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May 28, 2023
Key Takeaways:
- President Biden launched the most ambitious and far-reaching plan to fight antisemitism in our nation's history, an action-oriented whole-of-society strategy to counter rising antisemitism in the United States.
- Biden's strategy plan wisely de-emphasizes definitions--on which the Jewish community is divided--and focuses on concrete actions to combat real threats. This strategy deserves the support of everyone concerned about antisemitism.
- The Administration's strategy articulates a reasonable definition of antisemitism. It does not codify or adopt the IHRA definition and it "welcomes and appreciates" the Nexus Document and notes that other tools exist for identifying antisemitism, an important recognition that the IHRA definition is not the sole definition.
- Ron DeSantis launched his presidential campaign with a Republican member of Congress who repeatedly opposes pro-Israel measures.
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If you're looking for more perspectives, try The Third Narrative, which weighs the claims and counter-claims in the ongoing debates on Israel-Palestine. Its website and newsletter are good resources.
Read to the end for corrections, what you may have missed last week, fun stuff, and upcoming events.
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Hi Steve,
Mark Twain said that everyone talks about the weather but no one does anything about it. The same was once true of antisemitism--until now. On Thursday, President Biden announced an unprecedented whole-of-society strategy to counter antisemitism.
Biden's National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism includes over 100 new actions his Administration will take to raise awareness of antisemitism and its threat to American democracy, protect Jewish communities, reverse the normalization of antisemitism, and build cross-community solidarity.
As Joel Rubin wrote, "as Jews, we need to appreciate the significance of this moment, as it means that the US government is elevating its efforts to protect and support the Jewish community in a comprehensive manner and at a level never seen before."
The Administration navigated the political divisions in the Jewish community by listening to the entire community rather than only those who falsely claim to represent the entire community (although they too had a seat at the table). David Schraub points out that "a rapid consensus has already emerged across a broad swath of the American Jewish community that this document is an example of true allyship from the White House."
We should defer to oppressed groups on how to define discrimination against them but there is no consensus within the Jewish community on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism (the IHRA definition). The Administration's strategy recognizes this reality and includes a definition of antisemitism that we should be able to agree with and live into.
The Administration's strategy defines "antisemitism" as "a stereotypical and negative perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred of Jews. It is prejudice, bias, hostility, discrimination, or violence against Jews for being Jews or Jewish institutions or property for being Jewish or perceived as Jewish. Antisemitism can manifest as a form of racial, religious, national origin, and/or ethnic discrimination, bias, or hatred; or, a combination thereof. However, antisemitism is not simply a form of prejudice or hate. It is also a pernicious conspiracy theory that often features myths about Jewish power and control." This definition is better than the IHRA definition.
The strategy also states that "when Jews are targeted because of their beliefs or their identity, when Israel is singled out because of anti-Jewish hatred, that is antisemitism. And that is unacceptable." Indeed, the strategy recognizes and celebrates "the deep historical, religious, cultural, and other ties many American Jews and other Americans have to Israel."
To its credit, the Administration did not adopt or codify the IHRA definition of antisemitism as part of its strategy. Its fact sheet summarizing the strategy did not mention the IHRA definition at all.
Instead, the Administration acknowledged in the actual strategy document that "there are several definitions of antisemitism, which serve as valuable tools to raise awareness and increase understanding of antisemitism. 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. In addition, the Administration welcomes and appreciates the Nexus Document and notes other such efforts."
That's it. What I quoted in the paragraph above is the sole reference to the IHRA definition in the 60-page strategy document. The only new element is the appreciation of Nexus and other efforts, sending a clear signal that we should not rely solely on the IHRA definition.
The Administration's welcome of the Nexus Document is important because the IHRA definition cannot stand on its own. As Jonathan Jacoby put it, "you can think of IHRA as the Mishnah and [the Nexus definition] as the Gemora," to which I would add the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism and T’ruah’s Very Brief Guide to Antisemitism.
