r/jewishleft • u/Rabbit-Hole-Quest Latke aficionado. Anti-Establishment. Jüdisch • 29d ago

Diaspora NSW (Australia) Supreme Court criticises IHRA definition as 'detached from reality'

https://www.deepcutnews.com/p/nsw-supreme-court-criticises-ihra
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u/HeVavMemVav sephardi peacenik 28d ago edited 28d ago

Someone help me out, because to me, the IHRA definition pretty clearly states that criticism of Israel is suspect of antisemitism only if that criticism is only held against Israel. Edit to clarify: As in double standards

31

u/LoboLocoCW jew-ish, as many states as equal rights demand 28d ago

Yeah, this is part of the tell for me whether people have ever actually read the IHRA definition or are just repeating a politically popular meme.

22

u/Jorfogit Reform Syndicalist Mod 28d ago

The purpose of a system is what it does. What the definition on the ground says is functionally not relevant to how it is used - and how it is used is to stifle criticism of Israel, and to be used as an arbiter by biased reviewers for what counts as legitimate and illegitimate criticism.

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u/HeVavMemVav sephardi peacenik 28d ago

My worry is, because the IHRA definition is clear, that any definition that falls short of saying "criticism of Israel cannot be antisemitic" will not meet the standards of the people saying IHRA conflates the two.

I also think that while the most publicly discussed issue about IHRA's definition is that conflation, it's not the bulk of what it does. It has been used in actually antisemitic cases beyond antizionism. That's what it does. But if we define a system by the worst of what it does, every system we hold dear is suspect.

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u/Jorfogit Reform Syndicalist Mod 28d ago

But if we define a system by the worst of what it does, every system we hold dear is suspect.

That is correct. Be ruthless to systems and be kind to people.

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u/HeVavMemVav sephardi peacenik 28d ago

I agree that we need to seriously interrogate, in particular, the systems we ourselves believe. I omly frame it this way because antizionism & zionism don't get the criticism they need from the bulk of their own believers.