‘Next Level Chutzpah’: Bill Adopting IHRA Definition of Antisemitism Stalls in Georgia House of Representatives
Part of an exhibit on the Holocaust supported by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association. Photo: courtesy of IHRA.
The General Assembly of Georgia may not pass legislation adopting what is widely considered the world’s leading definition of antisemitism after a state Senator removed it from a bill that was advancing through the legislature, a lawmaker told The Algemeiner on Wednesday.
According to Georgia House Rep. Esther Panitch (D) progress of the bill, HB30, was halted after a Republican lawmaker, Sen. Ed Setzler, amended the measure to remove the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism and replace it with his own definition, which described antisemitism as a “negative” perception of Jews. The IHRA definition says antisemitism is a “certain perception of Jews.”
After Setzler proposed his amendment, three Democrats voted to approve it, prompting sponsors of HB30 to motion to table the bill. Final determination of its status is forthcoming.
Setzler has not responded to The Algemeiner’s request for comment.
On Wednesday, Representative Panitch (D), who is the only Jewish legislator in the state, told The Algemeiner that lawmakers in Georgia have a clear choice to make, noting that the state was one of the last in the country to pass any hate crime legislation.
“We need the definition,” she said. “All Jews want is to have the same protection as any other minority who is currently protected by the hate crime statute, and, as it stands, the Senate doesn’t believe we deserve that protection.”
She added that “it’s a next level chutzpah to tell someone outside of a community to tell those within it how to define the bias against them.”
Passed in the Georgia House of Representatives on March 7 with bipartisan support, HB30 would have required state officials to refer to the IHRA definition when investigating hate crimes and assessing complaints of antisemitic discrimination. A similar bill stalled in the Georgia legislature in 2022, but a series of antisemitic incidents in the state, including antisemitic flyers dropped at homes in a suburb of Atlanta prompted new interest in passing it to protect the state’s Jewish community, according to the Associated Press.
The IHRA definition of antisemitism is used by over 850 governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and the United Nations. Over 30 countries have adopted it with support from lawmakers across the political spectrum. Virginia became the most recent state to embrace the IHRA definition in the past year, joining Massachusetts, Iowa, Kansas, Ohio, Arizona, New York, and Arkansas. Over half of all US states and the District of Columbia have done so also.
One in four Americans Jews believe their status in the US is less secure, according to a survey conducted by the American Jewish Committee. 80 percent feel that antisemitism has increased and half said it does not attract as much attention as other forms of discrimination.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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