Free Speech, IHRA, & Palestinian Freedom – A Conversation with Rebecca Ruth Gould

In this episode of the Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP president Lara Friedman speaks with Professor Rebecca Ruth Gould, author of the newly published book, Erasing Palestine: Free Speech & Palestinian Freedom. The discussion digs into Professor Gould’s own experience being attacked for an article she authored on Israel/Palestine, and more broadly into the ongoing campaign using the IHRA definition of antisemitism as a weapon to delegitimize and suppress criticism of Israel/Zionism, Palestinian voices, and Palestine rights activism in the UK and around the world.

Occupied Thoughts by FMEP · Free Speech, IHRA, & Palestinian Freedom – A Conversation with Rebecca Ruth Gould

Recorded on September 29, 2023

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Resources

Rebecca Ruth Gould’s books include Erasing Palestine: Free Speech and Palestinian Freedom (Verso, 2023), The Persian Prison Poem: Sovereignty and the Political Imagination (Edinburgh University Press, 2021), and Writers and Rebels: The Literature of Insurgency in the Caucasus (Yale University Press, 2016). She has written on the challenges of defining antisemitism and respecting free speech for Prospect Magazine, Jacobin, Political Quarterly, The New Arab, and Middle East Eye, among other venues. She is Distinguished Professor of Comparative Poetics and Global Politics, at the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. For more on Professor Gould see her website and follow her on X – @rrgould

Articles by Rebecca Ruth Gould

Interviews with Rebecca Ruth Gould on her book, Erasing Palestine

Reports mentioned in the podcast

FMEP resources on the IHRA definition & the controversy around it

 

In this episode of FMEP’s Occupied Thoughts podcast, FMEP President Lara Friedman speaks the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) director Giovanni Fassina and ELSC manager of communication and advocacy strategies and campaigns Alice Garcia about ELSC’s groundbreaking new report, “Suppressing Palestinian Rights Advocacy through the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism – Violating the Rights to Freedom of Expression and Assembly in the European Union and the UK.” This report is the first case-based account of human rights violations resulting from the institutionalization and application of the controversial IHRA definition by the EU and the UK.

 

Occupied Thoughts by FMEP · How IHRA Antisemitism Definition Suppresses Palestinian Rights Advocacy in EU/UK: Insight from ELSC

Recorded June 12, 2023

You can also watch this conversation on YouTube

 

Resources related to this podcast

European Legal Support Center (ELSC)

Articles & Interviews about the Report

Attack on ELSC & the Report

Expert objections to the IHRA definition

FMEP resources on IHRA definition & related controversy

 

Since 2016, there have been efforts both in Congress and in US states to pass legislation framed as as being about fighting antisemitism, but that in practice (both impact and in many cases explicit intent) is about targeting non-violent protest, activism and criticism of Israel and/or Zionism. The chart below tracks all of this legislation, in its various forms, at both the Federal and State levels.

You can track this legislative trend here. Last update: June 27, 2023

In addition, a compendium of analysis/commentary on the Constitutional and broader free speech threats posed by this legislation — constantly updated — can be found here.

To follow what is happening with respect to a parallel campaign to have Congress legislate U.S. support for settlements, see Lara’s research/table, here ;to follow what is happening at the state level, see here.

Questions about this issue or data table should be directed to: Lara@fmep.org

 

Occupied Thoughts by FMEP · The IHRA Definition of Antisemitism: “The Wrong Answers to the Wrong Set of Questions”
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In this episode of the Occupied Thoughts podcast, Dr. Alana Vincent (Umea University, Sweden) joins FMEP’s Sarah Anne Minkin to discuss how she moved from supporting the use of the the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) Working Definition of Antisemitism to opposing it. Dr. Vincent describes the chilling and silencing effects of the IHRA definition, the shortcomings of European Union research that purports to justify it, and the advantages of alternative definitions that offer clarity and nuance.

