University Could Drop Recognised Definition of Antisemitism

The University of Edinburgh is considering whether to unadopt an internationally recognised definition of antisemitism that critics say inhibits freedom of speech on the subject of Israel and Palestine.

- Harriet Sherwood Severin Carrell

Edinburgh, one of Britain's oldest and most prestigious universities, is also considering whether to divest from companies accused of enabling alleged human rights violations by Israel.

Both issues are being reviewed by university authorities as a report on the legacy of its historical links with the region is published. The report is part of a broader investigation of the university's involvement in colonialism and slavery.

It recommends that the university divest from companies allegedly complicit in Israel's military actions in Gaza and the West Bank, supports the reversal of its adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, and establish a Palestine Studies Centre to investigate the legacy of the Balfour declaration and offer scholarships to students of Palestinian origin.

The report focuses on the repercussions over a century of the Balfour declaration, a statement by the British government in 1917 in favour of "the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people".

As well as being British foreign secretary at the time, Arthur James Balfour was the University of Edinburgh's chancellor – a ceremonial and ambassadorial role – between 1891 and 1930. He had been prime minister from 1902 to 1905.

Balfour played a "unique role" in "establishing and maintaining a century-long process of imperial and settler-colonial rule in Palestine, resulting today in one of the longest-standing colonial occupations and apartheid regimes in modern history", the report says.