Send an email to the Rutgers University Student Assembly (RUSA) demanding that they retract the S21-05 which characterizes criticism of Israel as antisemitic!

On October 27th, the Rutgers University Student Assembly (RUSA) released a statement via Instagram story promoting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism. Rutgers University hosts the largest Jewish campus population in the country and as such, the antisemitism in our community must be addressed and taken seriously. We are in full support of any meaningful action that can be taken by RUSA and the administration to combat antisemitism on campus. The IHRA definition of antisemitism which RUSA has adopted, however, does not lessen threats of antisemitism and instead obstructs political and academic freedom by conflating legitimate criticism of Israel with antisemitism.

While the definition begins by explaining antisemitism as hatred towards Jews, it goes on to describe criticism of Israel, including identification of Israel as a racist state, as antisemitic. By directly associating criticisms of Israel with antisemitism, the IHRA definition seeks to silence advocates for Palestinian human rights and justice against Israeli apartheid. On Rosh Hashanah this year, Jewish community spaces were egged in the third incident of the past two years, and in previous years campus locations were vandalized with swastika symbols. To holistically combat antisemitism on campus, an official definition should capture it as genuine racial, ethnic, or religious bigotry against Jewish people that is not conflated with justified calls for Palestinian sovereignty. As explained by Jewish-American scholar Judith Butler, it is of the utmost importance that struggles for Palestinian liberation are not misconstrued as antisemitic, because “if the charge of antisemitism is used to defend Israel at all costs, then its power when used against those who do discriminate against Jews - who do violence to synagogues in Europe, wave Nazi flags or support antisemitic organizations - is radically diluted.”

Read the Students for Justice in Palestine's full statement here: www.tinyurl.com/ihrastatement

Co-signing organizations: