Academics reject antisemitism definition

A group of academics, many of them Jewish, are fighting against the push to have the IHRA definition of antisemitism adopted by Australian universities.

Late last year, the Australian Parliamentary Friends of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) wrote to Australian universities calling on them to adopt formally the IHRA definition of antisemitism.

The move was supported by the Executive Council of Australian Jewry (ECAJ), the Zionist Federation of Australia (ZFA) and Australian Union of Jewish Students (AUJS).

But Jewish academics are leading a campaign against the IHRA definition. More than 100 academics, many of them Jewish, have signed an open letter to be sent to vice chancellors and to the peak body Universities Australia next week opposing the adoption of the definition.

A group of Jewish activists, including Robyn Margo and David Zyngier, have also sent a separate letter to the vice-chancellors opposing the IHRA definition.

The controversy hinges on the degree to which criticism of Israel and Zionism can be characterised as antisemitic.

While the IHRA definition specifies that criticism of Israel similar to that levelled against any other country is not antisemitic, it gives several examples of attacks on Israel that it does define as antisemitic.

These include claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavour, applying double standards by requiring of it a behaviour not expected of any other democratic nation, and drawing comparisons between contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.

Over the past year, Jewish students have reported feeling increasingly under siege on campus as a result of attitudes to Israel. At Adelaide University, Jewish students were subject to calls for “Death to Israel” and strongly worded motions against Israel created concerns at the  University of Melbourne, University of Sydney and Australian National University, among others.