After Pennsylvania parents contacted advocacy groups about an antisemitism definition in the state’s guide for schools that replaced the approved International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism, the Pennsylvania Department of Education has removed the guide.
In a 2023 guide on equity and inclusion in learning environments, which remained on the state’s website until Tuesday, antisemitism was described as “episodic or systematic marginalization and/or oppression of people who are Jewish based on the belief in stereotypes and myths about Jewish people, Judaism or Israel.”
“According to the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, as it relates to Israel/Palestine, not all views or actions against Israel, such as supporting justice for Palestinians or opposing Zionism as a form of nationalism, are, on the face of it, antisemitic,” the state website used to say, replacing the IHRA definition in the guide, according to Jewish advocacy group StopAntisemitism.
Steve Rosenberg, Philadelphia regional director for the North American Values Institute, told JNS that “we worked with a Pennsylvania parent to identify and document a serious problem in the Department of Education’s own guidance, brought the issue directly to state officials and then followed the lead of StopAntisemitism to elevate it nationally and create broader public accountability.”
“Within days, the glossary was removed from the state’s website,” he told JNS. “It demonstrates what can happen when strong local intelligence, credible research, strategic partnerships and public pressure are brought together to produce real results.”
Liora Rez, executive director of StopAntisemitism, which called attention to the issue on social media, told JNS that the group was “relieved the Pennsylvania Department of Education removed the DEI glossary in full, along with the problematic definition of antisemitism it contained.”
“But taking it down cannot be the end of the story,” she said. “Pennsylvania residents deserve to know who was behind this malicious move, how it was approved and why it was allowed to appear in official state education guidance in the first place.”
The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism was developed in 2021 in direct response to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of Jew-hatred.
Pennsylvania has not officially adopted the IHRA definition, but two bills are pending in the state House and Senate, and the Pennsylvania Human Relations Commission, an official state body, uses the IHRA definition in its antisemitism guidance.
