Prospective director for free speech on university campuses denounced International Definition of Antisemitism

The prospective director for free speech on university campuses, a new role to be implemented by the Government, was discovered to have denounced the International Definition of Antisemitism.

Arif Ahmed, a philosophy professor at the University of Cambridge, reportedly issued a blog post in February 2021 in which he sharply criticised the Definition.

He wrote: “I am strongly against Gavin Williamson’s requirement that universities adopt the IHRA definition of antisemitism….This ‘definition’ is nothing of the kind; adopting it obstructs perfectly legitimate defence of Palestinian rights.”

He added: “As such it chills free speech on a matter of the first importance. I hope the Secretary of State reconsiders the need for it; but these new free speech duties ought to rule it out in any case.”

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