Dr. Alana Vincent is Associate Professor in History of Religion and studies Modern Judaism, Interreligious Dialogue, Religion & Literature at Umea University in Sweden. 

Sarah Anne Minkin is Director of Programs and Partnerships at FMEP.

Resources mentioned in the podcast: 

Recorded Wednesday, October 19, 2022
(if video doesn’t load you can access it directly on YouTube)

Featuring (bios below):

  • Kenneth Stern (Bard College/lead drafter of the IHRA definition)
  • Carinne Luck (Diaspora Alliance)
  • Simone Zimmerman (Diaspora Alliance)
  • Moderator/discussant: Lara Friedman (Foundation for Middle East Peace)

At a time of surging antisemitism in the U.S. and worldwide, most efforts to tackle this serious problem center on the IHRA definition of antisemitism. This definition is often framed as apolitical, non-partisan, commonsense, and above not only reproach but any critical examination and debate.

This framing conceals a critical truth: the IHRA definition of antisemitism is the focus of deep controversy, strenuous debate, and serious criticism. This includes criticism from scholars and experts on antisemitism, Jewish history, the Holocaust, and other related areas of study. And it includes criticism from experts on and defenders of Americans’ First Amendment free speech rights.

At the root of the controversy is the concern that the IHRA definition’s examples about Israel and Zionism have been abused and weaponized to chill and suppress pro-Palestinian speech. This concern is not merely hypothetical: the experience of recent years demonstrates the ease with which the IHRA definition can be exploited to attack free speech and activism critical of Israel/Zionism or in support of Palestinian rights, or even free speech articulating Palestinians’ lived experience and historical narrative.

Given strong — and growing — pressures on Congress to endorse or even adopt/impose the IHRA definition as a matter of law, we presented this policy lab to help congressional staff understand the debate amongst experts, and the degree to which experts on antisemitism have concerns about the IHRA definition, and know about the work experts have undertaken to clarify the problems and offer concrete solutions.

Resources cited/mentioned during the discussion

Expert bios

Kenneth S. Stern is the director of the Bard Center for the Study of Hate and an attorney and award-winning author. For twenty-five years, he was the American Jewish Committee’s expert on antisemitism, and he was also the lead drafter of the “Working Definition of Antisemitism.” He has argued before the Supreme Court of the United States and testified before Congress. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Washington Post, USA Today, and The Forward. He also has written books on antisemitism and on Holocaust denial. His most recent book is The Conflict Over the Conflict: The Israel/Palestine Campus Debate (New Jewish Press, 2020).

Carinne Luck is the Founding International Director of Diaspora Alliance, following on two years of focusing much of her time supporting progressive Jewish and non-Jewish leaders in Europe and the US to pushback against antisemitism and its instrumentalization. She has been working as an organizer, trainer, and strategist for two decades, including with Mijente, Hand in Hand, IfNotNow, MoveOn, and CTZN WELL. In 2008 she was a founding staff member of J Street, where she served as Vice President for Field and Campaigns.

Simone Zimmerman is the Director of Strategic Communications & Outreach at Diaspora Alliance. Simone is an organizer and strategist who has been working at the intersection of the progressive movement and the politics of the American Jewish community for over a decade. She was the Executive Director of B’Tselem USA and a co-founder of IfNotNow, a grassroots movement of young American Jews working to end the American Jewish community’s support for Israel’s military occupation. She lived in Israel-Palestine between 2016 and 2018, where she was a Dorot Fellow and worked at Gisha — Legal Center for Freedom of Movement.

Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP). She is a leading authority on the Middle East, with particular expertise on U.S. foreign policy in the region, on Israel/Palestine, and on the way Middle East and Israel/Palestine-related issues play out in Congress and in U.S. domestic politics, policies, and legislation. She has been tracking and researching developments related to the IHRA definition of antisemitism for more than a decade (see the FMEP website for her research and related resources). Lara is a former officer in the U.S. Foreign Service, with diplomatic postings in Jerusalem, Washington, Tunis and Beirut.

