Open letter to Facebook: Adopt the IHRA Definition of Antisemitism

11 August 2020

To download this press statement in PDF format, please click here.

Facebook, Inc. Board of Directors August 7^th, 2020

1 Hacker Way

Menlo Park, CA 94025

Dear Facebook Board of Directors,

We applaud your recent announcement regarding the revision of Facebook policy standards on hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation. We are confident that Facebook can successfully protect and support users, meet corporate social responsibility concerns of stakeholders, and continue to lead the social media industry.

As part of your efforts, we call on you to fully adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism as the cornerstone of Facebook’s hate speech policy regarding antisemitism.

Facebook’s Director of Content Policy Stakeholder Engagement, Peter Stern, recently attested to the usefulness of the IHRA working definition when Facebook first developed its hate speech policy. However, Mr. Stern admitted that Facebook does not have a policy aimed at combatting online antisemitism. He further admitted that Facebook does not embrace the full adoption of the IHRA working definition because the definition recognizes that modern manifestations of antisemitism relate to Israel.

In accordance with the recommendations outlined in the “The New Antisemites” report, which call on social media platforms to eliminate antisemitic content by adopting the IHRA working definition as the basis for content removal policies, we the undersigned coalition of 124 organizations, urge Facebook to implement a hate speech policy on antisemitism that includes the full IHRA working definition at its core.

Nearly 40 countries have already endorsed or adopted the IHRA working definition in some official capacity, either through their membership in the IHRA or independently. In the United States, in addition to the adoption by the State Department, the recent Executive Order on Combatting Anti-Semitism instructs the Department of Education to consider the IHRA definition when evaluating Title VI Civil Rights Act complaints of discrimination.

The overwhelming majority of civil society organizations at the forefront of efforts to combat antisemitism endorse and encourage the use and adoption of the IHRA working definition. Today’s antisemitism undoubtedly includes the delegitimization of Israel’s right to exist. This bigotry is expressed in various ways, such as the rejection of Jewish self-determination, Holocaust revisionism and denial, and the application of double standards toward the Jewish state and people.

Will Facebook join the ranks of the historians, advocates, activists, lawmakers, and leaders who compiled the IHRA working definition? Will Facebook take responsibility and move toward removing the scourge of antisemitism from today’s most important online public square?

Jews today, like many other minority communities, are being targeted and attacked in record numbers. They experience physical violence, harassment, and discrimination offline and online.

Jews overwhelmingly report that online antisemitism is the most acute form of Jew-hatred they experience.

The full IHRA working definition of antisemitism provides Facebook an effective, neutral, and nuanced tool to protect Jewish users from hate speech and imagery that incites hate and oftentimes leads to violence. While the impact of online hate speech, misinformation, and disinformation on our society continues to be researched and explored, we cannot afford to lose any more time in fighting this bigotry and preventing violence.

We urge Facebook to put words into action and power behind commitment — and fully adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism.

