Scholars: UN Shouldn’t Be Trapped’ by Weaponized Definition of Anti-Semitism

Date: 07 November 2022 - 20:48

News ID: ۱۰۸۷۰۴

NEW YORK (Dispatches) – Almost 130 scholars of Jewish history and Holocaust Studies from around the world have issued a stark warning in a letter to the UN not to adopt the highly controversial International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism.
The world body is under immense pressure to adopt the so called “Working Definition of Anti-Semitism” which critics, including one of the main drafters of the document itself, Kenneth Stern, warned has been weaponized against critics of the apartheid regime.
“Don’t trap the United Nations in a vague and weaponized definition of anti-Semitism,” said the letter signed by 128 scholars. “As scholars specializing in anti-Semitism, Holocaust Studies, Modern Jewish History and related fields, we witness with growing concern politically motivated efforts to instrumentalize the fight against anti-Semitism at and against the United Nations.”
Explaining why they find the definition “deeply problematic”, the signatories said that it is “vague and incoherent” and that the IHRA does not satisfy the basic requirements of a good definition. “Rather than ensuring greater clarity, the IHRA definition has been generating confusion about what constitutes anti-Semitism,” they explained.
As a result, they added, the IHRA has become highly controversial and contested, even among Jews. Its weaknesses, they argued, has prompted 350 leading scholars on anti-Semitism, Holocaust Studies and related fields to endorse another more robust definition, the Al-Quds Declaration on Anti-Semitism.
The divisive and polarizing effect of the IHRA flows from eleven examples of what it calls “contemporary examples of anti-Semitism.” Seven out of the eleven examples conflate criticism of the Zionist regime with anti-Jewish racism. Experts warn that adoption of the IHRA can be used by advocates of the apartheid regime to gag Palestinians and their supporters, as well as human rights group and the UN itself from exposing the regime’s many violations of international law.
Explaining how the UN’s adoption of the IHRA may trap the world body, the letter cited one IHRA example of what might constitute anti-Semitism: “Applying double standards by requiring of [the Zionist regime] a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” This, argued the scholars, is particularly prone to political abuse at the UN, as it can easily be invoked to label as anti-Semitic any resolution that criticizes the Zionist regime.
“The Israeli regime would be emboldened and enabled to escalate its campaign against UN bodies and experts,” the signatories warned. They believe that the IHRA will be weaponized particularly against the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) as well as other world bodies such as the International Criminal Court, the Human Rights Council and the UN Commission of Inquiry.
By extension, the group stressed that human rights defenders and organizations challenging the regime’s violations would be exposed to smear campaigns based on bad-faith allegations of anti-Semitism, thus harming their freedom of expression and other fundamental rights protected and promoted by the UN.