 

 

There is an ongoing campaign in Congress and in state legislatures to pass laws barring BDS against Israel and/or boycotts or other forms of economic pressure against settlements. In parallel, efforts are ongoing at the State and Federal level to define criticism of Israel as anti-Semitism and use this definition to quash free speech and activism ont campuses. For details about the campaign in states, see here; in Congress, see here. For details of the quashing free speech on campuses legislation, see here.

Below is a compilation (updated as new resources appear) of expert opinion/analysis regarding the constitutionality/free speech concerns raised by this legislation. Last update: June 27, 2023

(more…)

Traditionally, “antisemitism” has meant hostility and prejudice toward Jews because they are Jews—a scourge that has imperiled Jews throughout history, and is a source of resurgent threats to Jews today. In recent years there has been an energetic effort to re-define the term to mean something else. This new definition – known today as  the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) “working definition of antisemitism, is explicitly politicized, refocusing the term to encompass not only hatred of Jews, but also hostility toward and criticism of the modern state of Israel. For example, it labels as antisemitic “applying double standards” to Israel or requiring of Israel “behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.” While it notes that “criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic,” in practice this “double standard” language has paved the way for attacking virtually all criticism of Israel as prima facie antisemitic, based on the simplistic argument that focusing criticism on Israel, when other nations are guilty of similarly bad behavior, can only reflect animus against Jews.

In the media and on social media, and in the mainstream political discourse, there are almost daily interventions in support of the IHRA definition – interventions that too often dismiss the well-established, well-fleshed-out substantive and constitutional concerns/objections to the definition and its implementation.

Yet, this new definition has been the focus of enormous controversy and myriad challenges, including from academics/experts on antisemitism and Holocaust studies in the U.S., Israel, and around the world; from prominent voices and groups that defend free speech and human rights; from progressive Jewish community organizations; from leading legal scholars; from groups defending Palestinians and Palestinian rights; and more.

In this context, I have created a new data table — a compendium of expert views and other resources laying out concerns/objections to the IHRA definition. 

You can find the new database here. As always, I will be updating it regularly (if you find resources that I have omitted, please send them to me!)

Last update: April 24, 2023

When President Donald Trump signed his executive order on antisemitism back on December 11, 2019, some of us warned the real target was campus free speech critical of Israel. Complaints filed in the wake of the executive order demonstrate these accuracy of these warnings. To help people track these cases (and the many cases that preceded them in recent years), I’ve created this resource table, which I will update whenever new information becomes available.

Last update: June 29, 2023

The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) and Palestine Legal invite you to attend 

The IHRA Definition & the Fight Against Antisemitism

Part 6: Implications and Impacts of the IHRA Definition on Palestinians

Friday, February 19th, 2021

You can listen to this conversation as a podcast here.

FMEP is proud to host a webinar featuring Palestinian scholars and activists discussing the implications and impact of the IHRA definition of antisemitism for Palestinians. Join us as we host Ahmad Daraldik, Florida State University student and former Student Senate President, Dima Khalidi, Founder and Director of Palestine Legal, and Dr. Sherene Seikaly, professor and historian of the modern Middle East — all in discussion with FMEP President Lara Friedman. 

For the list of resources shared during this webinar, please scroll down. 

To find past recordings and future events and resources in this series, click here

——-

The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) “working definition of antisemitism” — including its examples — is on its way to being adopted and used across the globe, where it poses a serious threat to free speech. From the State Department to English Premier League soccer teams, from universities to social media platforms, concerted campaigns to label criticism of Israeli policies and challenges to Zionism as antisemitism — and to impose formal/legal consequences — continue to gain momentum. 

