The IHRA definition, revisited by its lead drafter
JVL Introduction
Kenneth S. Stern, lead drafter of what became the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism, has long been an outspoken critic of the uses to which it has been put.
In this new article he outlines his criticisms for the benefit of the new Department of State’s Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism, shortly to be appointed by President Biden.
In sum, he says:
- “the working definition has been primarily used (and I argue, grossly abused) to suppress and chill pro-Palestinian speech”;
- “it has not, to date, had the transformative effect on data collection and hate crime analysis hoped for”;
- “When you are asking institutions and governments to adopt a definition — to enshrine it, to consult it, to use it in codes and procedures — that’s using the definition like a law”;
And, most importantly:
- “IHRA’s zealous supporters often say that to combat antisemitism, one has to define it. In my view, that simply isn’t true. Definitions are useful for data collectors, but it’s not as if people didn’t fight antisemitism before the definition was created over 16 years ago.”
And he quotes a critic, Peter Eisenstadt, who said of Stern’s own role in all this: “If you give witch hunters a manual for the discovery of witchcraft they will find witches.”
This article was originally published by Forward on Tue 27 Jul 2021. Read the original here.
Biden’s pick for antisemitism envoy will need to answer these tough questions
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Well, the situation couldn’t be put any clearer, and from the horse’s mouth. Hopefully Deborah Lipstad will take due note. In fact I imagine she already has made more than a few notes, and it will be more than interesting to see what she actually does and says. You can always lives in hope!
Safest country in Europe for the Jewish Community thanks to people like Jeremy Corbyn and the Labour party
Vexatious claims of anti semitism are hate crimes and should be prosecuted
The evil behind the holocaust was not uniquely German because its in all of us, it could have happened in any other country, we know this to be true when we look at Ireland and the British Empire
We know it’s true when we look at Israel, its there for all to see
I was taught never again and I’m not from the Jewish Community but my relatives were at Cable Street
In those days good people were really all in it together and the only chance you had was to look out for each other
Men and Women, Young and Old, poor and destitute, British and The Rest of the World
We seem to have lost a lot since then
What say you
Deborah Lipstadt has in fact already criticised the IHRA as not targeting far-Right anti-Semitism.
I know that Kenneth Stern is a hero to many people for his latter day conversion to the idea that the IHRA has been used to stifle pro-Palestinian and anti-Zionist speech, however I think we need to ask of him serious questions.
How for example does the illustration that comparing Israel to the Nazis have anything to do with anti-Semitism? That is so clearly about political speech that it barely needs mentioning.
How has ‘double standards’ ie criticising Israel but no other country have anything to do with antisemitism? Again that is political speech.
The sad fact, which Stern does not recognise is that he fashioned a weapon for others to use in ways he doesn’t approve. At best he can be accused of naivety at worst disingenuousness.
Stern says that ‘the working definition provides clear language designed to help law enforcement and others’. Really? David Feldman was right when he said that the WDA/IHRA was ‘bewilderingly imprecise’.
Stern also says that ‘the focus should not be on the actor’s motive (generating debates on if he really hates Jews), but rather on his intent to select a victim of a criminal act specifically because they were Jewish (or connected to a Jew).’
I don’t see how you can separate motive from intent. They amount to the same. A simple example. I am robbed in the street. If I’m robbed because I’m a Jew and you believe all Jews are rich that is clearly anti-Semitic because my assailant intended to attack a Jew and his motive was to attack someone who was rich, which in his eyes a Jew always is.
But if I was robbed because I looked well off and my attacker knew nothing of my being Jewish that is not an anti-Semitic attack. That is why motive is extremely important.
The reason why Jews are attacked because of what Israel does is simple. Israel calls itself a Jewish state, the Board of Deputies et al claim to support what Israel does in the name of Jews and unfortunately some people believe them.
I really do believe Stern’s rationalisation should be challenged. His criticisms of how the IHRA is being used is obviously welcome but his reasoning is still faulty
avoid trying to psychoanalyze the perpetrator of every alleged antisemitic incident. This was particularly important for hate crimes, as the focus should not be on the actor’s motive (generating debates on if he really hates Jews), but rather on his intent to select a victim of a criminal act specifically because they were Jewish (or connected to a Jew).
“One can oppose Zionism for political or theological reasons that have nothing to do with hatred toward Jews or belief in Jewish conspiracy.” This one sentence, so simple, so true, brings crashing down most of the accusations of anti-semitism thrown at members of the LP including the accusation thrown at me. (Threatened with suspension more than two years ago, dutifully filled in their stupid questionnaire, never heard anything, not even confirmations of my requests for clarification).
This is a small step forward, but if you say the IHRA definition is useful for data collection, you need to explain why and how. He does not explain how such data will not be tainted by the biases and ambiguities in the definition and does not refer to the multiple examples where such manipulations are plain for all to see. He does not give examples of “honest” or “unbiased” use of the IHRA definition for data collection.
