Two dozen Israeli colleges and institutes of higher education intend to adopt the globally recognized definition of antisemitism put forth by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as Israel takes over the presidency of the organization, Israeli officials said this week.
The move follows a burst of antisemitism around the world that came in the wake of last year’s Hamas infiltration and attack in southern Israel and the subsequent war in the Gaza Strip.
The non-legally binding working definition of antisemitism was adopted in 2016 by IHRA, an intergovernmental organization made up of more than 40 countries that seeks to promote Holocaust education and awareness worldwide.
The organization defines antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
More than 1,200 entities worldwide, including the U.S. State Department, have officially recognized the definition.
To date, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in Beersheva is the only Israeli university that has adopted the definition.
“In the State of Israel, where the average Israeli living in a Jewish state has not experienced antisemitism in its traditional sense, the understanding that antisemitism remains a challenge was almost nonexistent before Oct. 7,” Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism, told JNS on Sunday.
“The Oct. 7 massacre and responses to it, including silence, denial and justification of the attacks, removed many masks revealing that they are fueled by the very same antisemitism.
“This includes the U.N. Relief and Works Agency’s (UNWRA) curriculum, which indoctrinated the thousands who perpetrated war crimes and crimes against humanity, and that continues to indoctrinate Palestinian kids with ‘traditional’ antisemitism, alongside a new strain which denies Israel’s right to exist that fuels the majority of terror against Jews and Israelis around the world,” Cotler-Wunsh said.
The chairperson of the Israeli Board of Colleges, professor Yifat Bitton, who is president of Achva Academic College, told a conference in Tel Aviv last week that 24 Israeli colleges now intend to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism. Israel is due to take over the annual rotating presidency of the IHRA in March.
“Although antisemitism is widespread mainly in the Diaspora, the State of Israel will soon become the president of IHRA. Therefore, adopting the definition takes on greater significance,” Ruth Cohen Dar, the director of the Department for Combating Antisemitism at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said at the conference, which was organized by the National Union of Israeli Students, CAMERA on Campus and the World Zionist Organization and addressed the importance of Israeli academic institutions adopting the definition.
“This is not just a symbolic move,” said Raheli Baratz, director of the Department for Combating Antisemitism at the World Zionist Organization. “It is a clear declaration of intent by the academic institutions in Israel which are committed to leading the global fight against antisemitism out of an understanding of their historical responsibility.”
In the interview with JNS, Cotler-Wunsh noted that the Israeli academic decision to adopt the IHRA definition was “quite late” and “a long time in coming,” and likely stemmed from a mix of international pushback that influenced them, misguided concerns over free speech and a lack of recognition over the global problem before the Hamas terrorist attacks.
