Today, in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day in Israel (Yom HaShoah),
the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), including more than one dozen signatories
from CEP’s board of global leaders and experts, is officially endorsing the
International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of
Antisemitism.





<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>
<[link removed]>



CEP ENDORSES IHRA DEFINITION OF ANTISEMITISM


(New York, N.Y.) – Today, in commemoration of Holocaust Remembrance Day in
Israel (Yom HaShoah), the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), including more than
one dozen signatories from CEP’s board of global leaders and experts, is
officially endorsing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA)
Working Definition of Antisemitism
<[link removed]>.



CEP CEO Ambassador Mark D. Wallace stated:



“It is truly shocking that the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust has
resulted in a significant increase in antisemitic incidents worldwide,
including in Western nations. The hyperbolic demonization of the world’s only
Jewish state, having suffered more loss of innocent life on a single day than
any other in its history, has played an unmistakably preeminent role in fueling
this hatred. In view of the demonstrably widespread failure to recognize this
link, IHRA’s working definition makes the critical distinction that extreme
vilification of Israel is often simply a contemporary manifestation of the
world’s most ancient hatred.”



The IHRA definition provides the most comprehensive and widely agreed upon
definition of antisemitism in the world, and is already adopted by the
governments of at least 40 countries—including the United States, the United
Kingdom, and the European Union—as well as more than 160 Jewish organizations
globally. It lists several examples of what constitutes antisemitism, including
obvious behaviors such as harassment of and physical attacks on Jewsas Jews, as
well as Holocaust denial and blaming Jews as a whole for global ills.
Crucially, IHRA also addresses the delegitimization and demonization of the
Jewish state of Israel. While IHRA recognizes that “criticism of Israel similar
to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic,”
it explicitly notes that the application of double standards to Israel and the
denial of self-determination to the Jewish people do fall under the rubric of
antisemitism.



Nations across the West—including Australia
<[link removed]>
,Austria
<[link removed]>
,Canada <[link removed]>,
France
<[link removed]>
,Germany
<[link removed]>
,Ireland <[link removed]>, Italy
<[link removed]>, the Netherlands
<[link removed]>, the United Kingdom
<[link removed]>
, and the United States—have recorded a record-high number of incidents
targeting Jews since the horrific Hamas attack of October 7, 2023. In the
United States alone, antisemitism watchdogs noted a 360 percent spike in
antisemitism between October 7 and January 7, 2024, compared to the same period
in 2023, while 2023 saw the incidence rate “breaking all records
<[link removed]>
,” according to the ADL. Antisemitic incidents have surged598 percent
<[link removed]>
in the United Kingdom since October 7,320 percent
<[link removed]>
in Germany, and700 percent
<[link removed]>
across U.S. college campuses. Much of the surge is attributable to anti-Israel
activism.



Former U.K. Ambassador to Yemen and CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown
added:



“Antisemitism in all its forms is deplorable. As a reaction to the atrocities
committed by Hamas on October 7 we have witnessed a resurgence of antisemitism,
cautioning us once again that the world’s oldest hatred is also its most
enduring. The IHRA definition reminds us that hatred of Jewish people may take
diverse forms and is often the connective tissue for extremism in all its forms
from the far right and far left, and to extremist Islamism.”



CEP calls on the United Nations, governments, NGOs, and the broader general
public to likewise adopt the IHRA definition, and commends the recent passing
in the House by 310-90 votes of the Antisemitism Awareness Act (HR. 6090
<[link removed]>) to require the
Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights to consider the IHRA
definition when investigating complaints of discrimination.



To read CEP’s extensive resources on antisemitism, click here
<[link removed]>.



Signed:

* Ian Acheson, former COO of UK’s legal human rights and equality regulator,
CEP Senior Advisor
* Gerhard Conrad, former Director of EU INTCEN, CEP Advisory Board Member
* Irwin Cotler, former Minister of Justice and Attorney of Canada, Canada's
First Special Envoy for Combatting Antisemitism, CEP Advisory Board Member
* Edmund Fitton-Brown, former UK Ambassador to Yemen, CEP Advisory Board
Member
* August Hanning, former Director of the German Federal Intelligence Service,
CEP Advisory Board Member
* Gilles de Kerchove, former EU Counter-Terrorism Coordinator, CEP Advisory
Board Member
* Magnus Ranstorp, Research Director, Center for Asymmetric Threat Studies at
Swedish Defense University, CEP Advisory Board Member
* Sir Ivor Roberts, former UK Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Ireland, and Italy,
CEP Advisory Board Member
* Norman T. Roule, former National Intelligence Manager for Iran (NIM-I), CEP
Advisory Board Member
* Hans-Jakob Schindler, former UNSC ISIL, al-Qaida and Taliban Sanctions
Monitoring Team Coordinator, Senior Director of CEP
* Mitch Silber, former Director of Intelligence at the NYPD, CEP Advisory
Board Member
* Frances F. Townsend, former U.S. National Security Advisor, President of
the Counter Extremism Project
* Mark Wallace, CEO of the Counter Extremism Project


###







Unsubscribe
<[link removed]>
|Donate <[link removed]> | Contact Us
<[link removed]>


Were you forwarded this email? Subscribe for yourself here
<[link removed]>
.