The Parliamentary Joint Committee on Human Rights tasked with inquiring into and reporting on antisemitism in Australian universities has just released 10 recommendations, at the core of which is a proposal that complaints be measured against a clear definition of antisemitism that aligns closely with that issued by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA).
The IHRA definition, developed in 2005 by the American Jewish Committee, has been used to cement the conflation of Judaism with Zionism.
In doing so, it actually promotes antisemitism, because it gives credence to the idea that all Jews are responsible for the violence committed by Israel.
While the definition itself is vague, it is accompanied by 11 examples that include: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination e.g. by claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavour.”
If enacted, what would this look like? It would deny Palestinians the right to talk about the experience of their history and lives.
Palestinians and their supporters, including anti-Zionist Jews, who speak of occupation, of Israel being an apartheid state, of illegal occupation, of genocide and ethnic cleansing would run afoul of the IHRA definition and be accused of antisemitism.
If adopted, this will constitute a very serious assault on the political rights and freedoms of all university staff and students.
It will be used to shut down protest, to discipline and expel students and staff.
In short, it is designed to silence us all; it would act as a giant gag on the movement for Palestinian rights and freedoms.
Is this the way to fight racism?
Listening to governments today, you would be forgiven for thinking that racism only takes the form of antisemitism.
In fact, research says otherwise. The Scanlon Foundation’s recent “Mapping Social Cohesion” report confirmed that while there’s been a rise in antisemitism from 9% in 2023 to 13% in 2024, Islamophobia is far higher — up from 27% to 34% in the same period.
Have we heard about that?
The media is much less interested in someone planting a homemade bomb on someone’s utility truck that was flying the Palestinian flag in a Sydney home, or in a truck in Naarm belonging to a man of Palestinian heritage being set alight.
It is not at all interested in the number of Islamic women having their hijab ripped off in the street, being spat at or experiencing death threats and abuse when going about their daily business.
How often have you seen the Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia interviewed and quoted compared to the Special Envoy to Combat Antisemitism?
I’m no data analyst but I can safely say there is no comparison.
While governments and their corporate media continue to promote fear and xenophobia, blaming migrants for taking our jobs and homes, warning that we must block Gazan refugees because they may be terrorists, and introduce new laws that pave the way for deportations and expand ministerial powers to overturn protection decisions, racism will persist.
Max Kaiser, from the Jewish Council of Australia, wrote in Crikey on December 12, 2024, that: “The continued exceptionalisation of antisemitism, treating it as a standalone or special type of racism … is a recipe for the continued use of Jews as political footballs by both major parties and the entrenchment of anti-Jewish attitudes.”
Let’s get on with fighting racism in all its many forms and in winning a world free of war, injustice and hate.
[Janet Parker is a member of the Socialist Alliance, and is active in Jews for Palestine WA and Jews Against the Occupation ’48.]