9 Spring-Summer 2017 recorded by police and other agencies because they fail to recognize the evolving contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and therefore measure them adequately. The Survey on Perceptions of Antisemitism also indicated quite starkly that many European Jews have little confidence that criminal justice agencies are prepared to investigate antisemitic incidents and crimes, or prosecute the culprits (see below). Spurred by the IHRA decision to define antisemitism, the UK government adopted the Working Definition in December 2016.9 The Scottish government later endorsed the decision in March 2017.10 Shortly after, the UK Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid MP, “strongly encouraged” local authorities in England and Wales to adopt the Definition in his letter sent to them on January 30, 2017, and several have done so since.11 The British police had already adopted it in their Hate Crime Operational Guidance sent to all police forces in 2014.12 In March 2016, the German Parliament and Foreign Ministry hosted a joint conference with the Interparliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism in Berlin, which was addressed by German Chancellor Angela Merkel, EU Vice President Frans Timmermans, UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, UK Justice Secretary Michael Gove MP and other eminent public figures.13 A second inter-parliamentary initiative, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe a month later in April 2016, occurred when Resolution 2106 on "Renewed commitment in the fight against Antisemitism in Europe" was agreed upon.14 Prior to passing the resolution, a substantial report on antisemitism was published by the Council of Europe Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination, which in turn was examined by the Council of Europe Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy.15 This protracted but necessarily thorough process noted inter alia that Jewish communities are threatened by violent attacks, that states have an obligation to build trust with Jewish communities, encourage them to report antisemitic attacks and hate crimes, provide police forces with appropriate training, ensure security by cooperating with Jewish communities and their representatives, and that parliamentarians should establish cross-party parliamentary groups to combat antisemitism in their legislatures, etc.16 In May 2016, the EC signed a Code of Conduct on illegal online hate speech with the major social networks. European states have become increasingly frustrated by the social networks’ policy of allowing almost complete freedom for antisemites and other extremists to publish what they want on the different platforms, often in contravention of European and national domestic laws. Despite successful prosecutions at the state and European level, it was felt necessary to persuade the main networks to agree upon a code whereby they would remove illegal content, and do so within a specified time limit.17 The Code owed its genesis to the Best Practices for Responding to Cyberhate declaration, to which the major social networks had signalled assent in 2014, and which 9. Press Release, Government leads the way in tackling antisemitism, UK Gov., Dec. 12, 2016, available at https:// www.gov.uk/government/news/government-leads-theway-in-tackling-anti-semitism (last visited April 19, 2017). 10. Response by Angela Constance MSP, Cabinet Secretary for Communities, Social Security and Equalities, Scottish Parliament, March 2, 2017, available at http://www. parliament.scot/parliamentarybusiness/28877.aspx?Sea rchType=Advance&ReferenceNumbers=S5W-07668 (last visited April 19, 2017). 11. Adoption of the IHRAworking definition of antisemitism, Letter to Local Authority Leaders from the Rt. Hon Sajid Javid MP, Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Jan. 30, 2017, available at http://www2. guildford.gov.uk/councilmeetings/mgConvert2PDF. aspx?ID=7358 (last visited May 8, 2017). 12. Hate Crime Operational Guidance, College of Policing, Coventry, at 36- 38, available at http://library.college. police.uk/docs/college-of-policing/Hate-CrimeOperational-Guidance.pdf (last visited April 19, 2017). 13. Landmark German Parliamentary Conference, March 1315, 2016, Inter-parliamentary Coalition for Combating Antisemitism, available at https://www.facebook.com/ Inter-parliamentary-Coalition-for-Combating-AntisemitismICCA-363913460650/(last visited May 8, 2017). 14. Eur. Parl. Ass., Renewed commitment in the fight against antisemitism in Europe, Resolution 2106, 20 April 2016, available at http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-XML2HTMLen.asp?fileid=22716&lang=en (last visited April 19, 2017). 15. Eur. Parl. Ass., Renewed commitment in the fight against antisemitism in Europe, Report, Committee on Equality and Discrimination, Doc. 14008, Parliamentary Assembly Council of Europe, 31 March 2016, http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/ XRef/Xref-XML2HTML-en.asp?fileid=22576&lang=en (last visited July 12, 2017). 16. Eur. Parl. Ass., Renewed commitment in the fight against antisemitism in Europe, Doc.14023, Committee Opinion, Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy, April 19, 2016, available at http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/ Xref-DocDetails-en.asp?FileID=22599&lang=en. 17. European Commission, Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online, May 2016, available at http:// ec.europa.eu/justice/fundamental-rights/files/hate_speech_ code_of_conduct_en.pdf (last visited April 19, 2017).
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