In order to identify antisemitism early on and combat it more effectively, it is important to make the public and government bodies aware of what can and cannot be tolerated as constituting an expression of opinion and what crosses the line into antisemitism. In particular the boundary between legitimate criticism of the actions of the Israeli government and Israel-related antisemitism sometimes seems to be blurred in everyday life. The international working definition of antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) provides valuable guidance and is a useful classification tool.

The international working definition for antisemitism is 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."

The Federal Government has expanded this definition as follows:

"Furthermore, the state of Israel, being perceived as a Jewish collective, may be the target of such attacks."

In May 2016, the IHRA plenary meeting in Bucharest adopted this working definition, which was proposed as a German-Romanian initiative. The wording is based on an internal definition that was developed by the predecessor of the European Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) in 2004 to provide a Europe-wide standard for antisemitism-monitoring on the part of the FRA. The definition is not legally binding. But by adhering to it, Germany documents that it is striving to combat the phenomenon of antisemitism, both internally and externally, and to take a differentiated perspective on it. On 20 September 2017, the definition quoted above was adopted by Cabinet decision and circulated. The Federal Government has thereby laid the groundwork for a shared understanding of antisemitism at national level. The actions of the Federal Government Commissioner are also guided by this definition.

In Germany, this definition is already being applied in many areas of public life, at least at federal level:

• for relevant events and publications of the Federal Agency for Civic Education;
• by memorial sites, documentation centres and historical museums in relevant contexts;
• as a guideline for further developing the “Demokratie leben” (Living democracy) programme sponsored by the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior Citizens, Women and Youth.
• as a part of the antisemitism seminars that are included in the training at the federal security agencies, i.e. the German intelligence services, the Federal Criminal Police Office and the Federal Police.

Particularly in law enforcement, the justice system, the school system and other forms of education, reliable structures must be created to teach and share this information. The examples attached to the IHRA working definition also help make it possible to identify and analyse antisemitic patterns more reliably in their broad variety of forms. The illustrative examples are an integral part of implementing the IHRA definition.

Germany is working to ensure that other international organisations and bodies adopt the definition, making it the basis of their work. Imparting knowledge about antisemitism remains an ongoing task, both nationally and internationally.