Thread by @theIMEU

The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (#JDA) was just released as a response to the incoherent and erroneous IHRA definition of antisemitism -- the one being weaponized to silence advocacy for Palestinian rights -- and here is our quick take on it:
jerusalemdeclaration.org

The JDA is a serious improvement over the IHRA definition. Whereas the IHRA definition is a tool used by Israeli apartheid apologists to smear Palestinian rights advocates with false charges of antisemitism, the JDA defends Palestinian rights advocacy from these smears.

As we’ve always said, describing Israel as a settler-colonial apartheid state is a basic acknowledgement of reality. We also insist that opposing Zionism and supporting boycotts of Israel are pro-justice positions. The JDA affirms that none of these is antisemitic.

By explicitly stating that the most common forms of advocacy for Palestinian rights are not antisemitic, the JDA offers a meaningful corrective for Palestinian rights advocates who are routinely targeted with false charges of antisemitism for criticizing Israel.

But the JDA is also flawed in one major way: It defines what is & isn’t antisemitic almost entirely by what can & cannot be said about Israel. No other definition of bigotry attempts to police political speech about a nation state; yet Israel is granted this bizarre exception.

Just as we don’t define anti-Muslim bigotry by what can be said about Saudi Arabia or anti-Asian racism by what can be said about North Korea, we must not define antisemitism by what can and cannot be said about Israel. The JDA reinforces this harmful exception for Israel.

In defining antisemitism by policing discourse on Palestine/Israel, the JDA (1) risks constricting legitimate debate on Palestine/Israel, and (2) ignores entirely the real source of rising antisemitism: White Supremacy and the far right.

Definitions of antisemitism that focus on policing discourse on Palestine/Israel work to undermine Palestinian agency. Palestinians & their allies reject any framework that requires their perspectives on their own oppression to pass a litmus test before being deemed acceptable.

Antisemitism is a real and rising scourge in the US and across the globe that we must confront, and it emanates from White Supremacy and the far right. By focusing on policing speech about Palestine/Israel, the JDA is distracting from this urgent fight.

In summary: JDA offers an important corrective to the assault, through the erroneous IHRA definition of antisemitism, on advocacy for Palestinian freedom from Israeli oppression by acknowledging that such advocacy is not antisemitic, but JDA’s framing remains flawed & harmful.

BDS cofounder Omar Barghouti said: "Despite its inherent flaws, particularly its sidelining of Palestinian perspectives, the JDA is a useful alternative to the fraudulent IHRA definition and its associated McCarthyite repression." He went on to add: