As members of Jewish Voice for Peace-Madison, we feel it incumbent upon us to offer our view of the legislation that would codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism.
The IHRA definition of antisemitism was developed as a tool for research, not for legislation. The IHRA document gives 11 illustrative examples of antisemitism, seven of which involve criticism of Israel. Criticizing a country does not equate with hatred of a people, though AB 446 and SB 445 imply that it does.
Many in the Jewish community criticize Israeli government policies and support Palestinian rights. Human rights organizations and Holocaust researchers have concluded that the Israeli government is committing the crime of genocide against the people of Gaza as defined by the United Nations Geneva Convention of 1948. Hundreds of scholars around the world have raised alarms about the IHRA definition, and over 40 civil and human rights groups—including many in the US— have warned that it has been misused to suppress the Palestinian liberation movement and Palestine solidarity. Kenneth Stern, the author of IHRA, does not support codifying it into law. In addition, the ACLU has opposed codifying the IHRA, citing serious threats to free speech.
Freedom of speech and inquiry are core constitutional rights, and are essential for our educational institutions and communities. Colleges, universities and governments function best with an open atmosphere of inquiry, expression of ideas, and debate. If the IHRA were codified into law, it would threaten the vital learning environment in our schools and college campuses, and create an atmosphere of fear in our communities.
Conflating criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism impedes our fight against actual antisemitism. To conflate the entire multicultural, multiracial, and multiethnic population of world Jewry with a singular genocidal apartheid state is dangerous, and mistakenly portrays Jews as a monolithic entity. Jewish tradition has not just survived, but thrived due to our capacity to debate, dissent, and diverge from one another. Antisemitism bills that aim to silence critique and open debate are antithetical to our Jewish tradition.
Just as we condemn all acts of antisemitism, so do we condemn Islamophobia, racism, ableism, queerphobia, transphobia, and all other forms of discrimination. We are advocates of Indigenous sovereignty and we believe in the rights of all people to move freely across borders. Jewish Americans who are multiply marginalized are facing immediate threats of state-sanctioned violence on many other fronts, we do not need enhanced protections for antisemitism. It is our obligation to protect the most vulnerable among us and we will not be divided.
We urge Wisconsinites to contact Governor Evers and urge him to veto the IHRA definition of antisemitism into law.
Madison Jewish Voice for Peace
Judith Utevsky
Mazel Ginsberg
Esty Dinur
Susan Nossal
Marc Rosenthal
Seth Johnson
Samantha Bosco
Samuel Landes
Deborah McCants
Sharon Lezberg
Jamie Goldin
Tsela Barr
