Policy

As attacks rise, states seek to define ‘antisemitism’

‘It is meaningful to the Jewish community in this state,’ Georgia Senate President Pro Tem John Kennedy said.

Reid Wilson

10:00 AM, Jan 25, 2024

Georgia Reps. John Carson (R) and Esther Panitch (D) react in the House chambers after the passage of a bill that would define antisemitism in Georgia law at the Georgia State Capitol on March 6, 2023, in Atlanta. The bill later stalled after an unfriendly amendment in a Senate committee altered the measure. (AP Photo/Alex Slitz, File)

In the face of rising incidents of antisemitic attacks, state lawmakers across the country are advancing legislation that would define antisemitism in the law and require schools to teach about the Holocaust.

Georgia’s Senate Judiciary Committee this week advanced a measure to define antisemitism in state law. Arkansas included a definition in state law in 2023, and measures are pending in South Carolina, Florida, Indiana, New Jersey, Massachusetts, South Dakota and Michigan.

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