Wellington Jewish Council withdraws request for city council to approve new definition of antisemitism

Tuesday, 25 February 2020

A request for Wellington to adopt a widely-used definition of antisemitism has been pulled from the city council's agenda.

The Wellington Jewish Council had requested Wellington adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance's definition of antisemitism to signal the city did not support racism.

The definition was developed by the alliance in 2016 and stated antisemitism was a certain perception of Jewish people, which could be expressed as hatred towards them.

But the Jewish Council's request upset some members of the Wellington Progressive Synagogue, who noted the definition had the potential to conflate antisemitism with anti-Zionism (opposition to the state of Israel), as it had already done overseas.

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At the Jewish council's request, the topic was removed from the city council's agenda on Tuesday. It was due to be discussed at a city council meeting on Wednesday.

In an opinion piece published in The Dominion Post on Tuesday, Progressive Synagogue members Marilyn Garson and Fred Albert argued the controversial definition could render criticism of Israel's occupation of Palestine antisemitic.

Jewish Council of New Zealand spokesperson Juliet Moses says she overwhelmingly supports Wellington City Council adopting a definition of antisemitism developed in 2016. (File photo)

'The IHRA [International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance] definition does nothing new to combat racism,' they said.

'Its new effect is to regulate the speech of people like ourselves: law-abiding non-Zionists who call for the unexceptional application of law and human rights in Israel/Palestine; Jews and non-Jews alike.'

But New Zealand Jewish Council spokesperson Juliet Moses said the IHRA definition explicitly stated criticism of Israel could not be regarded as antisemitic.

The writers of the opinion piece were 'fringe' and did not have a mandate to speak on behalf of the Jewish community - unlike the Jewish Council, she said.

Wellington City councillor Iona Pannett says the proposal is nothing more than 'virtue-signalling'. (File photo)

'We overwhelmingly support the IHRA definition of antisemitism and would very much like to see it adopted by the council,' Moses said on Tuesday.

However, Wellington Jewish Council member Josh Brown later said it was decided to remove the request because of the controversy it was causing.

'It's extremely disappointing but we hope it will come back on the table at some point,' Brown said.

'This is not about left and right. This is about protecting the community from instances of antisemitism.

'We still need the moral support from the council to help the community call it out when it happens.'

Mayor Andy Foster, who had been listed to present the paper, could not be reached for comment.

City councillor Iona Pannett said she supported the decision to have the item removed.

'We want a peaceful and safe way of discussing it, away from the public glare.'

She had received correspondence from some members of the Jewish community who did not agree with the wording of the definition.

The proposal would also have been nothing more than 'virtue-signalling' because the council did not have a plan on how to implement it, Pannett said.