How is keeping the IHRA definition going to stop witch hunters “finding witches”? I think the next step for Kenneth Stern is to join the campaign for it to be abandoned by all the various institutions that have adopted it, and especially the IHRA itself. There is plenty of data collection on racism taking place in various countries without the deployment of elaborate (and therefore most likely flawed) “definitions”.
In the UK, the Higher Education (Freedom of Speech) Bill (a title that George Orwell would surely have shrunk from), currently going through parliament, would forbid HE institutions and student unions from denying the use of any of their premises to any group or individual on the basis of their policy, beliefs or views. Thus, a university or student union could be forced to rent a meeting space to a holocaust denier or a promoter of the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion”, but forbidden, under an abuse of the IHRA definition that UK universities are all-but compelled to adopt, to rent a space to a human rights group to discuss illegal Israeli settlements in occupied territories, for example.
This is certainly helpful from Kenneth Stern, but it still leaves me mystified.
He says: “The definition notes that antisemitism is, at heart, a conspiracy theory claiming Jews conspire to harm non-Jews, thus providing an ‘explanation’ for what goes wrong in the world.” In fact, that point is not made in either the definition or the 11 “illustrations” but is casually included in the rubric that introduces the latter — and the wording there (as throughout the whole definition-plus-illustrations) is notably less clear:
“Antisemitism frequently charges Jews with conspiring to harm humanity, and it is often used to blame Jews for ‘why things go wrong’.”
What does that mean, “antisemitism [is] used to blame Jews”?
I have honestly tried hard to make sense of the definition itself, which seems to me almost perversely unclear — a deliberate “indefinition”. The only specific thing it says is that AS is a “perception” of Jews — so, not an attitude towards them? The definition promises exactness (“a certain perception”) but delivers anything but. And, inexplicably, in all its profusion of words it nowhere finds space to make the crucial point that AS targets Jews *as Jews*.
Stern is clearly very articulate and well-intentioned. That only makes the IHRA “indefinition” all the more puzzling.
Yes, exactly Philip, and one has to ask WHY he doesn’t (explain how such data will not be tainted etc). Doesn’t make sense to me. One thing’s for sure though, that only a relatively small number of people get to hear about Stern’s criticisms of the definition and the examples anyway, and they are mainly on the left of course. And the target of its misuse!
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Anyway, JVL posted the following back in April, which is well worth reading if you haven’t done so before (and worth reading again even if you HAVE!)
IHRA ‘misrepresents’ own definition of anti-Semitism, says report
New report obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera details how the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance misinformed the public over its anti-Semitism definition.
https://jewishvoiceforliberation.org.uk/article/ihra-misrepresents-own-definition-of-anti-semitism-says-report/
Stern has spent too long trying to justify the IHRA ‘definition’ in the context he says it was aimed at but that doesn’t stand up. It was shoddy work that should never have seen the light of day and he should tear it up and disown it.
I agree with the majority of comments about this article which is totally incoherent, disingenuous and dishonest. It,s time for the author to repent and disown the colonial IHRA definition of antisemitism. He needs to come clean and admit that calling Israel a”racist endeavour”is a legitimate political point of view even if he disagrees with it. The same goes for the argument that Israel is guilty of apartheid to deliver a settler colonial project.
All this talk about using the IHRA definition to facilitate data collection on antisemitism is humbug. The data collected using this definition indicates an increase in anti Israeli sentiment as opposed to antisemitism. Given recent events of ethnic cleansing in East Jerusalem and the blitz on Gaza this is hardly surprising. Events like these lead to mass demonstrations across the globe in solidarity with the Palestinians. People were outraged by the treatment of the Palestinians by the Israeli settler colonial regime. They were not motivated by antisemitism. The author has nothing to say on the JDA or recent charges of apartheid levelled against Israel by human rights organisations. I can only assume he will carry on with the pretence that the only problem with the IHRA definition is how it is interpreted by the Israeli lobby.
The author claims it is not necessary to define antisemitism to fight it. What a hopeless statement! Misdefining antisemitism will certainly not help anyone to fight it. Surely the author of this article understands that redefining antisemitism to include opposition to Israeli settler colonialism is the real source of the problem with the IHRA definition. The majority of anti semites actually support the state of Israel and would welcome a mass exodus of Jews from their countries to Israel. Like the Zionists they believe the nation state of Israel is the homeland of Jews. So you are not really Jewish if you live outside Israel and its OK to treat the Jewish diaspora as foreigners.
I have never understood and still do not understand how Stern drafted such a dopey incoherent document, much less one that so obviously got antisemitism and anti-zionism twisted up together. Nevertheless, I really don’t see him as ‘the enemy’. Irrespective of what you think of the IHRA document as a tool for data collection (not a lot), or for anything else (equally, not much), Stern’s objection to it being used effectively to outlaw discussion on Israel, and to put supporters of Palestine beyond the pale of acceptable debate and opinion, has been genuine and unwavering. He is a thorough-going defender of the First Amendment, and is clearly appalled to see his work, no matter how dire we think it is, be used for a purpose for which it was never intended – to shut down free speech on Israel. To that extent, he is a very important (and very persistent and unrelenting) ally.