CofC Professor Explores Issue of Defining Antisemitism
Jewish studies professor Joshua Shanes has published an article for The Conversation about trying to define antisemitism.
Harvard has adopted a broader definition of antisemitism. Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images
College of Charleston Jewish Studies professor Joshua Shanes has published an article in The Conversation concerning Harvard University’s adoption of a broader definition of antisemitism. The new definition is in response to two federal lawsuits filed by Jewish students alleging antisemitic discrimination at the school. The university will adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance “working definition” of antisemitism.
Shanes says many Jewish community leaders and politicians favor this definition, but many scholars prefer either the competing Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism or the definition offered by the Nexus Task Force, a committee of experts led by the Bard Center for the Study of Hate.
“The controversy over this move indicates that many well-intentioned people still struggle to understand what exactly constitutes antisemitism and when anti-Israel rhetoric crosses the line,” says Shanes.
In the article, Shanes examines the history of antisemitism and the relationship between antisemitism and anti-Zionism in recent years.
Read the complete article on The Conversation.
