Communities Secretary Robert Jenrick told the Jerusalem Post yesterday that the Government will insist that local councils and universities adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, and if they refuse, it will consider holding back funding.
Mr Jenrick, will be travelling to Jerusalem next week together with Prince Charles to attend the Holocaust ceremony marking the 75th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
The Communities Secretary said that the adoption of the IHRA definition is important in order to get local councils to stop from engaging in Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions against Israel, and would give universities the ability to take disciplinary action against students and professors when engaging in antisemitism.
The IHRA definition was written in 2016 and was announced to be adopted by the UK Government at CFI’s Annual Business Lunch in December 2016.
He underlined: “Antisemitism is the world’s oldest form of hatred” adding that, “it will be explicitly against the law for public bodies like councils to dabble in foreign policy or to pursue BDS policies against the state of Israel”.
During his visit to Jerusalem, Mr Jenrick will hold talks with staff at Yad Vashem, which is helping his office with the establishment of a new national Holocaust Memorial and Learning Centre beside Parliament.
He said: “It will be a memorial with a particularly British flavour. It will tell the story of the successes like the Kindertransport but also the failures of Britain during that period. The missed opportunities to do more, to take more refugees during that period. It will be an entirely unvarnished memorial about both the Holocaust and the British experience and contribution”.
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