In this webinar, we will explore the unique and urgent impacts on Palestinians of the IHRA definition, which Palestinian and Arab scholars describe as “a stratagem to delegitimise the fight against the oppression of the Palestinians, the denial of their rights and the continued occupation of their land.” Palestinians are especially targeted by the implementation of the IHRA definition, from attacking their activism and advocacy on their own behalf to labeling expressions of their identities, their lived experiences, and their history and experiences antisemitic. This impossible dynamic is especially visible on college campuses, where students and faculty face campaigns that undermine their rights to constitutionally-protected freedom of speech. 

Panelists

Ahmad Omar Daraldik is a third year student majoring in International Affairs at Florida State University where he serves as a Student Senator. He is a 1st Generation Palestinian Muslim American and was the first with this background to serve FSU as the Student Senate President. His university education is supported by the Center for Academic Retention and Enhancement (CARE), which assists students who are traditionally underrepresented for socioeconomic and educational reasons. His instagram is https://www.instagram.com/deeko_the_palestinian/.  

Dima Khalidi is the founder and director of Palestine Legal and Cooperating Counsel with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR). She oversees Palestine Legal’s array of legal and advocacy work to protect people speaking out for Palestinian rights from attacks on their civil and constitutional rights. Prior to founding Palestine Legal in 2012, Dima worked with CCR as a cooperating attorney on the Mamilla Cemetery Campaign, submitting a Petition to United Nations officials to stop the desecration of an ancient Muslim cemetery in Jerusalem, and advocating on behalf of Palestinian descendants of individuals interred in the cemetery. Dima has a JD from DePaul University College of Law, an MA in International and Comparative Legal Studies from the University of London – SOAS, and a BA in History and Near Eastern Studies from the University of Michigan. 

Sherene Seikaly is Associate Professor of History at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Seikaly’s Men of Capital: Scarcity and Economy in Mandate Palestine (Stanford University Press, 2016) explores how Palestinian capitalists and British colonial officials used economy to shape territory, nationalism, the home, and the body. Her second book, From Baltimore to Beirut: On the Question of Palestine focuses on a Palestinian man who was at once a colonial officer and a colonized subject, an enslaver and a refugee. His trajectory from nineteenth century mobility across Baltimore and Sudan to twentieth century immobility in Lebanon places the question of Palestine in a global history of race, capital, slavery, and dispossession. Seikaly is the recipient of the Distinguished Teaching Award from the Academic Senate, the University of California, Santa Barbara; the Harold J. Plous Award at UCSB; and the UC President’s Faculty Research Fellowship. She currently serves as co-editor of Journal of Palestine Studies and co-founder and co-editor of Jadaliyya.

Moderator

Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) and a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, with particular expertise on the Israeli-Arab conflict, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, and the role of the U.S. Congress. She is published widely in the U.S. and international press and is regularly consulted by members of Congress and their staffs, by Washington-based diplomats, by policy-makers in capitals around the world, and by journalists in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to her work at FMEP, Lara is a Contributing Writer at Jewish Currents and a non-resident fellow at the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP). She tweets at @LaraFriedmanDC.

Resources shared during this webinar: 

Palestine Legal: 

Two interviews with Dima Khalidi: 

Statement from Palestinian and Arab academics, journalists, and intellectuals, “Palestinian rights and the IHRA definition of antisemitism” → https://www.theguardian.com/news/2020/nov/29/palestinian-rights-and-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism?fbclid=IwAR1j_NOutmYAC6sduOE4GP4DgUp1M037x-3sO4cO0Hk4HhvQrrdOhkgkMok

Sherene Seikaly’s New York Times essay: “Anti-Zionism Can and Should Be Anti-Racism,” part of their “Is Anti-Zionism Merely Anti-Semitism in Disguise?” debate → https://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2016/04/04/is-anti-zionism-anti-semitism/anti-zionism-can-and-should-be-anti-racism

For more on the University College London IHRA decision, which Dima Khalidi referenced —> https://www.palestinecampaign.org/press-release-ucls-academic-board-finds-the-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism-not-fit-for-purpose/

Resources from Lara Friedman: 

The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) invites you to attend 

The IHRA Definition & the Fight Against Antisemitism

Part 5: Opportunities and Struggles for Progressive Jews

Thursday, February 11th, 2021

FMEP is proud to host a webinar featuring progressive Jews exploring the challenges and opportunities embodied in the ongoing debate over how to define antisemitism. Join us as we host Corey Balsam, National Coordinator for Canada’s Independent Jewish Voices, writer and filmmaker Rebecca Pierce, and Dr. Barry Trachtenberg, professor and scholar of modern European and American Jewry — all in discussion with FMEP President Lara Friedman. 

To find past recordings and future webinars and resources in this series, click here

See below for the resources we shared in this webinar. 

——-

The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) “working definition of antisemitism” — including its examples — is on its way to being adopted and used across the globe, where it poses a serious threat to free speech. From the State Department to English Premier League soccer teams, from universities to social media platforms, concerted campaigns to label criticism of Israeli policies and challenges to Zionism as antisemitism — and to impose formal/legal consequences — continue to gain momentum.

Over the past couple of months, disagreements over the IHRA definition among organizations representing Jewish Americans have surfaced in Jewish media outlets on a weekly if not daily basis. Groups that have long been more conservative in terms of resisting criticizing Israeli policies have publicly urged the Biden Administration to adopt the IHRA definition, while more liberal organizations* have increasingly voiced their opposition, based on concerns for free speech. This battle is taking place against the backdrop of a petition campaign led by Jewish Voice for Peace and supported by dozens of organizations,** urging Facebook to resist pressure to use the label of antisemitism as a pretext to silence critics of Israel; that petition has (so far) attracted more than 36,000 signers. 

Panelists 

Corey Balsam is the national coordinator of Independent Jewish Voices Canada, and among the lead organizers of its No IHRA campaign. Previously, Corey worked for Oxfam and at Birzeit University in the occupied West Bank. He has a master’s in Sociology and Equity Studies in Education from the University of Toronto, where he studied the historic appeal of Israel and Zionism for Ashkenazi Jews, and a Bachelor’s in Public Affairs and Policy Management from Carleton University. He currently lives in Montreal, Quebec, with his wife and two sons. 

Rebecca Pierce is a writer and filmmaker based in San Francisco, California. Her multimedia storytelling covers a diverse range of topics including race, religion, global conflict, and human rights. Her work as a filmmaker has taken her around the world with projects shot in the Middle East, Asia Pacific region, Europe, and the United States. Her editorial writing and public speaking on racial justice issues affecting African American and Jewish communities has been featured by The Nation, The New Republic, Jewish Currents, The Forward, and NPR’s All Things Considered. She tweets at @aptly_engineerd.

Barry Trachtenberg teaches Jewish History at Wake Forest University and is the author, most recently, of The Revolutionary Roots of Modern Yiddish, 1903-1917 (Syracuse University Press) and The United States and the Nazi Holocaust: Race, Refuge, and Remembrance (Bloomsbury). His book on the Holocaust and Yiddish intellectual culture is under contract with Rutgers University Press. In 2017, Trachtenberg testified to the House Judiciary Committee on the “Anti-Semitism Awareness Act.” He also writes occasional pieces and lectures on the topics of Zionism, antisemitism, and US support for Israel. These have appeared in forums such as the Forward, Tablet, Electronic Intifada, Mondoweiss, Die Tageszeitung (German), A2larm (Czech), and La Razón (Spanish). He is member of the Academic Advisory Board of Jewish Voice for Peace.

Moderator

Lara Friedman is the President of the Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP) and a leading authority on U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, with particular expertise on the Israeli-Arab conflict, Israeli settlements, Jerusalem, and the role of the U.S. Congress. She is published widely in the U.S. and international press and is regularly consulted by members of Congress and their staffs, by Washington-based diplomats, by policy-makers in capitals around the world, and by journalists in the U.S. and abroad. In addition to her work at FMEP, Lara is a Contributing Writer at Jewish Currents and a non-resident fellow at the U.S./Middle East Project (USMEP). She tweets at @LaraFriedmanDC.

* Including FMEP grantees Americans for Peace Now, New Israel Fund, and T’ruah.

** Including FMEP grantees 7amleh, Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, and Palestine Legal. 

 

Resources shared in this webinar: 

Follow our panelists’ work: 

Lara Friedman’s Databases: 

JVP-led Facebook campaign → https://facebookweneedtotalk.org/

Barry Trachtenberg’s 2017 testimony before Congress on the Anti-Semitism Awareness Act → https://docs.house.gov/meetings/JU/JU00/20171107/106610/HHRG-115-JU00-Wstate-TrachtenbergB-20171107.pdf

Articles by Rebecca Pierce: 

Jewish Currents has covered the controversies around Ethnic Studies in California repeatedly:

Rabbi Alissa Wise, “Facebook Might Censor Criticism of Zionists. That’s Dangerous.”  → https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/11/facebook-might-censor-criticism-of-zionists-thats-dangerous

The Israeli government’s brand new report on hate and social media —> https://4il.org.il/2480/

Independent Jewish Voices Canada: 

Corey Balsam’s Times of Israel blog, “Who’s against adopting the IHRA antisemitism definition? → https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/whos-against-adopting-the-ihra-antisemitism-definition/

The 2018 EKOS Poll: Jewish Canadians sharply divided on Israel-Palestine —> https://www.ijvcanada.org/new-ekos-poll-jewish-canadians-sharply-divided-on-israel-palestine/

The Ugandan Jews whom the Israeli government has determined are not eligible to immigrate to Israel as Jews → https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-ugandan-jews-not-eligible-to-immigrate-to-israel-state-informs-high-court-1.9474081

Jewish Voice for Labour’s definition of antisemitism –> https://m.facebook.com/jvoicelabour/posts/310332092990679

Marc Lamont Hill & Mitchell Plitnick’s new book, Except for Palestine: the Limits of Progressive Politics → https://thenewpress.com/books/except-for-palestine

FMEP podcast: Marc Lamont Hill, Mitchell Plitnick, and Peter Beinart → https://fmep.org/resource/occupied-thoughts-with-peter-beinart-except-for-palestine-the-limits-of-progressive-politics-with-marc-lamont-hill-mitchell-plitnick/

Jewish Council on Urban Affairs Opposes Government Use of IHRA Definition of Antisemitism → https://jcua-online.medium.com/jewish-council-on-urban-affairs-opposes-government-use-of-ihra-definition-of-antisemitism-94efdc4b54ce

Progressive Israel Network Groups Oppose Codification of IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism, Citing Strong Potential for Misuse → https://www.progressiveisraelnetwork.org/progressive-israel-network-groups-oppose-codification-of-ihra-working-definition-of-antisemitism-citing-strong-potential-for-misuse/

  • Members of the Progressive Israel Network: Ameinu, Americans for Peace Now, Habonim Dror North America, Hashomer Hatzair World Movement, Jewish Labor Committee, J Street, New Israel Fund, Partners for Progressive Israel, Reconstructing Judaism, and T’ruah 

Bend the Arc Opposes Government Use of IHRA Definition of Antisemitism → https://www.bendthearc.us/bend_the_arc_opposes_government_use_of_ihra_definition_of_antisemitism

Reform Jewish Institutions Affirm IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism → https://urj.org/press-room/reform-jewish-institutions-affirm-ihra-working-definition-antisemitism

Conference of Presidents Member Organizations Adopt IHRA Definition → https://www.conferenceofpresidents.org/news/press/2021/jan26/conference-presidents-member-organizations-adopt-ihra-definition

  • Conference of Presidents Member Organizations that adopted the IHRA include Ameinu, AIPAC, American Jewish Committee, Anti-Defamation League (ADL), HIAS, Hillel International, Jewish Federations of North America, Zionist Organization of America (ZOA)