Antisemitic incidents in San Diego increased by 150% just within the last year. Some say defining it will serve as a tool to better recognize and respond to it.
SAN DIEGO — The San Diego City Council is voting Tuesday on whether to adopt the definition of antisemitism as written by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
Their vote would not change anything legally regarding criminal charges or freedom of speech. What it would do is add a very specific definition of antisemitism — discrimination toward Jews.
The City of San Diego previously had a general definition that included all hate crimes.
There was a lot of public interest. More than 200 people spoke passionately about their own experiences or family members being killed. One speaker was even arrested and escorted out.
“I come to you saying never have I witnessed the growing hate these last few decades on the Jewish community — such hate not seen since the Holocaust.”
Across the nation and around the world, many people of the Jewish faith continue to be targeted by hate. An attack on a synagogue in Michigan just last week — and here locally, a shooting at Chabad of Poway in 2019.
“I want to grow up in San Diego where Jewish kids aren’t afraid to display their Jewishness or Zionism.”
“Every person and every language has a right to exist.”
Just in the last week, San Diego Police announced they would be increasing patrols around places of worship, specifically synagogues.
They say antisemitic incidents in San Diego increased by 150% within the last year, and that defining it will serve as a tool to better recognize and respond to it.
“Just in the last few months, a man was beaten downtown for speaking Hebrew. A swastika was found on a high school campus. The House of Israel is the only cottage, out of dozens, that needs ongoing security because of the threats it constantly receives.”
The City says it’s committed to opposing hate and discrimination. To better protect worshippers, antisemitism could now be defined by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance “as a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
Many people also spoke in opposition to that definition.
“It does not serve its intended purpose of protecting any community, especially the Jewish community. It is a harmful idea brought forward in a hurry.”
“It’s true antisemitism has been increasing, but so has Islamophobia. Do we need a special law for each type of discrimination in this country?”
The IHRA definition is the most widely used around the world — adopted by 40 countries and 35 states, and counting.
The council meeting started at 2 p.m. Tuesday and was still underway as of 5:30 p.m. Stay with us to see how the council votes.