An Arizona bill requiring the state’s schools to teach about the Holocaust and other genocides passed earlier this year by the Arizona House of Representatives has become stuck in limbo in the state Senate over an amendment to include the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism.
Republican State Senator Paul Boyer has stated that the bill must include the IHRA definition because the bill is not only about Holocaust education but also about the present and the future, and fighting against all forms of current anti-Semitism, especially Holocaust inversion. The term describes the anti-Semitic trope of accusing Jews or Israel of being Nazis or oppressors. The IHRA definition covers such contemporary forms of anti-Semitism.
This is not the first time that the issue has come to the forefront in Arizona politics. Last year, Arizona House Bill 2683, which would have made the IHRA definition part of the legal code for law enforcement, was close to passing the legislature. The bill had the largest number of sponsors in the state’s history. Following the bill making its way to the Senate, a large number of liberal and progressive groups launched a campaign against it, claiming the IHRA definition was tantamount to criminalizing free speech. The bill became stalled and then was never passed when the legislative session ended during the pandemic.
One of the supporters of both bills was Jewish Democrat State Representative Alma Hernandez.
In a letter written at the time of Bill 2683, Hernandez addressed a whisper campaign that was being spread on social media.
“It has come to our attention that in recent days a concerted disinformation campaign has been waged to misrepresent SB 1143. Conversations with colleagues and constituents have further made it clear to us that those misrepresentations have led to material misunderstandings of the bill among some legislators and community members,” she wrote.
“For example, we have seen Facebook posts urging people to call Arizona Senator Sean Bowie to urge him to vote no on SB 1143 because allegedly, ‘This bill could make publicly criticizing the State of Israel evidence that you’ve committed a hate crime under Arizona law.’ This is patently false on multiple levels and is incendiary, as are several other claims being made.”
She added, “Contrary to some claims being made, this bill is not about litigating any conflict abroad. It is about protecting Jewish citizens from crime and discrimination at home.”