Biden urged to use IHRA in strategy
... progressive groups are asking the Biden administration to forgo including the definition in a soon-to-be-published strategy to combat antisemitism.
More than 550 American rabbis have signed a letter urging the Biden administration’s forthcoming strategy on fighting antisemitism to include the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism.
It comes as progressive groups are seeking to dissuade the administration from using the definition because they believe it stifles legitimate criticism of Israel.
“IHRA is critically important for helping to educate and protect our congregants in the face of this rising hate,” said the rabbis’ letter, which was sent to the White House last Friday via the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organisations.
“It is imperative that in its National Strategy to Combat Antisemitism, the administration formally embrace the IHRA Working Definition as the official and only definition used by the United States government and that it be used as a training and educational tool, similar to European Union countries’ use of the definition in their Action Plans,” the letter said.
Among the signatories are rabbis known to be close to President Joe Biden, including Michael Beals, a Delaware rabbi who played a prominent role campaigning for the president in 2020, and Rabbi Charlie Cytron-Walker, the rabbi who protected his congregants during a hostage crisis at a Texas synagogue last year.
Soon after his inauguration, a Biden administration official called the IHRA document an “invaluable tool” and one month later, Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the administration “enthusiastically embraces it”. The working definition has been endorsed by past administrations of both parties. It has been adopted in varying forms by a range of national and local governments, universities, professional sports teams and other bodies.
But now, according to Jewish Insider, progressive groups are asking the Biden administration to forgo including the definition in a soon-to-be-published strategy to combat antisemitism. Biden said at an event on Tuesday that the strategy would have 100 recommendations for action, and insiders say it may be published as soon as next week.
“We believe the adoption of any definition less comprehensive than the IHRA definition would be a step backwards for this administration and make our work on the ground significantly harder,” the letter from the rabbis said.
In a meeting last week with members of the press, Biden’s lead antisemitism monitor, Deborah Lipstadt, who is a member of the administration’s antisemitism task force, would not say if the IHRA definition would make it into the strategy. She said it was “effective” and helped her in her work, but added, “I’m not going to preempt what the White House is going to say or not say.”
William Daroff, the CEO of the Conference of Presidents, said, “A comprehensive report on antisemitism might not be comprehensive without defining antisemitism.
“It might undercut American efforts to combat antisemitism abroad by weakening the clear importance of the IHRA definition.”
JTA
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