I've been reading up a lot on the whole fiasco regarding Labour's refusal to adopt the full IHRA definition of anti-semitism. As a Labour member myself, I was really concerned when I first heard this, alongside many protests that asserted Labour was anti-semitic as a result. The last thing I would want is to be associated with a racist party in any way, shape, or form. Therefore, I decided to research.
I figured a good starting point was to look up the definition itself, and most of these are common sense that they should be adopted. But there were just two examples that I'm not 100% sure why they constitute anti-semitism, so perhaps someone here can help me to understand. I got the "eleven examples" from
this Jewish news site, which I assume to be accurate.
The IHRA examples in question are;
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7) Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
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To me, calls to "get rid of"/dissolve the current Israeli state are almost always a red flag that the person is an anti-semite. However, the bolded aspect is what confuses me. I feel that in a way, it censors the criticism of discrimination towards Arabic Israelis and some of the language the current government has used about Arabs. (ie. by Netanyahu)
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10) Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
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This one I find quite problematic. I understand that it could be easy to cross lines in a justifiably sensitive topic, though I don't think any state or individual should be exempt from comparisons to Nazi ideology if they are legitimate. For example, most people would not raise issue with apartheid South African policy or North Korean policy being compared to the Nazis' - so what is the difference here? Not a rhetorical question, genuinely uncertain.
In advance, I hope y'all understand the education-seeking nature of this post, and apologies if I've offended any jewish members by questioning the technicalities of the IHRA definition
peace and love