A letter, currently with over 800 signatures, has been circulating among Jewish faculty to oppose the Antisemitism Awareness Act, in particular its codification of the use of the IHRA definition of antisemitism as a factor in determining anti-Jewish intent in Title VI cases. I wrote about the Act here, and explained that much of the opposition has been hysterical and counter-factual. If one had hoped an academic letter would be more reality-based, one would be disappointed.
The letter begins:
Criticism of the state of Israel, the Israeli government, policies of the Israeli government, or Zionist ideology is not – in and of itself – antisemitic.
We accordingly urge our political leaders to reject any effort to codify into federal law a definition of antisemitism that conflates antisemitism with criticism of the state of Israel.
This includes ongoing efforts to codify the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, which has been internationally criticized for conflating antisemitism with legitimate criticism of Israel.
