FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 25, 2021

CONTACT: Yonah Lieberman, press@ifnotnowmovement.org

We welcome the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism as a viable alternative to the controversial and unhelpful IHRA working definition. The JDA grounds the fight for Jewish safety in universal principles of human rights and makes it clear that fighting antisemitism is inseparable from fighting other forms of discrimination.

For years, self-appointed Jewish leaders have promoted the IHRA working definition as part of their long-term campaign to shield the Israeli government from accountability. While they claim to be fighting hatred of Jews, what they’ve done is muddy the waters about real antisemitism and misuse Jewish communal resources that should be going toward fighting the racist extremists that threaten the safety of our community and our neighbors.

We believe that the JDA will open up much-needed political space for Palestinians and their allies to organize for their rights — political space that Israel hawks have attacked for decades with false accusations of antisemitism. Crucially, the JDA makes it abundantly clear that support for anti-Zionism or the BDS movement is not, on its face, antisemitic.

The JDA is a welcome relief to a cynical approach to combating antisemitism. This tool will be useful in the work that we and allies are already doing to fight antisemitism, but we know a definition on its own won’t end antisemitism. We can only defeat it by building relationships across differences and taking action as part of the larger movement for justice and equity for all.

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IfNotNow Movement is organizing in key states to expose the occupation as a moral crisis within the American Jewish community, end the weaponization of antisemitism in the political debate over Israel, and create political space for leaders who will stand up for the freedom and dignity for all Israelis and Palestinians.

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