The Controversy about Old and New Definitions of Antisemitism – Internet Bibliography

For hints and recommendations on other sources: (→ Kontaktformular):

Documents & Statements

• Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (JDA)
• International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
• The Nexus Document. Understanding Antisemitism At Its Nexus With Israel And Zionism
• On the IHRA’s “Working Definition of Antisemitism”. A critical evaluation (Peter Ullrich – RLS Papers – 2019)
• US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel, ‘Weaponizing Anti-Semitism: IHRA and Ending the Palestine Exception,’
• The Politics of a Definition. How the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism Is Being Misrepresented (Jamie Stern-Weiner – 2021) (pdf)
• GUCU (Goldsmiths University and College Union) Statement on the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism (14.04.2021)
• Principles for Dismantling Antisemitism. A Progressive Jewish Response to the Jerusalem Declaration (Jewish Voice for Peace – 05.04.2021)
• Open Letter from 600+ Canadian Academics Opposing the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism
• Progressive Israel Network Groups Oppose Codification of IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, Citing Strong Potential for Misuse (Progressive Israel Network – 12.01.2021)
• Palestinian rights and the IHRA definition of antisemitism. A group of 122 Palestinian and Arab academics, journalists and intellectuals express their concerns about the IHRA definition (29.11.2020)
• In Defence of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism (pdf)
• THE POLITICS OF A DEFINITION – How the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism Is Being Misrepresented (Jamie Stern-Weiner – 21.04.2021) (pdf)
• Call by scholars on global leaders at Malmö Forum on Combating Antisemitism (11.10.2021) (pdf)
• Diskussionsforum zur Arbeitsdefinition Antisemitismus der IHRA / Discussion forum on the IHRA’s working definition of anti-Semitism (Conflict & Communication online, Vol. 21, No. 1)
• Arguing about antisemitism: why we disagree about antisemitism, and what we can do about it (Dov Waxman & David Schraub & Adam Hosein – Ethnic and Racial Studies Volume 45, 2022 – Issue 9) (pdf)
• Report: Unveiling the Chilly Climate – The Suppression of Speech on Palestine in Canada (IJV Canada)
• 128 scholars warn: ‘Don’t trap the United Nations in a vague and weaponized definition of antisemitism’ (03.11.2022) (pdf)
• Challenging the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism – Expert Views & Resources (Lara Friedman, Foundation for Middle East Peace)
• Human Rights and other Civil Society Groups Urge United Nations to Respect Human Rights in the Fight Against Antisemitism (03.04.2023)

Audio & Video

• Defining Antisemitism: between history and politics (Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, 31.05.2022 – 01.06.2022)
• Antisemitismus – definitiv!? Online-Diskussion verschiedener Antisemitismus-Definitionen (Saba-Nur Cheema & Miriam Rürup & Michael Brenner & José Brunner & Jan Feddersen) (Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung / bpb – 23.06.2021)
• The Politics of Defining: A Roundtable Discussion about the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (Nadia Abu El-Haj & Seth Anziska & Lara Friedman & Brian Klug) (Harvard Divinity School – 11.05.2021)

Media Texts

2024

• The Problem with Defining Antisemitism. Kenneth Stern helped write a definition now endorsed by more than forty countries. Why does he believe it’s causing harm? (Eyal Press – 13.03.2024)
• Why using more than the IHRA definition strengthens, not undermines, the fight against antisemitism (David Schraub & Jonathan Jacoby – 28.02.2024)

2023

• Harvard Is Ignoring Its Own Antisemitism Experts (Peter Beinart – 11.12.2023)
• In the Shadow of the Holocaust (Masha Gessen – 09.12.2023)
• Anti-Semitism: How it should and should not be defined (Rohini Hensman – 14.11.2023)
• When Zionists redefine ‚antisemitism‘ into a political cudgel (Marc Steiner – 26.09.2023)
• Inventing the new antisemitism (Em Hilton – 16.01.2023)

