I met Sally Harrell in 2018 when she was running for the Georgia Senate. My wife and I made small contributions to two of her campaigns. Senator Harrell and I have become friends and we served together on the DeKalb County Charter Review Commission.
I was deeply disappointed when Senator Harrell excused herself from the vote on HB-30, the bill that defined antisemitism in Georgia law. Since we were friends, I reached out to talk with her about her decision to be absent during the vote. We talked for well over an hour.
I explained why I was concerned, and she listened. She explained what her hesitations were, and I listened. I shared data on antisemitism; she shared sources she had read that raised questions about using the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition to trigger state anti-discrimination laws.
The bottom line: Her arguments, and those made by the sources she shared with me, are compelling.
Many mainstream U.S. Jewish organizations have expressed concerns about using the IHRA definition as defined in HB-30. These include the Union for Reform Judaism (URJ), The Anti-Defamation League, the American Jewish Congress, the Central Conference of American Rabbis (CCAR), the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, the National Council of Jewish Women, and the Rabbinical Assembly.
Here is a joint statement from CCAR and URJ in 2021 (emphasis added):
We support using the [IHRA] working definition to build awareness and train law enforcement, educators, and other leaders. The IHRA definition and its examples are informative. Using the definition itself to trigger federal or state anti-discrimination laws, though, could be abused to punish Constitutionally protected, if objectionable, speech. The examples also provide context to distinguish protected speech – including disagreement and even harsh criticism of the government of Israel – from unlawful, harassing, intimidating, and…
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