We encounter hatred of Jews every day – and very often on social media. Even when antisemitic comments and abuse are reported, they are frequently not deleted, with reference to the so-called “Community Standards”, and those spreading the hatred face no sanctions.
Together with a large number of international Jewish organisations, WerteInitiative has written to the board of Facebook, where there is repeated uncertainty as to when postings constitute free expression of opinion and when they constitute antisemitism. The most widely recognised definition of antisemitism worldwide, and one also adopted by the German federal government, is that of the IHRA. The IHRA, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, is an association of more than 35 states. Together they have developed a definition of what antisemitism actually is – and one part of it is Israel-related antisemitism. Because antisemitism does not begin only with calls for mass murder, more subtle forms must also be countered with determination.
Elio Adler, Chairman of the Jewish-German WerteInitiative: “Germany holds the chairmanship of the IHRA this year. It is therefore only consistent to demand that social media platforms implement this definition of antisemitism as well. This would make the at times nebulous application of the so-called Community Standards more transparent. The fight against online hate cannot be valued highly enough, because the most recent attacks have shown that online hate can be the precursor to offline terror.”
The full text of the letter can be found below and in the attachment.
Our association further demands that social media providers should not simply delete statements that breach the standards, but move them into a kind of quarantine box, so that they remain accessible to those entitled to see them (for example investigating authorities, injured parties and researchers).
❗️ADDITION: We have NOT carried out background checks on all the signatory organisations and do not associate ourselves with them in general terms. In this joint letter we share only this one demand addressed to Facebook❗️Dear Facebook Board,
we welcome your recent announcement regarding the revision of the Facebook Community Standards on hate speech, misinformation and disinformation. We are confident that Facebook can successfully protect and support its users, that it can meet stakeholders’ concerns regarding corporate social responsibility, and that it can continue to play a leading role in the social media industry.
As part of these efforts, we call on you to adopt in full the working definition of antisemitism of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as the cornerstone of Facebook’s hate speech policy with regard to antisemitism.
Peter Stern, Facebook’s Director of Content Policy Stakeholder Engagement, recently confirmed the usefulness of the IHRA working definition when Facebook developed its first hate speech policy. Stern conceded, however, that Facebook has no policy for combating online antisemitism. He further admitted that Facebook does not accept the full adoption of the IHRA working definition, because the definition recognises that modern manifestations of antisemitism are connected with Israel.
In line with the recommendations of the report “The New Antisemites”, which calls on social media platforms to remove antisemitic content by adopting the IHRA working definition as the basis for their content removal policy, we, the signatory coalition of 111 organisations, urge Facebook to implement a hate speech policy against antisemitism that has the full IHRA working definition at its core.
Nearly 40 countries have already endorsed or adopted the IHRA working definition in an official capacity, either through their membership of the IHRA or independently of it. In the United States it is not only the State Department that has adopted the definition – the Department of Education has recently been instructed, by an “Executive Order on Combating Antisemitism”, to take the IHRA definition into account when assessing complaints of discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.
The overwhelming majority of civil society organisations at the forefront of efforts to combat antisemitism advocate and promote the use and adoption of the IHRA working definition. Antisemitism today undoubtedly includes the delegitimisation of Israel’s right to exist. This bigotry expresses itself in various ways, for example through the rejection of the Jewish right to self-determination, through Holocaust revisionism and denial, and through the application of double standards towards the Jewish state and the Jewish people.
Will Facebook join the historians, advocates, activists, legislators and leaders who drew up the IHRA working definition? Will Facebook take responsibility and work to remove the scourge of antisemitism from what is today the most important public space online?
Jews today, like many other minorities, are being attacked in record numbers. They experience physical violence, harassment and discrimination both offline and online.
Jews report by an overwhelming majority that online antisemitism is the most pervasive form of hatred of Jews that they experience.
The full IHRA working definition of antisemitism offers Facebook an effective, neutral and nuanced instrument with which to protect Jewish users from hate speech and imagery that incites hatred and often leads to violence. While the effects of online hate speech, misinformation and disinformation on our societies continue to be researched and examined, we cannot afford to lose any more time in the fight against this bigotry and in the prevention of violence.
We urge Facebook to let deeds follow words and to show the strength behind its commitment – and to adopt the IHRA working definition of antisemitism in full.
// this translation was made approximately and in keeping with the sense of the original //
Signatories,
Academic Engagement Network – United States
Acción y Comunicación sobre Oriente Medio (ACOM) – Spain
ACT.IL – Worldwide
ACT Zionist Council – Australia
Alleanza Per Israele – Italy
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
European Maccabi Confederation (EMC) – Europe
Executive Council of Australian Jewry – Australia
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
Israeli American Counicl (IAC) – United States
Istituto Milton Friedman – Italy
Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs (JCPA) – Israel
Jewish Community Council of South Australia – Australia
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 Friedensforum – NAFFO e.V.- 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
StopAntisemitism.org – United States
Students Supporting Israel (SSI) – Worldwide
Sussex Friends of Israel – United Kingdom
Sweden Israel Alliance (SIA) – Sweden
Swedish Zionist Federation – Sweden
The Gemunder Family Foundation – United States
The International Legal Forum (ILF) – Worldwide
The Israeli-Jewish Congress (IJC) – Israel
TheJ.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 () 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
