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‘Overwhelmed With Gratitude’: Georgia Assembly Passes Bill Adopting Leading Definition of Antisemitism
Part of an exhibit on the Holocaust supported by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance. Photo: courtesy of IHRA.
The Georgia General Assembly on Thursday voted overwhelmingly to approve legislation, co-sponsored by Rep. Esther Panitch (D) and Rep. John Carson (R), that would require state officials to refer to the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism when investigating antisemitic hate crimes, drawing praise from national civil rights groups and nonprofits.
The bill, HB30, passed nearly a year after similar legislation was blocked during the waning hours of the 2023 legislative session, an outcome that a legislator described to The Algemeiner at the time as “devastating to watch.” This time it passed in the Georgia House 129-5 and in the Georgia Senate 44-6. It now awaits a signature from Governor Brian Kemp (R).
“I am overwhelmed with gratitude to my co-sponsor Rep. John Carson and colleagues in the Senate for their bipartisan support of this bill,” Rep. Panitch told The Algemeiner in a statement. “Jewish Georgians know our state supports us and can better protect us with the added tool of the IHRA definition.”
HB30, proposed after a series of antisemitic incidents in the state involving harassment and literature drops by neo-Nazi organizations, faced numerous obstacles on its way through the Georgia Assembly. Last year, lobbyists representing the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) worked to add unfriendly amendments to it that would have defeated its purpose, and a Republican lawmaker, Sen Ed. Setzler, amended it to replace the IHRA definition of antisemitism with his own After Setzler proposed his amendment, three Democrats voted to approve it, prompting sponsors of the bill to motion to table it. Further efforts to pass it failed.
A surge of antisemitic incidents in the US and across the world after Hamas’ massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7 gave the measure new importance this legislative session, and both parties worked to ensure its success.
Jordan Cope, Director of Policy Education at StandWithUs, an antisemitism watchdog that has filed numerous civil rights grievances on behalf of US college students, commended the Georgia Assembly for passing the bill this year.
“With antisemitism having exploded worldwide post October-7, the IHRA definition remains a tool of paramount importance for helping identify and quell the mounting tide of antisemitism,” Cope said. “Georgia’s moral clarity on this matter sets a clear example from which other states ought to draw inspiration as Jews around the world desperately seek assurances of their own safety.”
StopAntisemitism, a nonprofit that tracks antisemitic incidents across the world, also praised Georgia lawmakers, calling the vote “great news,” noting that the IHRA definition will be used “for purposes of hate crime and prosecution.”
First adopted in 2005 by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe, the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism states that “antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews,” and includes a list of illustrative examples ranging from Holocaust denial to the rejection of the Jewish people’s right to self-determination. The definition is used by hundreds of governing institutions, including the US State Department, European Union, and the United Nations and is supported by lawmakers across the political spectrum.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Overwhelmed With Gratitude’: Georgia Assembly Passes Bill Adopting Leading Definition of Antisemitism first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters

Marco Rubio speaks after he is sworn in as Secretary of State by US Vice President JD Vance at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building in Washington, DC, Jan. 21, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) filed a lawsuit challenging as unconstitutional the Trump administration’s actions to deport international students and scholars who protest or express support for Palestinian rights.
The lawsuit, filed on Saturday in the US District Court for the Northern District of New York, seeks a nationwide temporary restraining order to block enforcement of two executive orders signed by US President Donald Trump in the first month of his term.
The lawsuit comes after the detention of a Columbia University student, Mahmoud Khalil, a 30-year-old permanent US resident of Palestinian descent, whose arrest sparked protests this month.
Justice Department lawyers have argued that the US government is seeking Khalil’s removal because Secretary of State Marco Rubio has reasonable grounds to believe his activities or presence in the country could have “serious adverse foreign policy consequences.” Rubio on Friday said the United States will likely revoke visas of more students in the coming days.
Trump vowed to deport activists who took part in protests on US college campuses against Israel’s war on Hamas in Gaza following the October 2023 attack by the Palestinian terrorists.
The ADC lawsuit was filed on behalf of two graduate students and a professor at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, who say their activism and support of the Palestinian people “has put them at serious risk of political persecution.”
“This lawsuit is a necessary step to preserve our most fundamental constitutional protections. The First Amendment guarantees the freedom of speech and expression to all persons within the United States, without exception,” said Abed Ayoub, national executive director of the ADC.
Chris Godshall-Bennett, the group’s legal director, said the litigation seeks immediate and long-term relief “to protect international students from any unconstitutional overreach that stifles free expression and deters them from fully engaging in academic and public discourse.”
The lawsuit centers on three Cornell University plaintiffs: a British-Gambian national and PhD student with a student visa; a US citizen PhD student working on plant science; and a US citizen novelist, poet, and professor in the Department of Literatures in English.
The post Rights Group Files Lawsuit to Block Trump Deportations of Anti-Israel Protesters first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week

Israel’s Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar speaks at Reichman University in Herzliya on Sunday, September 11, 2022. Photo: Screenshot
i24 News – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told Ronen Bar, the head of the Shin Bet security agency, that he will bring a vote before his government to dismiss him next week.
The post Netanyahu Informs Shin Bet Chief to Vote on His Dismissal Next Week first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes

Newly recruited fighters who joined a Houthi military force intended to be sent to fight in support of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, march during a parade in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 2, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
i24 News – The Houthis claimed on Sunday that they targeted the aircraft carrier USS Harry Truman and other vessels in the northern Red Sea with 18 ballistic and cruise missiles and a drone. Military spokesperson Yahya Saree said that the US-led attacks against the Houthis on Saturday comprised of more than 47 airstrikes on seven governorates, with the death toll expected to rise.
“The Yemeni Armed Forces will not hesitate to target all American warships in the Red Sea and in the Arabian Sea in retaliation to the aggression against our country,” Saree said, vowing the Houthis “will continue to impose a naval blockade on the Israeli enemy and ban its ships in the declared zone of operations until aid and basic needs are delivered to the Gaza Strip.”
The post Houthis Claim to Attack US Aircraft Carrier, Retaliating for Strikes first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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