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Paper short abstract:

This contribution aims to contribute to debates on academic freedom, academic activism and solidarity for Palestine. It focuses on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and explores its impact on academic solidarity with Palestine.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution draws on a blog published on the DSA website, which predominantly aimed to open up the discussion on the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism within the association.

This discussion is important because evidence suggests that the widespread adoption of the definition, including in the Higher Education sector, undermines, sanctions and silences academic research, activism and solidarity with Palestine.

The contribution will elaborate on three sets of critiques that emerged in recent years. The first focuses on the conflation of antisemitism and anti-Zionism and the implications of this for research and practice; the second addresses the impact of this definition on academic lives and careers; the third critiques the IHRA definition for silencing and delegitimising Palestinian voices, further eroding the already fragile academic freedom surrounding Palestine.

The contribution aims to reflect on whether and how the widespread adoption of the IHRA definitions might constrain our research or activism, within and outside our institutions and broader solidarity with Palestine.

In this particular historical moment, as we live through a fragile ceasefire after fifteen months of a live-streamed ‘plausible genocide’, this is a crucial question for all practitioners and researchers committed to solidarity, antiracism, and decolonisation