The North Carolina General Assembly is considering a proposal to expand the definition of anti-Semitism in state law.
Republican House Speaker Tim Moore said the bill was a response to hate speech directed at Jews in the wake of Israel's war in Gaza. His bill would use the definition of anti-Semitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance.
The group's definition includes examples such as criticism of the state of Israel. The group argues that anti-Semitism can be attacked by “claiming that the existence of the state of Israel is a racist act” and “demanding behavior that is not expected or required of other democracies.” It claims that this includes “applying double standards.”
House Bill 942, entitled “The Shalom Act,” provides “training, education, awareness, and tools to combat anti-Semitic hate crimes and discrimination, as well as to track and report anti-Semitic incidents in this state. These examples will be incorporated into state law as a guide.
Opponents argue that placing the definition in state law violates free speech rights.
Groups including Jewish Voice for Peace and the ACLU are holding events Wednesday morning urging lawmakers to reject the bill when it holds its first committee hearing later that day.
“The safety of our communities will never be achieved by restricting the right of citizens to criticize the policies and actions of the Israeli government,” Jewish Voice for Peace said in a news release. “Now more than ever, North Carolina's elected leaders need to address anti-Semitism alongside underlying Islamophobia.”
Moore said those concerns are unfounded, and similar bills have been passed in Congress as well as in other states.
“This is about balancing the First Amendment and the right of people to peacefully go out and protest and balancing and punishing hate speech and threats that are unacceptable,” he told reporters. “It's a carefully balanced law.”
The Jewish Federation of Greater Raleigh is asking its members to call their representatives to support this bill. The measure “will allow North Carolina to have clearer guidelines for prosecuting anti-Semitic hate crimes.”
Moore said the bill is needed in response to incidents related to pro-Palestinian protests on college campuses like UNC-Chapel Hill.
“Jewish students are clearly being targeted in this and they are being singled out, intimidated, harassed and physically assaulted. That is not right and needs to be addressed.” said. ”
With Moore's support, the bill has a good chance of passing the House. Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger has expressed similar concerns about anti-Semitism, although he has not said whether his chamber will take up the bill. He recently returned from a trip to Israel sponsored by an affiliate of AIPAC, a pro-Israel lobbying group that has donated to various North Carolina elected officials of both parties.
Berger told reporters that he visited some of the sites attacked by Hamas last October and had to go into air raid shelters last month when he faced Iranian airstrikes.
“It was a very informative trip,” he said. “It was, in many ways, a trip that I'm still sorting out.”
