The recent announcement by Taoiseach Micheál Martin that Ireland would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism is both surprising and problematic.
It is surprising because some prominent Irish politicians have been accused of anti-Semitism drawing on the logic of the IHRA definition. These include President Michael D Higgins for his mention of Gaza at the Holocaust Memorial Day address on January 26th and then-taoiseach Simon Harris last December 17th by Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Sa’ar. In both instances, the logic behind these accusations is Ireland’s support for Palestine in the context of the criminal proceedings in the international courts against Israel’s conduct of its war on Gaza. These accusations have been rightly rejected by Harris and President Higgins among others. As Michael McDowell pointed out in these pages recently, “opposition to radical and extremist Zionism is not, and never can be equated to, anti-Semitism”. The problem with the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism, however, is that it does exactly that, and is therefore used as a very effective weapon to stifle public debate on Israel’s actions against Palestinians, destroying many reputations and careers as a result.
One need look no further than Germany to see how problematic the IHRA definition is. While Germany is by no means an isolated case, it is particularly instructive because of its perpetration of the Holocaust against Jews and other minorities during the second World War. Last year, that country’s lower house, the Bundestag, passed two key resolutions, effectively equating anti-Zionism to anti-Semitism. These cross-party resolutions, which notably are not legally binding, draw on the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism and include a 2019 resolution against the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and a resolution passed on November 7th, 2024. Both equate any criticism of or peaceful actions against Israel, including referring to genocidal massacres in Gaza, as “anti-Semitic”.
The German far-right political party Alternative for Germany (AfD) voted in favour of these resolutions, with Beatrix von Storch, that party’s deputy parliamentary leader and granddaughter of Hitler’s finance minister, claiming AfD ownership over the November 7th resolution’s content and in particular its direct equating of Muslims with being de facto anti-Semitic. As Prof Donatella della Porta, at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence points out, these resolutions have “turned the fight against anti-Semitism into an instrument of racialisation and repression”.
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Numerous Jewish personalities and organisations have criticised these resolutions. In August, a group of 150 Jewish artists, writers and scholars living in Germany condemned the November 7th resolution for wilfully ignoring the fact that “the overwhelming majority of anti-Semitic crimes originate in the German far right”. The German Jewish organisation, Jewish Voice, issued a statement from Jewish organisations in 22 countries on six continents stating that the resolution’s “cynical weaponisation of anti-Semitism ... makes hostages of all Jews, whose safety is used as a pretext for the persecution of other minorities”.
There is a tragic absurdity to these resolutions whereby, as Jewish-American philosopher, Susan Neiman wrote in 2023, overwhelmingly non-Jewish German bureaucrats, who know little about Judaism, accuse Jews of being “anti-Semitic” simply because they support Palestinian rights. As Jewish American artist Nan Goldin quite rightly points out, these resolutions are not designed to protect Jews, but rather to punish anyone, including Jews, who express anti-Zionist views. Their primary targets, she adds, are Palestinian communities and activists, amounting to a de facto institutionalisation of anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim racism in Germany.
Ultimately, these resolutions, according to the Jewish South African artist and German resident Candice Breitz, “fundamentally undermine basic constitutional rights such as freedom of speech, freedom of artistic expression, academic freedom and freedom of assembly, by essentially forcing a pledge of allegiance to state ideology [ie unquestioning support for Israel] ... as the basis for being able to study in Germany, receive state funding or ... being granted rights of asylum or citizenship”.
The same Bundestag parties are now proposing a similar resolution aimed specifically at German universities and schools. While the original vote, due last December, was postponed, there is determination among these parties to have it adopted before the German parliament is dissolved in preparation for general elections on February 23rd. This text recommends, among many other measures, that anyone found criticising Israel in these institutions will be considered anti-Semitic and must therefore face the “full use of [the educational institution’s] legal options” including suspension and expulsion.
If Ireland adopts the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism we could end up in a similar situation as in Germany where any criticism of Israeli government policy towards Palestinians, from public representatives or figures, researchers, schoolteachers, academics or campaigners, could be viewed as anti-Semitic, even if expressed by the many Jews who are anti-Zionist and support Palestinian rights. There are alternative declarations on anti-Semitism available that can be adopted, such as the Jerusalem Declaration, which avoid the problems inherent in the IHRA declaration. The Government should immediately drop this dangerous proposal.
Dr Barry Cannon is an associate professor in the department of Sociology at Maynooth University and is a representative of Academics for Palestine Maynooth University Branch
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