“When we look at the language of this bill, and we look at how it comes down to what the law should and should not do, what we are doing is criminalizing free speech,”
Sen. Paula Hicks Hudson, D-Toledo
Ohio Senate Bill 297, passed with a 27 to 4 vote, would add to Ohio law the definition of anti-semitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, and used in an executive order by Gov. Mike DeWine in 2022 encouraging state agencies, including state higher education institutions to use the definition as a guide for agency investigations.
The IHRA identifies antisemitism as “a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”
In addition to cementing the definition into Ohio law, the bill would broaden the criminal offense of “ethnic intimidation” to add “riot and aggravated riot committed by reason of the race, color, religion or national origin of another person or group of persons.”
Source: The Highland County Press