2022

• Who’s Afraid of Defining Antisemitism? (Derek Penslar, Antisemitism Studies, Vol 6 Number 1, Spring 2022, pp. 133-145)
• Scholars to UN: don’t adopt ‚weaponised‘ antisemitism definition (Andrew Rettman – 03.11.2022)
• What Is Wrong with the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s Definition of Antisemitism? (Jan Deckers & Jonathan Coulter – Res Publica. 2022 May 11 : 1–20)
• Interrogating the “New Antisemitism” (Shane Burley – 15.09.2022)
• Redefining Antisemitism to Protect Israel From Scrutiny Won’t Make Jews Safer (Julia Bard – 13.09.2022)
• The AAUP Explains Antisemitism and Gets It Wrong (Carly Nelson & Steven Lubet – 27.04.2022)
• The JDA Definition of Antisemitism is Completely Incoherent and Much Worse than the IHRA Definition (Ari Allyn-Feuer – 12.03.2022)
• Mit und ohne Juden: Zwei Familien von Antisemitismusbegriffen (Peter Ullrich – conflict & communication online, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2022)
• With and without Jews: Two families of concepts of antisemitism (Peter Ullrich – conflict & communication online, Vol. 21, No. 1, 2022)

2021

• A new Canadian Jewish faculty group opposes the IHRA definition of antisemitism (Jeremy Appel – 21.12.2021)
• Is it inherently antisemitic to criticise Israel? It may depend on who you ask (Michael Visontay – 22.10.2021)
• Fighting anti-Semitism needs solidarity, not definitions (David Zyngier & Daniel Coleman – 21.10.2021)
• Call by scholars: Stop instrumentalising antisemitism (54 scholars working on antisemitism and related fields – 11.10.2021)
• Fighting antisemitism (and those who cry ‘wolf’ about it) at the University of Toronto (Abigail B. Bakan, Rebecca Comay, & Deborah Cowen – 09.10.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism Is Itself Antisemitic (Dana Barnett – 03.10.2021)
• Anti-Palestinianism is as damnable as anti-Semitism: a statement is long overdue (Stuart Rees – 15.09.2021)
• Understanding Antisemitism Is About More Than Israel and Palestine (David Renton – 20.08.2021)
• Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism ignores Palestinian rights, narrative (Kathryn Shihadah – 14.08.2021)
• Arguing about antisemitism: why we disagree about antisemitism, and what we can do about it (David Schraub & Adam Hosein – Ethnic and Racial Studies 2021)
• Against the IHRA: Why it’s Time to Adopt the Jerusalem Declaration (Julia Bard – 09.08.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism (Thomas Suárez – 09.08.2021)
• How the IHRA definition of antisemitism is used to muzzle criticism of Israel — the Winnipeg example (Larry Haiven – 26.07.2021)
• I’d Rather Ask „How Do We Win the Struggle against Anti-Zionism?“ Than „Is This Anti-Semitic?“ That’s why I signed the Jerusalem Declaration on Anti-Semitism (Michael Walzer – 19.07.2021)
• The Emerging War over Anti-Semitism (Joshua Muravchik – 12.07.2021)
• Understanding discrepancies between definitions of anti-Semitism (Gina Ross 06.07.2021)
• Why the world needs a new definition of anti-Semitism (Sarah Judith Hofmann – 17.06.2021)
• Anti-Zionism, Antisemitism, and the Fallacy of Bright Lines (Kenneth S. Stern – 14.06.2021)
• How can we distinguish between criticism of Israel and anti-Semitism? (Amar Diwakar – 04.06.2021)
• How the JDA can and cannot advance Palestinian rights (David Mednicoff – 04.06.2021)
• Criticism of Israel and Its Policies Isn’t Antisemitism (Omar Bartov – 30.05.2021)
• ‘Calling a truce with left-wing antisemitism’: The Case Against the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (John Hyman & Anthony Julius – 22.05.2021
• Jewish Establishment Groups Put Up a Fight Against New Antisemitism Definitions (Ben Samuels – 04.05.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism and Its Jewish Supporters (Evyatar Friesel – 02.05.2021)
• ‘A Remarkably Aggressive Naïveté’: A Response to Derek Penslar and Michael Walzer (Richard Landes – 29.04.2021)
• Once Again on the Jerusalem Declaration: A Rejoinder to Derek Penslar and Michael Walzer (Cary Nelson – 29.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism may inadvertently give cover to antisemites (Gerald Izenberg – 28.04.2021)
• Will next anti-Semitism envoy address progressive push to sideline IHRA definition? (Seán Savage – 28.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism Is a Very Welcome Initiative (Rohini Hensman – 28.04.2021)
