Montgomery County, MD – A news conference on a resolution that would define and address antisemitism in Montgomery County, Maryland, has been postponed until September.
The resolution was scheduled to be discussed during a news conference on Wednesday in Rockville, Maryland, according to Councilmember Andrew Friedson.
Friedson introduced the resolution with the goal of reaffirming “the Council’s commitment to combat all forms of hate and extremism,” after several antisemitic incidents occurred across the country, including in Silver Spring.
The resolution would move the council to adopt the definition of antisemitism held by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance and fully denounce and condemn it.
Upon learning that the resolution was postposed, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) issued a press release welcoming the “shelving” of the matter.
CAIR’s Maryland Director Zainab Chaudry said in a statement, “We thank the members of the Montgomery County Council for holding this resolution. The adoption of the IHRA’s controversial definition of antisemitism as government policy, something that was not intended by the definition’s lead drafter, would stifle free speech and make it more difficult to criticize the Israeli government’s policies of apartheid against the Palestinian people.”
