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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.
TWITTER