Summary
The definition of Antisemitism drafted in the early 2000s for the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia (EUMC), with Kenneth S. Stern as lead drafter, to give data collectors in different countries a common standard for what to include in reports on antisemitic hate crimes; in Stern’s testimony it “was not drafted, and was never intended, as a tool to target or chill speech on a college campus” (Written Testimony of Kenneth S. Stern, PDF p.5-7).
Details
- Its key distinction, drawn from Wisconsin v. Mitchell, is selection over motive: whether the actor selected Jews to be victims, not whether the actor hated Jews (PDF p.5-6).
- Criticism of Israel like that of any other country was not to be included; examples suggesting antisemitism might be present included holding all Jews responsible for the actions of Israel, comparing Israeli policy to that of the Nazis, and denying Jews the right to self determination such as by claiming the existence of Israel is a “racist endeavor” (PDF p.6).
- The Department of State version is, in Stern’s footnote 15, a slightly shorter, slightly broader version of the EUMC working definition (PDF p.7).
- Stern promoted its use by the State Department’s Special Envoys for Antisemitism, and from 2010 warned against its campus misuse; it was used as the basis of Title VI complaints, University of California adoption efforts, the proposed Antisemitism Awareness Act, state legislation in South Carolina, and, after adoption in the United Kingdom, campus actions Stern cites at Manchester and Bristol and the cancellation of an “Israel Apartheid Week” event (PDF p.7-8, p.14).
Related pages
Written Testimony of Kenneth S. Stern, Kenneth S. Stern, Antisemitism Awareness Act, Antisemitism, Academic freedom