As human rights and civil society organizations based in Israel, striving to promote and protect the rights of all
people in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory, we follow with great concern deliberations among the
leading German parties SPD, Bündnis 90/Die Grünen, FDP and CDU/CSU about a joint resolution on antisemitism,
which may be tabled ahead of the first commemoration of 7 October.

We are deeply alarmed by the repressive character and divisive implications of a draft for this resolution, which has
provoked fierce criticism from numerous scholars, artists and civil society organizations in Germany and would
harm our organizations and human rights work.

Indeed, since 7 October 2023, antisemitism has sharply increased. This disturbing global trend needs to be
countered and reversed, also in Germany. However, the fight against antisemitism should be inclusive and
embedded into a universal struggle against all forms of racism. Regrettably, in both tone and content, the draft
resolution goes in the opposite direction.

In fact, the proposed resolution actually exposes and potentially harms Jews and Israelis in Germany, who openly
criticize the Israeli government’s treatment of the Palestinians. Paradoxically, the resolution may therefore
undermine, not protect, the diversity of Jewish life in Germany.

This is because the draft resolution conflates antisemitism with criticism of Israel. At its core is the controversial
IHRA working definition of antisemitism. The draft establishes this definition as a decisive benchmark for regulating
and allocating public funding, with far-reaching negative implications for German academia, arts and civil society.
We know the German parliament and government have endorsed the IHRA definition since 2017. However, since
then, this definition has become the subject of international controversy and of an intense academic debate.

Leading scholars have developed alternative definitions, including the Jerusalem Declaration on Antisemitism.
More than that, the IHRA definition has been degraded into a coercive tactic, weaponized by the Israeli
government to silence public dissent to its unlawful and harmful policies, including against Jews, human rights
organizations, the United Nations and the International Court of Justice. We are deeply alarmed such political
abuse may be facilitated by the German parliament, through a resolution establishing the IHRA definition as a
regulatory tool of censorship.

The implications would extend beyond stakeholders in Germany and directly undermine our human rights work in
Israel and Palestine. We have raised concerns about the weaponization of the IHRA definition before. It is entirely
clear that the Bundestag resolution, if adopted based on the draft, would be instrumentalized to attack and
constrain German funding for our human rights work, and, by extension, undermine our cooperation with
German civil society. It would fuel smear campaigns against us and add to the multiple complex challenges we
already face in the current escalated context.

We welcome the declared commitment of the German government to fight antisemitism and encourage a
Bundestag resolution in this regard characterized by inclusiveness and universalism. Accordingly, we urge the
sponsoring parties to present a joint resolution consistently guided by democratic principles and liberal values,
which preserves our human rights work. All funding conditionality based on the IHRA definition should be
removed from this resolution.

Association for Civil Rights in Israel | Bimkom – Planners for Planning Rights | Breaking the Silence
B’Tselem – The Israeli Information Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories
Combatants for Peace | Public Committee Against Torture in Israel | Emek Shaveh
Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement | HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual
Human Rights Defenders Fund | Ir Amim | Peace Now | Physicians for Human Rights-Israel
Torat Tzedek | Yesh Din – Volunteers for Human Rights