The Kansas chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling on the city of Roeland Park to reject a definition of antisemitism that has been adopted by other local governments in recent months.
The Roeland Park City Council is set to consider a resolution on Monday adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.
Five other Johnson County cities, including Leawood and Prairie Village — as well as Johnson County itself — have already adopted the same definition of antisemitism, a move pushed by the local Jewish Community Relations Bureau | American Jewish Committee.
But the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Kansas says that definition contains problematic language that expands the definition of antisemitism to include criticisms of the state of Israel, including opposition to controversial polices like the expansion of settlements in the occupied West Bank.
Adopting the definition, they say, could stymie residents’ free speech and stifle public discourse.
What does the definition say?
The exact working definition on IHRA’s website being considered for adoption Monday in Roeland Park reads:
“Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
It’s part of a larger discussion over antisemitism
Other civic groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, have also raised concerns over the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition.
More than 100 American and Israeli civic organizations urged the United Nations to reject the working definition of antisemitism, citing concerns that it could be “misused” to protect the state of Israel from legitimate criticism.
Locally, Jewish groups have been presenting the definition of antisemitism to local governments for adoption amid a national rise in antisemitism and following two incidents at separate Johnson County high schools — including one at Bishop Miege High in Roeland Park — involving students using racist and antisemitic slurs and graffiti.
Roeland Park city staff confirmed the resolution is on the agenda for Aug. 7 but declined further comment for this story.
CAIR disagrees with the definition
Moussa Elbayoumy, board chair of CAIR-Kansas, told the Post that the organization takes issue specifically with three “contemporary examples” among a longer list of such examples included in the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s antisemitism definition.
Those examples of antisemitic behavior include:
- “Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of the State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
- “Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of any other democratic nation.”
- “Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.”
Elbayoumy said these examples conflate criticisms of Israel, the political state, with antisemitism, and that the definition — when taken with those examples — could be misused.
“This particular definition is misleading and shouldn’t be used as the definition of antisemitism,” Elbayoumy told the Post.
But the organization supports condemning antisemitism
Elbayoumy said CAIR-Kansas supports standing up against discrimination against any marginalized group, including Jewish people.
“When we see someone trying to use that (marginalization) as a tool to deprive other people of their rights, then we have to stand up very strongly against it,” Elbayoumy said.
CAIR-Kansas wants Roeland Park to reject the definition, but the organization is not asking the city to not take a stand against antisemitism, Elbayoumy said.
Elbayoumy said CAIR-Kansas hopes to work with the other five cities that have already adopted this definition of antisemitism — Fairway, Leawood, Mission, Overland Park and Prairie Village — to reverse their earlier decisions.
Local Jewish groups disagree
Gavriela Geller, executive director of JCRB | AJC, which has been urging local governments to adopt the definition, told the Post that the definition makes it clear “that criticism of Israel … that can be leveled against any other country cannot be considered antisemitism.”
Additionally, Geller said that the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ claim that the definition poses a threat to free speech is inaccurate. Rather, the definition is intended to serve as a tool to help identify and stand up against antisemitism, which has been on the rise nationally.
From 2021 to 2022, there was a 36% increase in antisemitism in the United States.
When it comes to protecting a minority community, Geller said, it’s important to listen to what that impacted community tells you what oppression, discrimination and ways to support them looks like.
“During a time of unprecedented antisemitism in the United States, I would really hope that the Jewish community receives the support that we deserve in this fight,” Geller said.
This is a commonly used definition of antisemitism
The state of Kansas, the United States and 40 other countries already use this definition of antisemitism, Geller said, as well as the other Johnson County cities that adopted the definition earlier this year.
Geller said this is the first time she had heard of the Council of American-Islamic Relations’ pushback against a local city’s adoption of the definition of antisemitism, she said.
An articulated definition of what constitutes antisemitism is important to help local governments and law enforcement know how to identify it, Geller said.
For example, it can help law enforcement determine whether a crime committed against a Jewish person or institution is biased-motivated.
“We are at the highest levels of antisemitism ever seen in this country,” Geller said. “We have to ensure that our government has the tools and the education they need to be able to identify and address antisemitism in our cities.”
Go deeper: This play’s teen actors draw on real-life experiences with antisemitism in JoCo
