IHRA Definition of Antisemitism: An Important Tool to Combat Surge in Jew-Hatred

If there is anything we have learned in the last few weeks, it is that, unlike Las Vegas, what happens in Israel, doesn’t stay in Israel.

Last month’s conflict between Israel and Hamas unleashed a torrent of attacks on Jews around the world, as well as on Jewish institutions and places of business associated with Jews. A kosher pizza restaurant in the Upper East Side of Manhattan, a place where my grandchildren like to go for a snack after school, had a brick thrown through its window, as did the Jewish-owned hardware store next door. By now, many of us have seen and heard about the terrifying rampage of keffiyeh-wearing ruffians who attacked patrons in a Los Angeles sushi restaurant as they asked who among them was Jewish. Similar violent attacks on Jews are taking place not just here in America, but in Europe and around the world, as antisemites seem emboldened in their brazenness and lack of fear of repercussions for blatant attacks on Jews.

In addition to the physical attacks, social media has become a platform for amplifying and multiplying hateful, vicious invective against Jews and Israel. People who express support for Israel are bullied, intimidated and silenced—all because Israel had the chutzpah to defend itself against the 4,300 rockets hurled at it from Gaza. That Israel was acting in self-defense and chose to act in a way that sought to minimize loss of life on both sides, and that it worked with precision to destroy Hamas targets while striving to avoid civilian casualties, was irrelevant.

Synagogues throughout the country have been targets of antisemitic acts of desecration, necessitating increased security in light of the threats and vandalism.

The only way to understand the convergence of the hostility directed at Jews and the animosity toward Israel is to understand that in the mind of many, there is no distinction between the Jewish state and Jews. To prove this point, consider that when Russia attacks or invades Ukraine, there are no calls for violence or need for increased security at Russian Orthodox churches.

The sad truth and logical conclusion is that hatred of Israel and the Jewish people are one and the same. This is why as long ago as 1975, Israel’s late Foreign Minister, the brilliant Abba Eban, wrote in The New York Times, “There is no difference whatever between anti-Semitism and the denial of Israel’s statehood. Classical anti-Semitism denies the equal right of Jews as citizens within society. Anti-Zionism denies the equal rights of the Jewish people its lawful sovereignty within the community of nations. The common principle in the two cases is discrimination.”

To put it in other terms, trying to make a distinction between anti-Zionism or hatred of Israel and antisemitism is like trying to explain the difference between lox and nova. Indeed, one bleeds into the other, sometimes literally.

All of this points to the need for all nations and their leaders, all universities, all government bodies, including the UN, and all NGOs to fully and formally embrace the 500-word International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. It is the gold standard for understanding how anti-Zionism is a form of modern-day antisemitism. The surge in antisemitism over the past month in the wake of the conflict in Gaza illustrates the undeniable necessity of adopting this definition. Understanding and recognizing antisemitism, through the adoption and use of a definition, is key to combating it.

This definition has already been adopted by more than 30 countries, including the U.S., a majority of EU member states and many Muslim-majority nations; numerous universities, including Oxford, Cambridge, New York University and Florida State University; leading corporations such as Daimler AG and Volkswagen; and the international Muslim clerics’ leading organization, known as the Global Imams Council. Even the English Premier League, the most widely watched soccer division in the world, embraces and uses IHRA.

The global momentum is there, but some are still slow to act, and others remain hesitant.

Some have claimed they object to its adoption out of concern that it may curtail free speech or legitimize criticism of Israel, as if Israel is not already subjected to microscopic critique. Yet the definition clearly states that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as anti-Semitic.” The key here is legitimate criticism—the kind of criticism to which all nations are and should be subjected. There is a place for legitimate criticism of Israel, but the concerted campaign to delegitimize the rights of the Jewish people to their homeland or to defend itself is little more than a convenient way to dodge the charge of antisemitism. Applying a double standard that subjects Israel to standards not applied to other nations is an attempt to camouflage hostility toward Jews. And others just don’t see it as a priority.

There is a place for legitimate criticism of Israel, but the concerted campaign to delegitimize the rights of the Jewish people to their homeland or to defend itself is little more than a convenient way to dodge the charge of antisemitism.

At a time when antisemitism is raging from all quarters, left and right, IHRA is a powerful and necessary tool for those in positions of authority, and for all of us, to understand what constitutes “the world’s oldest hatred.”

In his famous letter to the Jewish community of Rhode Island in 1790, the first President of the United States pledged that, “the Government of the United States, which gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens in giving it on all occasions their effectual support.”

Adopting the IHRA definition of antisemitism is a fulfillment of Washington’s pledge, and it is critical to stemming the alarming resurgence of antisemitism.

Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt is rabbi of Congregation B’nai Tzedek of Potomac, Maryland and the chairman of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition.