Hard left plots to ‘jettison’ IHRA at Labour conference

A LABOUR grassroots campaign has been launched to drop the internationally recognised definition of antisemitism at the party’s annual conference.

Constituency Labour Party branches are being urged to submit motions for Labour conference to replace the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance with the Jerusalem Declaration.

The move comes despite warnings from the Community Security Trust that adopting the Declaration could hamper efforts to tackle antisemitism.

Labour activists are being urged on hard-left websites to attend this year’s party conference, being held in Brighton in September, while CLPs are being called on to submit motions to debate and vote on replacing the IHRA definition.

The IHRA definition of antisemitism has been endorsed by the European Parliament and adopted by the UK government, all devolved administrations as well as all mainstream political parties, many universities, police forces and councils across the UK.

Labour adopted IHRA in full 2018 following a bitter internal battle in which then Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn argued that not all of the examples cited by the code were potentially antisemitic. The definition has seen a backlash among some academics and hard-left Labour activists who claim it has been used to “chill” free speech on campus.

They want it replaced with the Jerusalem Declaration, which was written by 200 academics and is now being hailed as a potential alternative to universities that have adopted IHRA.

An academic working group at University College London is expected to propose a new definition to its university council next month, sparking fears of a “domino effect” across universities that could leave Jewish students exposed to greater hostility on campus. A model motion has now been sent to CLPs which states: “Unlike the IHRA, the JD, whilst not without its flaws, is about antisemitism not anti-Zionism.”

The Labour Left Alliance Network is among the sites promoting the model motion, which needs to be submitted by CLPs by 13 September if it is to be debated and voted on at Labour’s conference.

It wants to “jettison” the IHRA definition in favour of the Declaration which, the motion declares, would provide “clear guidance to identify antisemitism while protecting free expression”. The resolution also calls for a campaign for “freedom of speech, which includes the right to call out Israel’s policies towards the Palestinians as racist, discriminatory and oppressive”.

It also accuses the government of seeking to “shut down free speech and academic freedom” on campus by threatening to cut funding for universities that refuse to adopt the IHRA. In the Queen’s Speech, the government this month outlined plans for a bill to protect free speech on campus.

Dave Rich, CST director of policy, has warned in the JC that while IHRA has become the “standard guide to defining and identifying antisemitism”, the Declaration was drawn up without widespread consultation of Jewish community organisations.

Whilsst the IHRA warns against comparing Israel to Nazi Germany, the Declaration suggests such comparisons are “contentious” but not antisemitic.

And while the IHRA says it could be antisemitic to deny Jewish people their right to self-determination, the Declaration suggests that arguing for the elimination of Israel would not be antisemitic provided the “collective rights” of Jews are respected in any future arrangement. Critics warn this risks missing all but the most obvious cases, as much antisemitic abuse harnesses the shorthand of tropes or assumed knowledge.