GUIDANCE

The JSN agrees with Rabbis, prominent Jewish scholars, Israeli and pro-Palestinian organisations, leading universities, and many others that the “IHRA” definition must be rejected. Most universities in Scotland have not adopted this definition. Some have explicitly rejected the controversial “IHRA” definition, given its well-known problems. These include, for instance, that it does not protect Jews from discrimination; the counter-productive ways in which it focuses on a political nation state, conflating antisemitism and legitimate speech; its vagueness that has a propensity to shape flawed personalised accusations irrespective of intent; and its contentious “examples” that appear to make many important Jewish writers and Holocaust survivors inappropriately framed as antisemitic. The lead author of the IHRA definition himself has urged universities not to adopt it, calling it one of the most severe dangers to Jewish students and staff.