https://youtu.be/vQH4DW_GNoY

On Tuesday, April 6, the US Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel hosted a webinar on “Weaponizing Anti-Semitism: IHRA and Ending the Palestine Exception.” Featured speakers at the event were Dima Khalidi of Palestine Legal, Prof. Richard Falk, Prof. Cornel West and composer Raymond Deane. Nura Bawab, a student at the University of Texas – Austin, where the IHRA definition was recently passed by student government, also discussed the effects on student organizing.

The widely-attended webinar was moderated by Prof. Heike Schotten of the USACBI Organizing Collective. Watch the full video above of the event (also available on Facebook). 

The event was opened with an introductory statement and analysis, written collectively by the event’s organizing team, Prof. Terri Ginsberg,  composer John King, Prof. Bill Mullen, and Prof. Heike Schotten.  As the introduction concludes:

“The dangers of IHRA cannot be overestimated.  Its implications for political activism and academic freedom are as far-reaching as the political and economic interests which it represents.  Our speakers today will discuss, from their respective positions, not only how and why the IHRA is so dangerous, but also how critics of Israel and supporters of Palestinian liberation might resist its repression and encroachment on their political work.”

Read the full introduction here.

A series of informative links were also shared with the audience as a resource for their further information on IHRA, the event speakers, and USACBI’s work. The list of links is below:

• USACBI webinar on colonialism and the climate crisis: https://usacbi.org/2020/09/video-bds-capitalism-colonialism-and-the-climate-crisis-connecting-the-dots/
• USACBI webinar on Black Lives Matter, BDS, and Israeli Annexation: https://usacbi.org/2020/07/video-black-lives-matter-israeli-annexation-and-bds-usacbi-webinar-with-robin-d-g-kelley-and-rabab-abdulhadi/
• USACBI webinar on Movement for Palestine + Movement 4 Black Lives: https://usacbi.org/2020/07/video-movement-for-palestine-and-struggle-for-black-lives-with-ghada-karmi-kristian-davis-bailey-and-mohammed-nabulsi/
• USACBI “We Will Not Be Silenced” webinars: https://usacbi.org/2020/10/we-will-not-be-silenced-continuing-the-struggle-against-corporate-and-university-censorship-of-palestine-report-and-videos/
• USACBI signon link:https://usacbi.org/about/  
• California Scholars for Academic Freedom addresses Blinken on IHRA definition: https://usacbi.org/2021/04/california-scholars-for-academic-freedom-addresses-blinken-on-ihra-definition/
• IHRA working definition of antisemitism: https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/working-definition-antisemitism
• Stockholm Declaration: https://www.holocaustremembrance.com/about-us/stockholm-declaration
• Attack on FSU student: https://palestinelegal.org/news/2020/7/2/florida-politicians-launch-witch-hunt-against-palestinian-fsu-student-senate-president
• Fordham U SJP: https://www.ijvcanada.org/ihra-definition-at-work/#ib-toc-anchor-0
• Rabab Abdulhadi link: https://palestinelegal.org/news/lawsuit-against-sfsu-culmination-years-long-suppression-campaign
• U of Minnesota Hillel vote: https://www.jns.org/university-of-minnesota-students-approve-ihra-definition-for-campus
• U of Minnesota student protest letter against the IHRA vote: https://mndaily.com/266599/opinion/opinion-oppose-minnesota-hillels-referendum-to-adopt-the-ihras-working-definition-of-antisemitism/?fbclid=IwAR14gyadnwoNhEpZffXV5LGvM-nPJR38eTJFob0qG34QRTDLtdYLDm6DBq4 
• NYU lawsuit and IHRA definition adoption: https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2020/10/02/new-york-university-settles-anti-semitism-case-education-department
• Coverage of the NYU situation: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/nora-barrows-friedman/israel-lobby-spreads-more-lies-about-palestine-groups-nyu
• Pal Legal backgrounder on IHRA: https://palestinelegal.org/redefinition-efforts
• Pal Legal timeline on IHRA, called “Distorted Definition”: https://palestinelegal.org/distorted-definition
• Cornel West’s new book: https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/237681/black-prophetic-fire-by-cornel-west/
• Irish Artists’ Pledge to Boycott Israel: https://www.ipsc.ie/cultural-boycott/landmark-1000th-irish-artist-signs-the-irish-artists-pledge-to-boycott-israel
• Richard Falk’s memoir: https://www.claritypress.com/product/public-intellectual-the-life-of-a-citizen-pilgrim/
• JVP petition against IHRA: https://jewishvoiceforpeace.org/ihra/
• JVP petition to Butler University about cancellation of Angela Davis: https://act.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/a/butler-university
• Independent Jewish Voices Canada campaign against IHRA: https://www.noihra.ca/
• The Jerusalem Declaration: https://jerusalemdeclaration.org/
• Adri Nieuwhof, Human rights defenders sue German parliament: https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/adri-nieuwhof/human-rights-defenders-sue-german-parliament-over-anti-bds-resolution
• The three activists are using the hashtag #BT3P in tweets about their campaign, which they are calling Bundestag 3 for Palestine. https://www.bt3p.org/en/home; https://www.facebook.com/BDSInitiativeOldenburg/
• Free Palestinian students https://freepalestinianstudents.org/