JVP Academic Council Calls on the APA to Abandon the Dangerous IHRA Definition
25 July 2025
TO: Board of Directors, the American Psychological Association (APA)
Debra M. Kawahara, PhD, President
Wendi S. Williams, Ph.D. President Elect
Cynthia de las Fuentes, PhD, Past president
Olivia D. Moorehead-Slaughter, PhD, Recording secretary
Luz M. Garcini, PhD; Natalie Porter, PhD; Hideko Sera, PsyD; Arthur C. Evans Jr., PhD, Chief Executive Officer & Executive Vice President; Jermaine Jones, PhD; Elizabeth Louis, PhD; Aldo M. Barrita, PhD; Mary Ann McCabe, PhD, ABPP; Noelle Lorraine Lefforge, PhD, ABPP; Margaret Kovera, PhD; Rhonda B. Allen, PhD; Lindsay Patterson, CIA, CPA; Maureen O’Briend, Staff Liaison
The Academic Council of Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) endorses the petition from Psychologists for Justice in Palestine (PJP) calling on the APA to revise or replace its 2007 Resolution on Anti-Semitic and Anti-Jewish Prejudice. That 2007 resolution follows the IHRA “working definition” of antisemitism that, by design, wrongly and harmfully fosters and supports the branding of criticisms of Israel and Zionism as antisemitism; this in turn grants impunity to the Israeli state for its daily oppression of Palestinians, including–at this moment–the ongoing genocide in Gaza. As PJP has rightly argued, the 2007 resolution betrays the APA’s avowed commitment to oppose all forms of racism and bigotry.
Like all forms of hatred and discrimination, antisemitism is reprehensible and must be named and opposed at every turn. But Israel and its military are not Jews or Judaism (not a people, not a religion): they are, respectively, a state and a military. Criticisms of Israel and its military actions are thus distinct from antisemitism, and the State of Israel does not represent the full spectrum of Jewish life and ethical commitment. The claim to the contrary is dishonest propaganda designed to smear and repress the urgent struggle for Palestinian freedom and equality. The conflation of criticisms of Israel and anti-Zionism with antisemitism is, moreover, an affront to our Jewish values, which require us to stand with oppressed peoples.
It is especially reprehensible to level the false charge of antisemitism against those who tell the tragic truth that the Israeli state is commiting genocide against Palestinians in Gaza–even as we write and as you read these words. This genocide has been carefully documented by the world’s leading human rights organizations, including Al-Haq, Amnesty International, Defense for Children International Palestine, Genocide Watch, Human Rights Watch, the Lemkin Institute for the Prevention of Genocide, and Médicins Sans Frontières.
This expert consensus is, however, in direct violation of the IHRA definition of antisemitism, which effectively smears human rights organizations as “antisemitic” for voicing their honest judgment about the Israeli genocide in Gaza. This is a key reason over 1300 Concerned Jewish scholars have condemned the IHRA definition of antisemitism and over 30 scholars of Antisemitism, Holocaust Studies, and Jewish Studies have engaged in acts of civil disobedience intentionally violating IHRA, as you can witness for yourselves in this video.
The JVP Academic Council knows that Jewish safety cannot be gained at the expense of Palestinian safety and freedom. We also know that none of us are securely and sustainably free until all of us are fully free, no exceptions. We also know, and are heartened by, the growing support, among US Jews, for Palestinian freedom and equality, especially among younger Jews–as we have seen on our campuses and specifically in the Gaza encampments of 2024.
We are in a dangerous historical moment when commitments, including the APA’s, to social justice, equity, diversity, inclusion, and human well-being are being tested. In this historical context, it is crucial that the APA not bow to reactionary pressures from pro-Israel and anti-Palestinian groups: we urge you to refuse and oppose their divisive tactics.
The JVP Academic Council thus calls upon the APA to meet the fundamental responsibility of learned and civil society organizations to tell the truth and expose lies — by joining JVP and PJP in refusing the weaponization of antisemitism and the role of this weaponization in propping up of the Israeli state, especially now as it commits genocide.
We look forward to your timely response to this letter, and we welcome the opportunity to work with the APA’s leadership to address forthrightly the principled concerns aptly and forthrightly identified by Psychologists for Justice in Palestine.
Sincerely,
Jonah Rubin, Sr. Manager of Campus Organizing, on behalf of the JVP Academic Council.
JVP is a national, grassroots organization working towards Palestinian freedom and Judaism beyond Zionism. With roughly 750,000 members, supporters, and participants in the last year, JVP is the largest such organization in the world. The Academic Council is a network of scholars within JVP with a shared commitment to JVP’s core values.
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