Australians should be appalled by the rise in antisemitism, including arson, vandalism, assaults, abuse and threats. Every person in our country has the human right to live free from fear, racism and discrimination. Many positive steps have already been taken to address it. Some measures have gone too far, like the New South Wales government’s law criminalising protest outside places of worship and disproportionate, blanket bans on certain protests in universities.

Australia’s special envoy to combat antisemitism, Jillian Segal, also goes too far in some ways, and not far enough in others in her recently released plan.

Segal’s plan goes too far in urging the widespread adoption of the definition of antisemitism prepared by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) in 2016. The definition itself is innocuous enough, essentially addressing bias or hatred towards Jews. Eleven examples are then given to illustrate it.

There are three key problems with the IHRA approach. Firstly, it was intended to be a non-binding monitoring and awareness raising tool, not an operational definition for disciplining staff or students, cutting funding to universities or arts institutions, censoring the media or excluding immigrants – strategies which appear similar to the Trump Administration’s. It is too vague and broad to operate as a binding instrument of enforcement and........

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