1. United States
2. Wisc.
3. Letter

I am writing to express my opposition to the codification of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism into our state’s laws. Experts around the world (including the definition’s primary author, Ken Sterns) have warned about the potential for this definition to be used to stifle legitimate and necessary criticism of Israel by conflating it with antisemitism. Already, at a national level, we are seeing efforts to stifle free speech in regard to Israel via accusations of antisemitism or terrorism. We should not be adopting this into state law now, not when legitimate criticism of Israel’s ongoing genocide (as established by the UN and human rights organizations around the world) is so necessary.