The Chicago City Council has unanimously adopted the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism, formally adding it to the city’s declaration of human rights, JNS reported.
Alderman Raymond Lopez, a Democrat who sponsored the legislation, announced the measure’s passage on Tuesday. He wrote that the city "had never provided a clear definition of what antisemitism is."
"We must define antisemitism fully and completely so that we can address it directly and resolutely," Lopez said. "Vague nondescript definitions give Jew-hatred cover. That ends now."
The legislation adds antisemitism to the city’s municipal code as one of the prejudices that "threaten the rights and proper privileges of the city’s inhabitants and menace the institutions and foundation of a free and democratic society." It also incorporates the IHRA working definition as the city’s standard.
The IHRA working definition offers a comprehensive description of antisemitism in its various forms, including hatred and discrimination against Jews, Holocaust denial and, sometimes controversially, the way antisemitism relates to the ways criticism of Israel is expressed.
37 US states and Washington, D.C., have already adopted or endorsed the IHRA definition, recognizing its importance in providing a clear and actionable framework for identifying and combating Jew-hatred. Wisconsin was reportedly deliberating adopting a similar measure.
Countries to have adopted the definition include Canada, Germany, Britain, Austria, Romania, the Czech Republic and Bulgaria.
In 2017, the European Parliament voted to adopt a resolution calling on member states and their institutions to apply the IHRA definition.