Israel advocacy group launches campaign against Israel Apartheid Week

British Israel Alliance aims to have IAW abolished as it breaches the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism

By Jeremy Last March 16, 2022, 2:54 pm Edit

Jeremy Last is assistant web editor at the Jewish News. He lives in Israel, and is currently in his second stint at the JN, having worked for the paper back in the early 2000s!

A pro-Israel advocacy group has launched a campaign against Israel Apartheid Week, which is taking place at universities across the country from 21-27 March.

The British Israel Alliance (BIA) is raising awareness of the week of action, organised by the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Activities will include an “Art Against Apartheid” online panel discussion on 22 March and a “Student Rally Against Apartheid” to take place at Victoria Embankment Gardens on 23 March.

BIA director Michael McCann said the key concern is that a large number of British universities have still not adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance definition of antisemitism.

The BIA has found that most universities in Scotland and Wales have yet to adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and that Northern Ireland’s two universities have not yet done so either.

“Israel Apartheid Week breaches the IHRA definition in several ways most notably by claiming that the existence of Israel is a racist endeavour,” McCann said.

“One of the first steps to eradicating racism in society is to ensure that all public bodies agree what constitutes racism. And the fact that some publicly funded universities have thus far refused to do this is down to either indifference, incompetence or institutional racism.

McCann said the campaign “will seek to encourage our politicians to stop hiding behind the sofa and do their jobs.”

And he added that the aim is to abolish Israel Apartheid Week entirely “because the title is, in itself, a breach of the IHRA definition.”

“Once our objective on adoption is met – if universities still allow IAW events to take place – they will have to explain why they have adopted a definition that they don’t intend to enforce,” McCann said.

“And politicians in each nation of will have to explain and justify how they can adopt a policy that has no ramifications if it is breached.”