• How the IHRA antisemitism definition became a pro-Israel cudgel (Jonathan Cook – 27.04.2021)
• IHRA ‘misrepresents’ own definition of anti-Semitism, says report (James Kleinfeld & Al Jazeera Investigative Unit – 23.04.2021)
• If I am only for myself, who am I? Professor David Feldman on the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism. A new document attempts to put right what the IHRA got wrong (Rivkah Brown – 22.04.2021)
• A Definition American Universities Need (Kenneth L. Marcus – 22.04.2021)
• Anti-Semitism, by definition. „Where is the line between criticism of Israel because of its policies and efforts to delegitimize Israel as the Jewish state?“ (Martin J. Raffel – 21.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration’s Fatal Flaw (Samer Abdelnour – 21.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism is an orientalist text (Mark Muhannad Ayyash – 21.04.2021)
• JDA is an attempt to gaslight Jews and protect anti-semites (Bassem Eid – 20.04.2021)
• Why I Signed the Jerusalem Declaration: A Response to Cary Nelson (Derek Penslar – 19.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration: A Response to Cary Nelson (Michael Walzer – 19.04.2021)
• A better instrument for fighting anti-Semitism (Harry Shannon – 19.04.2021)
• Why are they so afraid of debate about antisemitism? (Tony Klug – 19.04.2021)
• Two Jews, Three Definitions: New Documents Challenge Mainstream View of Antisemitism (Jonathan Shamir – 18.04.2021)
• Accommodating the New Antisemitism: a Critique of ‘The Jerusalem Declaration’ (Cary Nelson – 18.04.2021)
• Between Antisemitism and anti-Zionism: The Intellectual’s Dilemma (Eva Illouz – 16.04.2021)
• What is the IHRA definition and why is it controversial? (Areeb Ullah – 16.04.2021)
• Battle of Antisemitism Definitions is Actually a Proxy War For (Joshua Shanes – 15.04.2021)
• We reject the IHRA definition: why recent efforts to combat antisemitism dangerously miss the mark (Sophia Sahm & Rebecca Driker-Ohren – 15.04.2021)
• The IHRA Definition of Anti-Semitism Puts Jews on the Wrong Side of the First Amendment ( – 15.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism and free expression (Rob Ferguson – 14.04.2021)
• Is anti-Zionism the same as antisemitism? (Sara Himeles – 14.04.2021)
• Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism: a positive move (Roland Rance – 14.04.2021)
• Jewish scholars defend the right to academic freedom on Israel/Palestine (Abigail B. Bakan & Alejandro I. Paz & Anna Zalik & Deborah Cowen – 11.04.2021)
• IHRA to JDA: Definitions of Antisemitism in 2021 (Jeffrey Herf – 09.04.2021)
• Who gets to define Antisemitism? (Artur Wilczynski – 09.04.2021)
• Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism presents improvement, not end goal (Ori Tsameret – 08.04.2021)
• Expression of anti-Semitism must be made taboo. Definitions of racism against Jews get lost in semantics. We need a policy of zero tolerance (Oliver Sears – 07.04.2021)
• The working definition of anti-Semitism needs no rewrite (Ira N. Forman – 07.04.2021)
• A New Definition of Antisemitism Is Out, and the Antisemites Love It (David Schraub – 07.04.2021)
• Why the Flawed ‘Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism’ Risks Setting Back Efforts to Fight Antisemitism (Dave Rich – 06.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism and its Potential (Wieland Hoban – 06.04.2021)
• The Existence of JDA Only Serves to Bolster the Argument for IHRA (Amanda Berman – 06.04.2021)
• How Not to Fight Antisemitism (Jewish Currents – 05.04.2021)
• On antisemitism, universities should adopt the new Jerusalem Declaration (Bahram Bekhradnia – 05.04.2021)
• New ‚Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism‘ definition unneeded (Emily Schrader – 05.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration’s Bogus Definition of Anti-Semitism (Gerald M. Steinberg & Asaf Romirowsky – 04.04.2021)
• JVL statement on the Jerusalem Declaration of Antisemitism (JDA) (Jewish Voice for Labour – 01.04.2021)
• Turning the tables (David Rosenberg – 01.04.3021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism. Why the oldest hatred needs a new definition (Brian Klug – 01.04.2021)
• Why the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism is a clear and present danger to academic freedom (Mark Ayyash – 01.04.2021)
