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IHRA antisemitism definition

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Boris Johnson

Why British universities should resist the Johnson government’s demand that they adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism: If you’re a Palestinian student studying at a British university this is about your right to express your lived history and that of your family and people. Denying the expression of that experience would seem to go against any ambitions to be truly diverse, inclusive and welcoming institution.

Edward Sutherland, “Principal Teacher” of religious education at the Belmont Academy in Ayr, Scotland, and a senior figure in the Confederation of Friends of Israel in Scotland (COFIS), has been accused of using a pseudonym to post antisemitic material in what appears to have been an attempt to smear the pro-Palestinian movement in general, and the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign (SPSC) in particular.

Menahem Begin (R) with Vladimir Jabotinsky (C) in Pinsk, December 12, 1933. (Photo: National Photo Collection of Israel, Photography dept. GPO)

Israelis have often likened Israeli atrocities against Palestinians to Nazi conduct against Jews, and when a BBC reporter dares to reference the Palestinians in a report on Holocaust remembrance, Israel apologists go nuts.

Under Boris Johnson in Britain, Jewish institutions, rabbis, and Jewish student leaders are claiming to fight antisemitism while simultaneously defending, excusing, or denying the discrimination and oppression of another people. It’s a narrative framework that’s not sustainable, Robert Cohen writes.