Blinken: US enthusiastically embraces IHRA definition of anti-Semitism
Washington (QNN)- The United States announced that it “enthusiastically embraces” the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism on Monday.
In a letter sent to the American Zionist Movement President Richard Heideman, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said the US “enthusiastically embraces” the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of anti-Semitism.
“I am most appreciative that Secretary Blinken has so enthusiastically embraced the important and widely accepted working definition of antisemitism, which is a central part of the International Holocaust Remembrance Association definition." -AZM President @HeidemanDC https://t.co/917FFtz6TU
— American Zionist Movement (@AZM4Israel) March 3, 2021
Blinken also stressed the long-running ties between ‘Israel’ and the US and affirming Washington’s commitment to fighting attempts to delegitimize ‘Israel’.
Blinken also reiterated the Biden administration’s stance in favor of a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Blinken said the US was eager “to counter Holocaust distortion and combat anti-Semitism and other forms of intolerance abroad while we strengthen our efforts at home.”
The IHRA definition has been formally adopted by the governments of the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy, Hungary, the European Parliament and more than 30 other countries.
However, the IHRA definition includes problematic examples of antisemitism that have been criticised by human rights groups as well as some liberal Zionist organisations.
Some of the most controversial examples of antisemitism provided by the IHRA include banning anyone from “applying double standards by requiring of Israel a behaviour not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation”.
Another example presented in the IHRA definition: “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, eg, by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
The definition is simply designed to silence criticism of ‘Israel’ and of Zionism by equating this criticism with antisemitism.
