Published: 13 January 2023
Last updated: 5 March 2024
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.
Concerns over the situation on campus prompted the formation of the Parliamentary Friends of IHRA, as part of a campaign to set a standard definition of antisemitism.
The Parliamentary Friends of IHRA said universities were not being asked to restrict academic freedom but to make it clear that antisemitism and Holocaust denial are not acceptable.
But the academics who have signed the open letter say adoption of the IHRA definition will have far-reaching implications for academic teaching, research and publications, and will interfere in student politics.
They say the use of the term antisemitism regarding Israel-Palestine issues is over-generalised and is akin to the Chinese government mobilising the local Chinese community to support its positions.
“Australia’s universities should not be relying on a partisan definition as a means of determining what is proscribed political speech. The independence of universities and their commitments to free thought and speech, research and teaching should be paramount,” the letter says.
“Universities Australia should independently develop an enhanced policy for combatting racism (including antisemitism) so that there is consistency between institutions. Given the evidence against the IHRA definition, vice-chancellors must consult about the implications of a stand-alone antisemitic speech policy for university autonomy in research, teaching and free speech.”
Campaign spokesman Associate Professor Peter Slezak, from the University of NSW, said the IHRA definition had become “risible” in the face of Israel’s “openly racist and proto-fascist government”.
“Is it antisemitic to merely argue that Israel is non-democratic when it maintains military rule or civil discrimination over half the population it controls? These matters are openly debated in Israel, but in the US, Canada and elsewhere, the IHRA definition enables pro-Israeli partisans to pursue academics and students, threatening teaching positions, research funding and free speech.”
Lead Australian signatories to the letter include Adjunct Professor Robert Richter, KC, Victoria University; Dr Larry Stillman Faculty of IT, Monash University; Martin Munz, University of Sydney (Retd); and Associate Professor Peter Slezak, UNSW.
International signatories include Professor Noam Chomsky, University of Arizona; Professor Peter Beinart, City University of New York; Professor Ian Lustick, University of Pennsylvania; and Professor Emeritus Tim Unwin, University of London.
Image: Jewish Voice for Peace
