King County Council Backs Down from Backing Down on IHRA...Sort of
But First
A visit to the mail room.
To the Editor:
About that failed effort to get the King County Council to adopt the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism:
AJC and other mainstream orgs decided to bring what they thought would be a simple resolution to KCC. Much to their surprise, JVP took exception to their action and launched a counterattack, scuttling AJC's plans. I'm certainly no fan of JVP (and I used to direct the AJC office), but I've seen this dynamic repeated over and over again, previously with Kadima and now with JVP. The mainstream organizations presume to speak on behalf of the Jewish community. They then act without consulting the left-- and left-out--group, which then reacts by taking public action, thereby undercutting the action of the mainstream community, embarrassing the latter and undermining the sense of our having a more-or-less united community. I suppose the same sort of dynamic also could occur if an outlying right-wing group took offense with a mainstream action.
Would a prior consultation with JVP have produced a different result? Would we want to give JVP that much recognition and power?
Personally, I don't think the result would have been any different but it might have been worth a try. What I am saying is that this is, in fact, a longstanding dynamic in our community—and it sucks...Rabbi Anson Laytner
King County Anti-Semitism Proclamation Comes with a Compromise
It’s been a week for the Jewish community and the Metropolitan King County Council.
The plan by the Council to announce a proclamation on January 24th embracing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of anti-Semitism in a gesture of allyship to the Jewish community was paused when critics of the definition spoke out against it.
Activists opposed to IHRA, due to the belief that it conflates criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism and has a chilling effect on free speech and Palestinian rights, advocated for a milder proclamation.
In a plot twist, last week Councilmember Dave Upthegrove offered up a new proclamation that did not allude to IHRA but did reference the Puget Sound Jewish Community Statement on Antisemitism endorsed by 47 community organizations in 2019. On January 31st, the Council endorsed the revised proclamation. Only Councilmember Reagan Dunn signed and posted the original proclamation.
The Puget Sound Statement on Antisemitism is similar to the IHRA definition and includes the same cautionary examples of where criticism of Israel bleeds into attacks on Jews. It cites “Accusing Jews of dual loyalty; holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the State of Israel; denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination in their own sovereign country; and drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis” as tied up with anti-Semitism.
It also goes into more detail than IHRA about the double standard sometimes applied to Israel:
There are times when Israel is held to a higher standard than other countries. This higher standard can stem from a focus on the longstanding American-Israel alliance, Israel’s robust democracy where citizens freely shine a light on policies with which they disagree, or American Jews’ special relationship with and aspirations for Israel as a significant component of Jewish identity. There are also times when applying a standard to Israel not demanded of other nations is rooted in deep prejudice against the very existence of Israel and manifests as repeated, extremely critical judgments and actions against Israel, and is experienced by members of the Jewish community as antisemitism.
What happened?
“To the best of my knowledge, several members of the Jewish community shared the Puget Sound Jewish Community Statement on Antisemitism, with various members of the Council,” Federation CEO Nancy Greer said via email. “You may recall that the Puget Sound Statement was developed through a robust consensus process with a broad cross section of organizations and synagogues. The consensus building, convened by the Federation in 2019 (predating the Fed’s formation of the JCRC) resulted with 47 organizations and synagogues signing on.”
AJC Seattle director Regina Sassoon Friedland is satisfied with the outcome, but is nonetheless disappointed that the widespread, international IHRA definition was dropped. A statement from AJC that went out on Wednesday states:
“A non-binding educational tool, the IHRA Working Definition has garnered unprecedented support from the vast majority of Jewish congregations in King County and the entire Jewish Caucus of the Washington State Legislators. King County residents sent over 12,000 letters to the council urging them to include the IHRA Working Definition as a valuable addition to any action to address antisemitism.”
From the progressive perspective, the compromise is unsatisfying, says Guy Oron, who wrote about the progressive pushback for Real Change.
“As a journalist following the controversy surrounding the proclamation, I think the King County Council ended up reaching a sort of compromise that made both sides unhappy,” he said in an email. While progressive Jews can claim victory that the IHRA reference was dropped, “more conservative and Israel-supporting sections of the Jewish community can take credit” for including the link to the Puget Sound Community Statement on Antisemitism.
“I’ve personally felt isolated from some of the more mainstream Jewish organizations because of their reactionary Zionist politics,” Oron adds. “It’s very telling that progressive synagogues such as Kadima Reconstructionist Community were not among the list of signatories to the regional Jewish community statement. If mainstream Jewish organizations and congregations were to stop associating criticism of Israel that they don't like with antisemitism, it could help bridge some of these political divides.”
Requests for comment from Rep. Tana Senn, a member of the Jewish legislative caucus, as well as Councilmembers Dunn, Upthegrove, and Girmay Zahilay, have not been returned.
The decision is representative of Greater Seattle’s dynamic, which relies on consensus building among a range of religious and political ideologies in a relatively small active community.
“Based on the outcome this week, with all nine members of the Metropolitan King County Council signing the proclamation condemning anti-Semitism, our community statement clearly resonated with them, I suspect in large part because it was built on local consensus,” Greer says.
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Shoutouts
Shoutout to Lea Lipman for being such an amazing host when I was back in Seattle last month! —Rina Raphael
The Washington State Jewish Historical Society sends appreciation for their important work- to the Black Heritage Society of Washington State in honor of Black History Month. —Lisa Kranseler
I'm worried about this debate spilling over into Real Change, whose purpose is supposed to be Low Income Housing policy.