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JUNE 22• 2023 | 7

other groups, committed to 
its destruction.”
This dramatizes the value 
of the IHRA definition, 
which recognizes that 
(1) under antisemitism’s 
previous mutations Jews 
were regularly demonized 
as bloodthirsty baby-killers; 
(2) with antisemitism’s 
current mutation, which 
incorporates anti-Zionism, 
antisemites regularly 
demonize the world’s only 
Jewish state as a uniquely 
bloodthirsty predator-
state and baby-killer; (3) 
during antisemitism’s earlier 
mutations, antisemites 
regularly demonized Jews 
as controlling banks, the 
media and governments; 
and (4) during the 21st 
century, the “I am only anti-
Zionist” antisemites regularly 
demonize Israel or Zionists as 
controlling banks, the media 
and foreign governments.
This brings us back to the 
Biden administration’s big 
announcement on May 25. 
With tremendous fanfare 
and to the disappointment 
of many Jewish groups, the 
administration’s National 
Strategy not only referenced 
the IHRA definition, but 
also commended the Nexus 
definition, which only served 
to dilute the IHRA definition 
— not to better define it, but 
by its plain language, to more 
narrowly define it.
For example, the Nexus 
definition claims, “Paying 
disproportionate attention 
to Israel and treating Israel 
differently than other 
countries is not prima 
facie proof of antisemitism.”
The problem with 
that condition is that 
today’s insidious 
mutation of antisemitism 
is precisely about 

“disproportionate attention 
to Israel and treating Israel 
differently.” Adding a 
qualifier like “not prima 
facie proof” does nothing to 
diminish that reality.

DISMAY AND CONCERN
Many Jews were dismayed 
to learn that the National 
Strategy included the Nexus 
definition, as well as a nod 
to “other definitions” besides 
the IHRA’s, which is the 
consensus definition of the 
Jewish community. That 
dismay was coupled with 
significant and justifiable 
concern when the Jewish 
community learned that 
one of the administration’s 
partners in “fighting 
antisemitism,” according to 
talking points in the National 
Strategy, was going to be the 
Council on American-
Islamic Relations. CAIR 
is a leading purveyor of 
antisemitism as defined by 
IHRA and most of the world’s 
Jews.
The justice of such 
concern was demonstrated 
shortly thereafter, when a 
hate-filled rant was made 
public by the City University 
of New York (CUNY) 
on YouTube. In the May 

12 speech, commencement 
speaker Fatima Mousa 
Mohammed spewed the 
following demonizing lies 
about Israel, which plainly 
tap into the trope of the 
bloodthirsty Jew: “Israel 
continues to indiscriminately 
rain bullets and bombs on 
worshippers, murdering the 
old, the young, attacking even 
funerals and graveyards, as 
it encourages lynch mobs to 
target Palestinian homes and 
businesses, as it imprisons its 
children, as it continues its 
project of settler colonialism.”
In a speech she gave to 
fellow CUNY School of Law 
students and others prior to 
their graduation, Mohammed 
said, “Zionist professors 
[must] be banned from 
college campuses,” “Zionist 
students [should] not be 
allowed in the same spaces as 
Palestinians” and “Zionism is 
a genocidal threat.”
Mohammed’s comments 
were textbook antisemitism 
under Rabbi Sacks’ and the 
IHRA definition. The tropes 
employed by Mohammed 
clearly stem from her deep 
obsession with the one Jewish 
state, an obsession the IHRA 
definition accurately defines 
as grounded in antisemitism, 

and which the Nexus 
definition excuses.
A few days later, on 
May 31, after the CUNY 
Board of Trustees rightfully 
characterized Mohammed’s 
commencement address 
as hate speech, CAIR 
demonstrated in a single 
tweet why the NEXUS 
definition’s inclusion in 
the Biden administration’s 
National Strategy is so 
problematic in the fight 
against antisemitism.
“We condemn CUNY for 
joining dishonest, cowardly 
and dangerous attacks on 
their own student leader, 
Fatima Mohammed, who 
has been attacked by far-
right media, Mayor Adams, 
and multiple members 
of Congress and City 
Council for standing up for 
Palestinian rights,” the group 
stated.
Under the IHRA’s 
comprehensive definition 
of antisemitism, it is clear 
that Fatima Mohammed’s 
speech, as well as the conduct 
of those encouraging and 
defending it (like CAIR) are 
antisemitic. Any National 
Strategy to fight antisemitism 
that can’t acknowledge that is 
doomed to fail.
So, if President Biden 
is serious about fighting 
antisemitism, he has to decide 
what’s more important to 
him: Alliances with groups 
like CAIR or fighting an 
ancient hatred as it exists 
today. 

Micha Danzig served in the Israeli 

army and is a former police officer 

with the New York Police Department 

(NYPD). An attorney, he is active with 

a number of Jewish and pro-Israel 

organizations, including StandWithUs, 

T.E.A.M. and Friends of the Israel 

Defense Forces (FIDF). Originally pub-

lished by Jewish Journal.

U.S. President Joe Biden relaunches the White House Office of Faith-
Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, Feb. 15, 2021.

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