Natasha Roth-Rowland writes that "the IHRA definition has become the lazy man’s weapon of choice for giving the appearance of caring about antisemitism, and by extension about Jews. But it offers nothing for beating back the wave of antisemitic conspiracy theories, canards, and sentiment that have been unleashed by the ascendant global far right over the past few years. It does not educate about the root causes of antisemitism; it does not unpack the sources and fuel of conspiracy theories or explore why, if you peel back their preposterous logic far enough, you will usually find age-old, insidious ideas about Jews at the center of them; and it does not offer any suggestion whatsoever that the safety of Jews is inherently bound up in the safety of all — a point that the White House strategy makes crystal clear throughout."
The best indication that the Administration is on the right track is that the Republican Jewish Coalition thinks it isn't. But what can we expect from an organization that twice endorsed Donald Trump for president and never condemned or criticized Trump for any of his antisemitic rhetoric? The real question is whether this represents a failure of the RJC to apply the IHRA definition to real-life situations or a failure of the IHRA definition itself. Then again, when was the last time you saw anyone cite the IHRA definition to prove that a widely-reported antisemitic remark was antisemitic?
For rational thoughts on the President's strategy to counter antisemitism, read this National Jewish Leaders Statement (which I signed) and these statements from JDCA, T'ruah, and the Progressive Israel Network.
The monomaniacal obsession of some Jewish organizations with adopting the IHRA definition makes Capt. Ahab's pursuit of Moby Dick look like a harmless diversion. Unfortunately, this obsession with the IHRA definition of antisemitism is diverting us from fighting antisemitism. Immediately after making its one reference to the IHRA definition, the Biden strategy states that "the focus of this national strategy is on actions to counter antisemitism." (Emphasis in the original.) And it never mentions the IHRA definition again.
We should focus on action rather than definitions too. Proponents of the IHRA definition have yet to provide any evidence that antisemitic speech or violence declined anywhere in the U.S. or anywhere in the world following the adoption of the IHRA definition in any jurisdiction. Instead of wasting time and resources on the IHRA definition, let's focus on actions that will make a difference. I've devoted much of today's newsletter to the IHRA definition so that you don't have to. Individuals and organizations that have devoted time and resources to pushing for the IHRA definition should now divert those resources to supporting the Administration's strategy to counter antisemitism.
Start by reading the Biden Administration's fact sheet on its strategy and reading the full strategy.
Then sign up here to receive communication and outreach to the Jewish Community from the White House Office of Public Engagement to keep current on the Administration's actions.
Who did it worse? Nikki Haley launched her 2024 presidential campaign with an invocation from John Hagee, a pastor who blamed Catholics for the Holocaust, called Hitler a "half breed Jew," predicted the Anti-Christ will be gay, and predicted the end times were beginning in 2014.
Ron DeSantis launched his 2024 presidential campaign with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who voted against funding for Israel's Iron Dome, opposed a resolution condemning BDS, voted against a bipartisan Holocaust education bill, and opposed a resolution celebrating the U.S.-Israel alliance.
Neither is a case of guilt by association or some long-ago incident or chance meeting. Both Republican candidates consciously chose to kick off their campaigns with these individuals and neither is fit to serve as president (which is not a bar to winning the GOP nomination).
Looking for more perspectives? The Third Narrative, run by Ralph Seliger, is a home for those who want to weigh the claims and counter-claims in the ongoing debates on Israel-Palestine, and to pursue peace, justice and self-determination for both Israelis and Palestinians. Check out its website and subscribe from there to its newsletter.
Corrections. I'm entitled to my own opinions but not to my own facts, so I appreciate it when readers bring errors to my attention. In last week's newsletter, I misspelled the Second Gentleman's first name. It is Douglas, not Douglass. From now on I'll just call him Doug. Thanks to the careful readers who called this to my attention.
In Case You Missed It:
Tweets of the Week. Alexi Giannoulias (via Really American) and Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.
Twitter Thread of the Week. Rep. Sean Casten (D-IL).
Video Clip of the Week. Sylvester Stallone and Muhammad Ali.
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