The Guardian published an op-ed length letter by dozens of Palestinian and Arab academics, journalists and intellectuals (including PLO official Hanan Ashrawi and Guardian contributors Raja Shehadeh and Rashid Khalidi) taking aim at the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.
The letter (“Palestinian rights and the IHRA definition of antisemitism”, Nov. 29) begins with a variation of the Livingstone Formulation, by suggesting that Jews cynically and dishonesty use charges of antisemitism to silence Palestinian voices:
In recent years, the fight against antisemitism has been increasingly instrumentalised by the Israeli government and its supporters in an effort to delegitimise the Palestinian cause and silence defenders of Palestinian rights.
No examples of how Jews or Israelis “instrumentalise” antisemitism to “silence Palestinian voices” are provided.
The signatories then proceed to define for Jews what antisemitism ‘really’ is:
Antisemitism must be debunked and combated. Regardless of pretence, no expression of hatred for Jews as Jews should be tolerated anywhere in the world. Antisemitism manifests itself in sweeping generalisations and stereotypes about Jews, regarding power and money in particular, along with conspiracy theories and Holocaust denial. We regard as legitimate and necessary the fight against such attitudes.
Now, they pivot to their real concern with IHRA:
The fight against antisemitism must, however, be approached in a principled manner, lest it defeat its purpose. Through “examples” that it provides, the IHRA definition conflates Judaism with Zionism in assuming that all Jews are Zionists, and that the state of Israel in its current reality embodies the self-determination of all Jews. We profoundly disagree with this. The fight against antisemitism should not be turned into a stratagem to delegitimise the fight against the oppression of the Palestinians, the denial of their rights and the continued occupation of their land.
IHRA does define as antisemitic “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor”, which is what they appear to be alluding to when they claim IHRA “delegitmises the fight against oppression of the Palestinians”. They’re saying, in effect, that they want the right to campaign for the end of the Jewish state with moral impunity.