• Why we should critically welcome the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (Tony Greenstein – 01.04.2021)
• Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism: We cannot define our way out of this impasse (Sai Englert – 01.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration defines the ‚community of the good‘, not antisemitism. By focusing on hypotheticals it ignores what antisemitism is really like (David Hirsh – 01.04.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism: a flawed definition that risks setting back efforts to tackle antisemitism (Dave Rich – 01.04.2021)
• Sorry professors, but BDS and double standards for Israel are anti-Semitism (Eric C. Mandel – 01.04.2021)
• Challenging Antisemitism: Why Criticism of Israel Shouldn’t be Singled Out & Our Interconnected Struggles for Justice (Donna Nevel – 31.03.2021)
• The Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism: a critical view (Tom Suarez – 31.03.2021)
• New declaration is way out of antisemitism-Israel-Palestine entanglement (Yair Wallach – 31.03.2021)
• Why You Should Be Highly Alarmed by — and Yet Totally Ignore — the Jerusalem Declaration of Antisemitism (Lars Fischer – 31.03.2021)
• Some discussion about IHRA and the ‘Jerusalem Declaration’ (David Hirsh – 31.03.2021)
• Criticism of Israel and Its Policies Isn’t Antisemitism (Omer Bartov – 30.03.2021)
• Anti-Semites Should Not Define Anti-Semitism (Richard L. Cravatts – 30.03.2021)
• Approach new definition of anti-Semitism with caution, Palestinians say (Nora Barrows-Friedman – 29.03.2021)
• The JDA is to be welcomed but also debated (Mike Cushman – 29.03.2021)
• Yet another attempt to sanitize anti-Zionism (Ben Cohen – 26.03.2021)
• The problems with the „Jerusalem Declaration“ definition of antisemitism (Elder of Ziyon – 26.03.2021)
• Jerusalem Declaration helps fight right’s attempts to silence Palestinians (Tom Hickey – 26.03.2021)
• A New Challenger Approaches!: Evaluating the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (David Schraub – 26.03.2021)
• Why I Signed the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (Barry Trachtenberg – 26.03.2021)
• Was Einstein an Anti-Semite? According to an increasingly dominant definition, the answer is yes, Neve Gordon and Mark LeVine argue (Neve Gordon & Mark LeVine – 26.03.2021)
• We Need a Better Definition of Anti-Semitism. A popular working definition adopted by the U.S. government is overly broad and politicized (Joshua Shanes & Dov Waxman – 26.03.2021)
• A new antisemitism definition to ease IHRA confusion (Aleida Assmann & Alon Confino & David Feldman – 26.03.2021)
• PSC response to the Jerusalem Declaration on antisemitism (26.03.2021)
• The IHRA’s Careless Conflations on Antisemitism (and Few Alternatives) (Moshe Behar – 25.03.2022)
• Defining antisemitism – again, and again… (Keith Kahn-Harris – 25.03.2021)
• Three Definitions of Antisemitism: A Comparison (TTN Blog – 25.03.2021)
• A Palestinian civil society critique of the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism (Palestinian BDS National Committee – 25.03.2021)
• A new declaration aims to fight antisemitism without curtailing free speech (Elissa Bemporad & Alon Confino & Derek Penslar – 25.03.2021)
• Leading Jewish scholars say BDS, one-state solution are not antisemitic (Arno Rosenfeld – 25.03.2021)
• What Nexus gets wrong and IHRA gets right with anti-Semitism (Lea Speyer – 23.03.2021)
• Anti-Semitic or just ‘strident’? (Ben Cohen – 19.03.2021)
• The Nexus in the Shadow of IHRA (David Schraub – 17.03.2021)
• Only Antisemites Oppose the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism (Lars Fischer – 22.02.2021)
• ‘U.S. Jewish Groups Want to Fight Antisemitism, but Struggle to Agree What It Is,’ (ABO) (Danielle Ziri – 21.02.2021)
• The IHRA definition should not be used to ban free speech – and that includes Ken Loach (Lord Mann – 10.02.2021)
• What is antisemitism? A new definition (Sheldon Kirshner – 04.02.2021)
• Why Is There Resistance to A Working Definition of Antisemitism? (Günther Jikeli – 15.01.2021)
• Understanding the IHRA definition of antisemitism (Jovan Byford – 11.01.2021)
• It was the new phenomenon of Israel-focused antisemitism that required the new definition. David Hirsh responds to a recent ‘call to reject’ the IHRA (01/2021)

