy, and policy implementation. It focuses on promoting effective government action against antisemitism while fostering unity and inclusion. It opposes the use of accusations of antisemitism as political tools to stifle criticism of Israel. The Nexus Project consists of two main components: the Nexus Leadership Project and the Nexus Task Force.

The exploitation of accusations of antisemitism, especially to counter anti-Zionism and criticism of Israel, may be described as weaponization of antisemitism, instrumentalization of antisemitism, or playing the antisemitism card. Bad-faith accusations against Israel's critics have been called a form of smear tactics. Some writers have compared them to playing the race card.

Anti-antisemitism in Germany is the German state's institutionalised opposition to antisemitism, in acknowledgement of German history and the murder of some six million Jews by the Nazi regime in the Holocaust. Anti-antisemitism has been described as "a defining marker of post-war German identity" and a commitment to supporting Israel is considered a "Staatsräson", a fundamental principle guiding the German state's actions. Following the 2015 European migrant crisis, the German federal government and most of Germany's states set up commissioners for fighting antisemitism. Controversially, the German government officially classifies the following as antisemitic: the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, the accusation that Israel is committing the crime of apartheid against Palestinians, and the depiction of Israel as a colonial or settler-colonial entity. Many of those arrested and cancelled in Germany over allegations of antisemitism have been Jews critical of Israel's policies.

References

  1. 1 2 Kampeas, Ron (March 25, 2021). "Over 200 scholars create new anti-Semitism definition that excludes backing Israel boycotts". Jewish Telegraphic Agency . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  2. ↑ Harb, Ali (March 26, 2021). "Opposing Zionism is not hate speech, new antisemitism definition asserts". Middle East Eye . Retrieved April 1, 2021.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "The Jerusalem Declaration On Antisemitism". JerusalemDeclaration.org. Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  4. 1 2 Trachtenberg, Barry (March 26, 2021). "Why I Signed the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism". Jewish Currents . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  5. 1 2 Samuels, Ben (May 4, 2021). "Jewish Establishment Groups Put Up a Fight Against New Antisemitism Definitions". Haaretz . Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  6. 1 2 Rod, Marc (April 26, 2021). "Progressive reps push alternate antisemitism definitions". Jewish Insider. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  7. 1 2 Samuels, Ben. "U.S. State Dept. doubles down on embrace of IHRA antisemitism definition". Haaretz. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  8. ↑ Lapidot, Elad (May 20, 2021). "A Critique of Anti-Antisemitism". Tablet Magazine . Retrieved May 23, 2021.
  9. 1 2 Wendenburg, Valerie (March 26, 2021). "Antisemitismus neu und klar definiert" [Anti-Semitism clearly redefined]. tachles (in German). Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  10. ↑ "Emily Dische-Becker". Palestine Cinema Days. Retrieved July 27, 2021.
  11. ↑ Habermalz, Christiane (March 26, 2021). "'Jerusalemer Erklärung' – Eine neue Definition für Antisemitismus" ["Jerusalem Declaration" – A new definition for antisemitism]. Deutschlandfunk (in German). Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  12. ↑ Bolle, Isabel (March 25, 2021). "Internationale academici willen nieuwe definitie van antisemitisme" [International academics want a new definition of antisemitism]. Trouw (in Dutch). Retrieved March 31, 2021.
  13. ↑ Peitz, Christiane (March 29, 2021). "Warum 200 Experten ein Umdenken in der Antisemitismus-Debatte fordern" [Criticism of Israel: Why 200 experts are calling for a rethink in the anti-Semitism debate]. Der Tagesspiegel (in German). Retrieved April 3, 2021.[ permanent dead link ]
  14. 1 2 Cohen, Ben (March 26, 2021). "Yet another attempt to sanitize anti-Zionism". Jewish News Syndicate . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  15. ↑ Bandler, Aaron (March 26, 2021). "Jewish Scholars Unveil New Anti-Semitism Definition Saying BDS Isn't Anti-Semitic". Jewish Journal . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  16. ↑ Rosenfield, Arno (March 25, 2021). "Leading Jewish scholars say BDS, one-state solution are not antisemitic". The Forward . Retrieved March 30, 2021.
  17. ↑ Ayyash, Mark Muhannad (April 21, 2021). "The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism is an orientalist text". Al Jazeera . Retrieved May 22, 2021.
  18. ↑ Steinberg, Gerald M.; Romirowsky, Asaf (April 4, 2021). "The Jerusalem Declaration's Bogus Definition of Anti-Semitism". The National Interest. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  19. ↑ Sanders, Gabriel (February 16, 2007). "Scholar Pulls Book Revisiting Blood Libel". The Forward. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  20. ↑ Nelson, Cary. "Accommodating the New Antisemitism: a Critique of 'The Jerusalem Declaration'". Fathom. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  21. ↑ "American Studies Association Members Defend Israel Boycott by Citing Anti-Semitic 9/11 Truther". Tablet Magazine. December 26, 2013. Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  22. ↑ "ADL calls on UN human rights chief to condemn Richard Falk for anti-Semitic cartoon". Haaretz. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  23. ↑ "Yvonne Ridley: Says Zionists should be 'hunted down'; 'loathes' Israel; supports Hamas..." Left Foot Forward: Leading the UK's progressive debate. November 15, 2012. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  24. ↑ "A new definition of antisemitism is out, and the antisemites love it". Haaretz. Retrieved July 22, 2021.
  25. ↑ Hirsch, David (April 1, 2021). "The Jerusalem Declaration defines the 'community of the good', not antisemitism". The Jewish Chronicle . Retrieved July 12, 2021.
  26. ↑ "The Emerging War over Anti-Semitism". Mosaic. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  27. ↑ Walzer, Michael. "The Jerusalem Declaration: A Response to Cary Nelson". Fathom. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
  28. ↑ Walzer, Michael. "I hope that UCL faculty and staff will defend IHRA, as I would do were I with them". Fathom. Retrieved August 5, 2021.
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