HomeMy WebLinkAboutExecutive Order JB-2023-02 - Adopting a Definition of Anti-SemitismCITY OF CARMEL, INDIANA
EXECUTIVE ORDER
JB-2023-02
WHEREAS, the City of Carmel, Indiana and the United States of America, welcomes
people of all faiths; and
WHEREAS, freedom of religion is protected by the First Amendment to the
Constitution of the United States of America; and
WHEREAS, the Constitution of the State of Indiana Article 1, Sections 1-6 protects
freedom of religion; and
WHEREAS, Carmel City Code § 6-8 prohibits discrimination on the basis of religious
affiliation; and
WHEREAS, for hundreds of years people of Jewish ancestry have been discriminated
against because of their heritage and religion; and
WHEREAS, there has been an increase in the number and frequency of antisemitic
incidents and discrimination worldwide, including the United States of America and Indiana;
and
WHEREAS, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) has adopted a
working definition of antisemitism; and
WHEREAS, many governments around the world have adopted the IHRA working
definition of antisemitism; and
WHEREAS, the text of the IHRA working definition of antisemitism reads as follows:
Antisemitism is 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.
WHEREAS, contemporary examples of antisemitism in public life, the media, schools,
the workplace, and in the religious sphere could include, but are not limited to:
• Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or harming of Jews in the name of a radical
ideology or an extremist view of religion.
• Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or stereotypical allegations about
Jews as such or the power of Jews as collective — such as, especially but not
exclusively, the myth about a world Jewish conspiracy or of Jews controlling the
media, economy, government, or other societal institutions.
• Accusing Jews as a people of being responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing
committed by a single Jewish person or group, or even for acts committed by non -
Jews.
• Denying the fact, scope, mechanisms (e.g. gas chambers) or intentionality of the
genocide of the Jewish people at the hands of National Socialist Germany and its
supporters and accomplices during World War II (the Holocaust).
• Accusing Jews as a people, or Israel as a state, of inventing or exaggerating the
Holocaust.
• Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel, or to the alleged priorities of
Jews worldwide, than to the interests of their own nations.
• Denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the
existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.
• Applying double standards by requiring of it a behavior not expected or demanded of
any other democratic nation.
• Using the symbols and images associated with classic antisemitism to characterize
Israel or Israelis.
• Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to that of the Nazis.
• Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.
NOW, THEREFORE, the IHRA working definition of antisemitism is adopted in the City of
Carmel, Indiana.
THIS 23RD DAY OF DECEMBER 2023.
Corporation Counsel