From 2:30 pm until 4:30 pm
At Watertown Free Public Library, Watertown Savings Bank Room
123 Main Street, Watertown
Anti-Free Speech Definitions of Anti-Semitism and How to Oppose It
Sunday, October 15
Watertown Public Library
Watertown Savings Bank Room
2:30 PM - 4:30 PM
In Person
The Peace and Common Security Working Group will show a video recording with a live discussion of a webinar presented last April by Unitarian Universalists for Justice in the Middle East. It will be at the Watertown Free Public Library, most likely on a Sunday afternoon from 2:30 PM - 4:30 PM.
The event addresses the very problematic attempts at the state, national, and international levels to define and codify into law a certain definition of anti-Semitism. Known as the IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition, it uses examples that conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism.
Activists for Justice in Palestine are making efforts to expose the truth and danger behind these efforts, which interfere with countering genuine anti-Semitism. The definition is mentioned, but not endorsed, in the recent “U.S. National Strategy to Counter Anti-Semitism”, from the U.S. Government. The definition has already passed into law in several states. Local activists are monitoring the progress of H1558 in Massachusetts, which basically is a copycat of other states’ laws.