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In addition, the Administration welcomes and appreciates the Nexus Document and notes other such efforts.” “The most prominent is the non-legally binding ‘working definition’ of antisemitism adopted in 2016 by the 31-member states of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), which the United States has embraced. “There are several definitions of antisemitism, which serve as valuable tools to raise awareness and increase understanding of antisemitism,” the Biden administration’s strategy statement read. It also paid a nod to the Nexus Document, drafted by a task force formerly at the University of Southern California, which states even “harsh criticism of Israel for its policies and actions” is not necessarily anti-Semitic. It said the US “embraced” the IHRA document but acknowledged that there are other definitions of anti-Semitism. On Thursday, the White House tip-toed around the issue.

But critics have argued that this limitation has been used by Israel’s defenders to censor discussions about the mass displacement of Palestinians during the country’s establishment in 1948.Īs a result, progressives - including some US Jewish organisations - urged the Biden administration not to adopt the IHRA definition in its plan to address anti-Semitism. In one of its examples, the IHRA definition denounced claims “that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”. While the IHRA document stated that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic”, Palestinian rights advocates said its definition has been used to stifle legitimate debate about Israeli human rights abuses. Six of them mentioned Israel, including “applying double standards” to Israeli government policies. The IRHA’s definition provided 11 examples of anti-Semitism. Pro-Israel Jewish groups had urged the IHRA definition, which heavily focuses on Israel. In its plan, the Biden administration did not adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism as its sole framework for understanding anti-Jewish hate - effectively skirting a demand by some pro-Israel groups.ĭefining anti-Semitism proved controversial for the White House even before the plan was released. It cited FBI statistics saying that anti-Semitism drove 63 percent of reported religiously motivated hate crimes, although Jewish Americans account for 2.4 percent of the population. The plan called for improving education around anti-Semitism strengthening safety and security for Jewish communities reversing the “normalisation” of anti-Semitic discrimination by celebrities and politicians and building “cross-community solidarity” to counter bigotry. “In the past several years, hate’s been given too much oxygen, surely in the record rise in anti-Semitism. President Joe Biden presented the strategy on Thursday, calling on all people to push back against anti-Semitism.

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Washington, DC – The White House has released a plan to combat the rise of anti-Semitism amid a continuing debate about how to define anti-Jewish hatred, especially as it relates to Israel.

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