‘Disappointment’: Law Profs Sign Letter Criticizing American Bar Association’s Decision To Remove Antisemitism Definition

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A group of nearly 30 university law professors signed a letter released Tuesday asking the American Bar Association (ABA) to reverse its decision to not include the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, according to the letter.

The Academic Engagement Network, a nonprofit working to “empower” university faculty, announced the signed statement from its “most distinguished law professors” Tuesday, according to a press release. The letter signed by nearly 30 professors from universities across the country voiced their “disappointment” that the ABA had decided to remove the IHRA definition, created by the IHRA Plenary in Budapest in 2015 to provide a more thorough resource for authorities to determine when an act of antisemitism has taken place, from its Resolution 514.

“The IHRA definition is an invaluable educational tool for understanding how Jews experience antisemitism today,” the statement read. “It includes both classical antisemitic tropes and canards and illustrations of contemporary antisemitism that are often directed against the State of Israel—such as calls for Israel’s destruction and comparing it to Nazi Germany. It is unfortunate that the supporters of Resolution 514 were reportedly persuaded to opt out of using the IHRA definition only after a number of organizations mobilized in recent weeks to voice wildly exaggerated concerns that it is ‘dangerously chilling’ speech in support of Palestinian rights.”

The resolution was introduced earlier this year to condemn antisemitism, originally including the IHRA definition in the first paragraph, but the definition was eventually removed after pro-Palestinian activists argued that it would prevent criticism of Israel, according to Human Rights Watch.

The letter rejected claims that the IHRA definition would inhibit free speech regarding Palestinian advocacy or criticism of Israel, noting that the definition states that criticism of Israel is not antisemitic as long as it is equivalent to criticism of other countries. Calls for the destruction of Israel or antisemitic tropes disguised as anti-Zionsim, according to the law professors, are not equal criticisms.

The letter further explained that the IHRA definition helps determine motivation when “crimes are committed against Jews.”

“The definition can also be relied upon to decide whether a campus, given all the circumstances, has violated Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, by failing to protect Jewish students from discrimination based on real or perceived shared ethnic or ancestral characteristics,” the statement read.

Kenneth Marcus, founder and chairman of the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Law, told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the ABA needs to address the “growing problem” of antisemitism.

“It would have been far more useful if they could have written a stronger statement that incorporated the IHRA Working Definition of Anti-Semitism,” Marcus said. “A resolution that doesn’t recognize and acknowledge contemporary manifestations of antisemitism, the form we are seeing on the rise on campus and in the workplace, misses a huge chunk of the problem.”

The ABA did not immediately respond to the DCNF’s request for comment.

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