Defining antisemitism

February 16, 2026

In referring to the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion, Peter Hooton points out that “Defining what, for the purposes of the inquiry, constitutes antisemitism, will be a crucial first step.” Agreed! My critique of the IHRA working definition and its so-called ‘examples’ has been published by Independent Australia. The following alternative definition, the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism, is concise, less open to ambiguity and misuse than the IHRA definition, and likely to be more effective in identifying genuine antisemitism: “Antisemitism is discrimination, prejudice, hostility or violence against Jews as Jews (or Jewish institutions as Jewish)”.