In May 2016, 31 member states of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) gathered in the Romanian capital Bucharest to adopt a “working definition of anti-Semitism”, reportedly upon Israel’s request. The group endorsed a definition – since then known as the IHRA definition – accompanied by 11 “contemporary examples of anti-Semitism”, seven of which relate to Israel and a few to legitimate criticism of discriminatory Israeli policies in Palestine.In the past seven years, there has been an active campaign encouraging governments and public institutions to adopt and use the definition. Instead of helping combat anti-Semitism, however, the definition has been weaponised against critics of Israel and its settler-colonial apartheid.Worse still, it has crept onto university campuses, threatening freedom of speech and thought in the United States, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. Even the lead author of the definition has warned against its use in academia.
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