2020

• The IHRA Definition, Institutional Antisemitism, and Wittgenstein (Eve Garrard – 2020)
• How should antisemitism be defined? a reply to Peter Wertheim (Peter Slezak – 18.12.2020)
• Israel is using the IHRA to silence its critics (Jonathan Shamir – 18.12.2020)
• Who’s against adopting the IHRA antisemitism definition? (Corey Balsam – 09.12.2020)
• Palestinian rights and the IHRA definition of antisemitism (29.11.2020)
• Criticizing Israel is not antisemitic — it’s academic freedom (Jasmin Zine & Greg Bird & Sara Matthews – 15.11.2020)
• IHRA Definition At Work (Rowan Gaudent – 04.09.2020)
• The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism: Defining Antisemitism by Erasing Palestinians (Rebecca Ruth Gould – 28.07.2020)
• Why there is no credible alternative to IHRA definition of antisemitism (Peter Wertheim – 14.04.2020)

2019

• I drafted the definition of antisemitism. Rightwing Jews are weaponizing it (Kenneth Stern – 13.12.2019)
• Canada’s new definition of anti-Semitism is a threat to campus free speech (Jeffrey Sachs – 10.09.2019)
• How Not to Fight Antisemitism: IHRA-WDA Report (IJV Canada – 01.05.2019)

2018

• Why Palestinians have a problem with the IHRA definition of ‘anti-Semitism’ (Kamel Hawwash – 09.09.2018)
• Legal Form and Legal Legitimacy: The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism as a Case Study in Censored Speech (Rebecca Ruth Gould – Law, Culture and the Humanities – 18.08.2018)
• How should antisemitism be defined? A panel of Jewish writers considers the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which has generated so much recent debate (Stephen Sedley, Laura Janner-Klausner, Geoffrey Bindman, Jacqueline Rose and Keith Kahn-Harris – 27.07.2018)

2013

• Defining antisemitism down (David Hirsh – 2013)

→ German reading List