Media Releases

The Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) welcomes the announcement by New South Wales Premier Dominic Perrottet this week that the state will become the first to embrace the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism, following the Federal Government’s embrace of the definition in October.  
 
The IHRA definition is a simple, straightforward description of antisemitism, containing 11 illustrative examples of how antisemitism might manifest in practice. Developed over many years by international antisemitism and Holocaust experts, the IHRA definition is a vital tool for identifying and responding to antisemitism.  
 
Particularly given the increasing phenomenon of Holocaust distortion among a segment of those protesting COVID-19 vaccines and restrictions, it is more important than ever that the IHRA definition be adopted and applied to educate the population about antisemitism and combat all its ugly forms, including preventing its more violent manifestations, which we have witnessed in the US and Europe in recent times.  
 
AIJAC has long promoted the adoption of the IHRA definition and hopes other states and territories will soon follow the welcome initiative of New South Wales.  
 
AIJAC Executive Director Dr Colin Rubenstein said, “We are very pleased that the NSW Government has taken this important step in combatting antisemitism. As the Premier said, it is important to identify antisemitism in order to fight it.  We thank the NSW Government for this principled and moral action. We also thank Minister Natalie Ward and Scott Farlow MLC for their advocacy on this issue.
 
“NSW may be the first state to embrace the IHRA definition, but we are confident that others will soon follow its excellent lead. We also look forward to seeing the definition adopted by a range of institutions across Australia. Antisemitism must be combatted with all the tools at our disposal, and the IHRA definition is the most authoritative explanation of antisemitism we have,” Dr Rubenstein concluded.