Signed,

Academic Engagement Network – United States
Acción y Comunicación sobre Oriente Medio (ACOM) – Spain
IL – Worldwide
ACT Zionist Council – Australia
Alpha Epsilon Pi (AEPi) – United States
Alums for Campus Fairness – United States
Am Yisrael Foundation – United States
American-Israeli Collaboration Enterprise (AICE) – United States
Americans for Peace and Tolerance (APT) – United States
Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) – Australia
Belgian Federation of Jewish Organizations – Belgium
Belgian Friends of Israel (BFOI) – Belgium
B’nai B’rith Canada – Canada
Britain Israel Communications and Research Centre (BICOM) – United Kingdom
Campaign Against Antisemitism (CAA) – United Kingdom
Center for Information and Documentation Israel (CIDI) – The Netherland
Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs (CIJA) – Canada
Christians and Jews United for Israel (CJUI) – United States
Club Z – United States
Coalition for Jewish Values – United States
Committee for Accuracy in Middle East Reporting and Analysis (CAMERA) – Worldwide
Comunidad Chilena De Israel – Israel
Con Israel Y Por La Paz – Argentina
Conexión Israel – Latin America
Creative Community for Peace (CCFP) – United States
Eagles Wings – United States
Education Without Indoctrination – United States
Endowment for Middle East Truth (EMET) – United States
Europe Israel Public Affairs (EIPA) – Europe
European Jewish Association (EJA) – Europe
European Leadership Network (ELNET) – Europe
Feldman Foundation – California – United States
Feldman Foundation – Texas – United States
Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) – United States
Freedom Center – United States
Fuel for Truth – United States
Fuente Latina – Worldwide
God’s Heaven Universal Church – Brazil
Hasbara Fellowships – United States
Hatzad Hasheni – Latin America
Haym Salomon Center – United States
Hebraica – Brazil
Hochberg Family Foundation – United States
Honest Reporting – Worldwide
Honestly Concerned – Germany
I Like Israel (ILI) – Germany
InfoEquitable – France
Institute for Monitoring Peace and Cultural Tolerance in School Education (IMPACT-SE)
Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy (ISGAP)
International Movement for Peace and Coexistence – Belgium
Ireland Israel Alliance – Ireland
Israel Advocacy Movement – United Kingdom
Israel Always – United States
Israel Britain Alliance – United Kingdom
Israel Christian Nexus – United States
Israel on Campus Coalition (ICC) – United States
Israel Sin Fronteras – Ecuador
Istituto Milton Friedman – Italy
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) – Israel
Jewish Community Council of Victoria – Australia
Jewish Policy Center – United States
Jewish Student Union Germany (JSUD) – Germany
Jewish War Veterans of the USA – United States
Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA) – United States
Licra Paris – France
Maccabee Task Force (MTF) – United States
Maccabi World Union – Worldwide
Makkabi Deutschland – Germany
Med Israel for Fred (MIFF) – Norway, Denmark & Iceland
Middle East Forum (MEF) – United States
Mideast Freedom Forum Berlin (MFFB) – Germany
Michael and Andrea Leven Family Foundation – United States
My Truth – Israel
Nahost FriendsForum e.V. (NAFFO) – Germany
National Council of Young Israel – United States
National Hispanic Christian Leadership Conference (NHCLC) – United States
NC Coalition for Israel – United States
New South Wales Jewish Board of Deputies – Australia
Newton and Rochelle Becker Charitable Trust – United States
NGO Monitor – Israel
North West Friends of Israel – United Kingdom
Northern Ireland Friends of Israel – United Kingdom
Online Antisemitism Taskforce
Online Hate Prevention Institute – Australia
Organisation Juive Européenn – France
Orthodox Jewish Chamber of Commerce – United States
Osservatorio Antisemitismo of the CDEC Foundation – Italy
Palestinian Media Watch (PMW) – Israel
Queensland Jewish Board of Deputies – Australia
Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights – Canada
Reservists on Duty (ROD) – Israel
RI Coalition for Israel – United States
Scholars for Peace in the Middle East (SPME) – United States
Simon Wiesenthal Center – Worldwide
Solomon – osservatorio sulle discriminazioni – Italy
StandWithUs – Worldwide
State Zionist Council of Queensland – Australia
State Zionist Council of Western Australia – Australia
org – United States
Students Supporting Israel (SSI) – Worldwide
Sussex Friends of Israel – United Kingdom
Sweden Israel Alliance (SIA) – Sweden
Swedish Zionist Federation – Sweden
The Executive Council of Australian Jewry – Australia
The Gemunder Family Foundation – United States
The International Legal Forum (ILF) – Worldwide
The Israeli-Jewish Congress (IJC) – Israel
ca – United States
The Lisa and Michael Leffell Foundation – United States
The Lawfare Project – United States
The Milstein Family Foundation (MFF) – United States
The Philos Project – United States
The Pinsker Centre – United Kingdom
The Reut Group – Israel
Thirty (30) Years After – United States
UK Lawyers for Israel (UKLFI) – United Kingdom
United Nations Watch
United with Israel
WerteInitiative – jüdisch-deutsche Positionen (Values Initiative, promoting Jewish-German interests) – Germany
World Values Network (WVN) – United States
Zachor Legal Institute – United States
Zionism Victoria – Australia
Zionist Federation of Australia – Australia
Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) – United States