Adopt IHRA Now

Grassroots Campaign Vision
August 2024

Background.

In the spirit of the Stockholm Declaration that states: “With humanity still scarred by …antisemitism and xenophobia the international community shares a solemn responsibility to fight those evils” the committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial called the IHRA Plenary in Budapest 2015 to adopt the following working definition of antisemitism …

The IHRA working definition (2016) calls out antisemitism on the left – unconditionally.

No definition promoted by the left does so.

What happened in California

• October 2023: Jewish orgs send letter to CA Gov. Newsom urging adoption of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
• April 2024: Gov. Newsom issues “Golden State Strategy to Counter Antisemitism” … which says nothing at all about the IHRA definition.

Why not … ?

• Certain organizations - JCRC Bay Area, JPAC, & Jewish legislators’ caucus - did not prioritize this advocacy (for whatever reason)

• Seeing their view not fully represented, Jewish Californians saw a need to start organizing for grassroots advocacy.

• May 2024 petition has over over 4,000 signers.

Work continues but it’s also time to go beyond the Golden State.

Which brings us to other states.

The 22 states in orange and dark blue on this map* are not yet moving toward statewide adoption - but it’s time they did.**

* Based on a detailed state-by-state review but always subject to further research & updating.
** Unrelated to local efforts in cities, counties or municipalities.

This campaign calls for building a network of people and groups in these states who seek to increase public awareness and support for their states’ governors or lawmakers finally acting on skyrocketing antisemitism.

Let’s advocate for statewide adoption of the IHRA definition in all 50 states.

Why is this worthwhile?

Even if likelihood for adoption is still marginal …

More office holders, policy makers and government elites need to hear from the Jewish community and its allies.

We cannot rely entirely on the “mainstream” organizations that say they represent us but have not been effective in advancing statewide adoption of the IHRA definition in nearly half the country.

Why is it necessary?

Antisemitism has been skyrocketing for far too long. Israel’s enemies (including so-called “progressive Jewish” groups) prefer confusion over clarity about why: the Jewish state & its supporters worldwide are increasingly & obsessively vilified through slanders and lies.

Thoughts 💭

You dislike Israel and/or Jews but don’t feel compelled to say or do nothing about it.

NEVER

No one can tell you how or what to think about Jews, Israel or anything. else

Words 📰

You obsessively vilify Israel & its supporters because you want to help “free Palestine”

POSSIBLY

What matters is what you clearly intend: that Jewish supporters of Israel be ostracized or demonized.

Actions 🚫

You try to stop Jews from participating or being represented in the public sphere

DEFINITELY

You purposefully act to undermine the rights of Jewish people.

Violating civil rights … exclusion from public spaces … hate crimes … but ALSO … anything intended to normalize the isolation of Jewish communal interests.

Words . . . 📰
The IHRA definition focuses on this “middle” category.

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When speech – although “free” – amounts to defamation, it must be capable of being seen as such.

True, “criticizing” the policies or actions of Israel’s government or military is not defamatory & it is done all the time – including by those who support it.

But vilifying & ostracizing all who support Israel and claiming they have no right to defend it goes beyond criticism … It is hateful attack on the free speech rights of others.

Claiming that Israel must be treated as a pariah, because it is inherently “Nazi,” “fascist” or “racist,” & so must its supporters, is defamatory hate speech.

• Bottom line: demanding that all ((“Zionists”)) be shunned because they support Israel is antisemitism.

This is why the IHRA definition is so important.

It establishes this point clearly … which is why Israel haters constantly challenge it and seek to distort its meaning.

The IHRA definition clearly equates obsessive Israel hatred with antisemitic defamation.

When Israel haters saw the important impact the IHRA definition was having on their rhetoric of vilification and hatred, they came out with “rival” definitions to make it seem like IHRA was “controversial” because it “suppressed” their free speech.

• Jerusalem Declaration - Antisemitism is “hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish)” but all that is completely unrelated to the “political battle over Israel/Palestine.”

• Nexus Definition - purposefully designed “to insulate political anti-Zionism, even in some of its extreme forms” - yet mentioned approvingly in the Biden strategy!

Some leaders apparently prefer an “all definitions matter” (including “Islamophobia”) approach

Or, due to massive efforts to discredit the IHRA definition as “suppressing free speech” on Palestine, they hesitate endorsing it as the only definition to be used in assessing whether vilification of Israel is defamatory of the vast majority of Jews.

Academia

• 1,000s of professors now obsessively teach that it is OK to hate - not “criticize” - Israel
• Tens of 1,000s of students now see “Zionists” as the enemy of their intersectional purity to fight racism, apartheid, genocide, settler-colonialism, ethnic cleansing (etc. etc.) against Palestine

Pundits

• Activists, influencers & self-appointed experts flooding social media
• Anyone “leaning left” tends to believe antisemitism only happens on the right

Media

• Mainstream news sources claims to be even-handed but watchdog groups have repeatedly shown that since October 7, their journalists slant their reporting to be sympathetic to Israel’s attackers and suspicious of its motives and actions.

Bottom line

Other ethnic or racial groups can decide what they see as hate speech toward them. Those obsessed with vilifying Israel are now demanding that all “Zionist” be treated as outcasts.

They are waging a delegitimization campaign against all Jews who support Israel or do not stand against it.

It is not “criticism of Israel” when people say and do things which mean “every Jew who supports Israel supports apartheid and genocide.”

“Litmus test” antisemitism

…Jewish people who support Israel are NOT welcome in our spaces (progressive, intersectional, etc.) unless they renounce ((Zionism)) and disavow whatever pride they thought they felt toward Israel, as part of their group identity as Jews…

Why is grassroots work needed?

There is positive energy out there …
but also major challenges

Positive energy

• True, most mainstream Jewish non-profits strongly support the IHRA definition … but it’s only one of many things they work on.
• Some more recent groups are pumping out calls to action (e,g., #EndJewHatred) … but they lack the internal networking in states that have not adopted the IHRA definition
• U.S. is part of the new “Global Guidelines” initiative … but that relates to international advocacy, not national law.
• There is solid congressional support … but apart from a bill passed in the House on Title VI, lawmakers have yet to send a bill to the White House.

Major challenges

• Biden’s 2023 “Strategy” (May 2023) = “good definitions on both sides”
• Opponents are very active - including many “Jewish” groups
• Muddled messaging from well-meaning sources (e.g., JewBelong, #Stand Up to Jewish Hate)
• Some influential groups on the state level seem reluctant to make IHRA adoption a top priority
• National groups are not as focused on statewide battles.

The biggest challenge of all may be that too few Americans - including many Jewish Americans! - still seem unaware of how useful the IHRA definition is in identifying the biggest reason antisemitism is skyrocketing: unbridled hatred of ((Zionists)) and Israel.

What’s next?

Build alliances with like-minded groups and people to increase awareness, create urgency.

✓ Outreach through social media, web-based publishing and online programming.

✓ Increase people sharing strong calls-to-action to state lawmakers, other elected officials and government elites.

✓ Prepare, help publicize and sign petitions and published letters.

✓ Educate and discuss with groups outside the Jewish community.

✓ Bottom line, do the difficult work required for grassroots organizing.

It’s time for us to meet the moment ….

Please join the cause for statewide adoption of the IHRA definition of antisemitism in all 50 states.

Questions, comments, concerns?

Thanks for your interest.


IHRA Now Core Team
Email:        adopt-ihra-now@proton.me
Website:    www.ihranow.org
Linktree:    adoptihranow

For more information about this presentation, contact @adoptIHRAnow on X/Twitter.

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