Some Jewish groups critical of Biden’s antisemitism strategy
While most Jewish organizations and Jewish leaders support US President Joe Biden’s unprecedented broad strategy to combat antisemitism announced last week, some have added a hint of criticism to their comments.
Aside from entities such as the Republican Jewish Coalition that said “Joe Biden had a chance to take a strong stand against antisemitism and he blew it,” a number of more central or a-political organizations have said they are worried about the definition of antisemitism as portrayed in the 60-page national strategy plan on combating antisemitism in the US.
One of the main legacy Jewish organizations, The World Jewish Congress (WJC), led by President Ronald Lauder, thanked the White House for the new plan, but also added some hinted criticism: “We must have concrete action, not just words,” the WJC said towards the end of its statement reacting to the White House strategy. “The inclusion of a secondary definition in addition to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism is an unnecessary distraction from the real work that needs to be done,” they said of the Nexus definition, that was included in the text referring to the different types of antisemitism.
THE STRATEGY specifically said that it acknowledges IHRA as the main definition of antisemitism but also acknowledged the existence of other definitions such as the Nexus Document, that is more to the left of the political map regarding its attitude towards Israel and to antisemitism.
B’nai B’rith President Seth J. Riklin and CEO Daniel S. Mariaschin said in a statement that they too are “disappointed in the document’s mention of the Nexus definition of antisemitism.” They added that “we believe that definition allows the more invidious of Israel’s nemeses to hide their animus behind ‘strident’ criticism of Israel. The important and well-established IHRA definition addresses this issue in a far superior manner.”
They emphasized that “even with those concerns we are deeply satisfied that the national strategy to fight antisemitism provides an invaluable investment in promoting and realizing tolerance, safety and security for Jews across the country.”
THE COMBAT Antisemitism Movement (CAM), one of the newest but central groups in promoting dialogue about antisemitism, welcomed the new strategy, adding that “While the strategy rightly raises alarm about antisemitism rooted in white supremacist ideology, it does not highlight enough the threats posed by other, equally menacing and potent, manifestations of Jew-hatred, including from the far-left and the radical Islamist communities in the US.”
CAM also highlighted their objection to the ‘Nexus Document.’
“If the White House wants its strategy to be a success, it must center its implementation efforts solely around the IHRA definition, the most authoritative and widely-accepted tool to delineate all variations of modern-day antisemitism.”
CAM also observed that one of the organizations chosen to implement some of the strategy was The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a self-declared Muslim civil rights and advocacy group that the FBI severed ties with a number of years ago. “The guidance specifically stated that, until the FBI could determine whether there continued to be a connection between CAIR or its executives and Hamas, ‘the FBI does not view CAIR as an appropriate liaison partner’ for non-investigative activities,” an official Justice Department document stated in 2013.
CAM said that “given CAIR’s checkered history of regularly defaming and demonizing the Jewish people and state, it is not a legitimate partner in the collective effort against antisemitism.”
They added that while they themselves were not mentioned in the report, “CAM, along with its 740 interfaith partners and millions of engaged grassroots followers, stands ready to do its part to assist in this vital endeavor.
FOUNDED IN 2019, CAM has emerged as a leading voice in the fight against antisemitism. On their advisory board are former chairman of the Jewish Agency Natan Sharansky, Senator Joe Liberman, Rev. Johnnie Moore, Rabbi Stuart Weinblatt, a Conservative rabbi from the US, Dr. Irwin Cotler, Canada’s Special Envoy on Holocaust Education and Antisemitism and Prof. Dina Porat, one of the world’s top experts on antisemitism.
CAM’s CEO is Sacha Roytman-Dratwa, who created the Digital Advocacy Unit at the WJC, as well as leading the #WeRemember Campaign for International Holocaust Remembrance Day, the world’s largest digital educational campaign.
The StopAntisemitism organization only focused on the criticism of the new White House strategy. They said that they are “extremely disturbed by several key aspects of the White House’s antisemitism strategy. Our country’s crisis of Jew-hatred needs to be addressed clearly, completely and as a phenomenon unto itself and the Biden Administration’s plan falls short on all counts.”
STOP ANTISEMITISM added that this strategy was written “against the advice of major antisemitism advocacy organizations... that also includes the inferior, competing Nexus definition.”
They explained that “it fails to name anti-Zionism as a primary form of antisemitism.
“The plan will not even allow antisemitism to stand alone, repeatedly mentioning planned executive actions to fight ‘antisemitism, Islamophobia, and related forms of bias and discrimination.’ Fighting Islamophobia and other bigotries is an excellent goal, but it does not belong in this particular antisemitism strategy,” the grassroots watchdog organization founded five years ago said.
Senior officials in central Jewish organizations expressed similar concerns about Nexus and the attitude to anti-Zionism which in the new plan “isn’t necessarily seen as antisemitism.” according to the new plan.
Senior Israeli officials actually said that the fact that the progressive Jerusalem Definition of Antisemitism wasn’t included, is a success.
They added that “the fact that IHRA is mentioned as the main definition of antisemitism, means that anti-Zionism is perceived to be antisemitism.”
The Israeli source added that the State Department, as well as the administration itself, has been using IHRA as the official definition for antisemitism and aren’t planning on changing that. In addition, “more than half-of-the US states have already adopted IHRA,” and therefore, “IHRA is the only definition that is used by law enforcement,” in the US.