Mark Weitzman to Present ‘Defining Anti-Semitism and Why it Matters’ Oct. 25 at Western

Mark Weitzman, Director of Government Affairs for the Simon Wiesenthal Center, will give a talk entitled “Defining Antisemitism and Why it Matters,” at Western Washington University at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 25 in Academic West Room 204 at as part of continued efforts to implement recommendations from the University’s Task Force on Preventing and Responding to Antisemitism.

The presentation is free and open to the public.

Weitzman is a member of the official US delegation to the International Holocaust Remembrance Authority (IHRA) where he chairs the Committee on Antisemitism and Holocaust Denial. He spearheaded IHRA’s recent adoption of the Working Definition of Antisemitism, which is the first definition of antisemitism with any formal status, and was the lead author of IHRA’s Working Definition of Holocaust Denial and Distortion, which was also adopted by the 31 member countries of IHRA.

During his talk, Weitzman will introduce the working definition of antisemitism that the Task Force is moving forward with in implementing recommendations. Dr. Sue Guenter-Schlesinger (Vice Provost for Equal Opportunity & Employment Diversity at Western), will introduce Weitzman and provide an update on the work of the Task Force. Weitzman’s presentation will be followed by a question and answer session.

Currently, Weitzman is a participant in the program on Religion and Foreign Policy of the Council on Foreign Relations. He is also a board member and former Vice-President of the Association of Holocaust Organizations and was member of the advisory board of the Institute for the Study of Global Antisemitism and Policy at Yale University, as well as a longtime member of the official Jewish-Catholic Dialogue Group of New York.

The author of numerous publications, Weitzman co-edited “Antisemitism, The Generic Hatred: Essays in Memory of Simon Wiesenthal,” which won the 2007 National Jewish Book Award in the category of anthologies. He is also the co-author of “Dismantling the Big Lie: The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.”

The talk is sponsored by: the Provost’s Office, the Equal Opportunity Office, Western Libraries, and The Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity.

For more information about this event, please contact The Ray Wolpow Institute at (360) 650-7737, or at wolpow.institute@wwu.edu.