Thread by @RobertCohen2

Remember the outrage in 2018 when Labour’s NEC dared to think that some commentary and guidance around the #IHRA and how to conduct a disciplinary process on antisemitism might be helpful? At the time @CST_UK @BoardofDeputies etc went into meltdown. But now, silence reigns. 1/10

https://twitter.com/jvoicelabour/status/1379874638906466307

You may also recall the letter to the Guardian from 68 rabbis, miraculously all agreeing on the virtues of IHRA. Surely the first rabbinical consensus on a Jewish text in several hundred years!
2/10
theguardian.com/politics/2018/…

We shouldn’t be surprised that Labour has continued to use the 2018 code and guidance. After all, IHRA was never written or designed to be a standalone tool for discipline hearings. It was developed as a resource to aid academic study, and not considered definitive. 3/10

But from 2016 @BoardofDeputies etc decided it should be treated as the ‘gold standard’ for understanding antisemitism. Why? Because it usefully blurred antisemitism and anti-Zionism. 4/10

And, after knocking around for more than a decade, the definition had ‘helpfully’ been harnessed to an international Holocaust body to add to its political standing and ethical gravitas. 5/10

Fast forward to 2021 and there’s now no excuse for not being aware of the antagonism and divisiveness the IHRA has caused. There’s no doubt of its harm for Palestinian solidarity, but it’s pretty rubbish for Jews too 6/10

patheos.com/blogs/writingf…

Thanks to @JVoiceLabour, it’s been known for several weeks that the 2018 NEC code continues to be used as part of discipline procedures on antisemitism. Yet, there’s been no public reaction from @CST_UK or @BoardofDeputies or @antisemitism etc or indeed any of the 68 rabbis 7/10

Is this because they don’t want to create a huge confrontation with @Keir_Starmer in the way they undoubtedly did with @jeremycorbyn ? In which case, what was the real issue in 2018? Antisemitism? Anti-Zionism? Anti-Corbynism? All three? 8/10

We now have a much better definition of antisemitism....this time harnessed to Jerusalem rather than the Holocaust! The 200 Jewish academics behind the new JDA have more intellectual heft than writers of the IHRA - that’s for sure 9/10

jerusalemdeclaration.org

Sadly, I doubt @Keir_Starmer will be willing (or politically able) to trade in his existing broken definition for this much improved model. But it’s not just the IHRA that’s unfit for purpose. Our whole debate on antisemitism has become toxic. And that’s the real tragedy. 10/10