At a hearing on antisemitism at the State House on Monday, lawmakers were supposed to consider adopting a controversial, state-sanctioned definition of the term. One bill would adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s definition of antisemitism, which would make criticism of Israel and Zionism a form of antisemitism. Many Jewish advocates spoke out against the resolution.
The meeting was postponed minutes before it was scheduled to start. Stephen Shalom, a member of Jewish Voice for Peace and professor emeritus of political science at William Paterson University, said, “Canceling or suspending the hearing while we’re all here waiting to testify is doubly undemocratic.”
Raz Segal, a historian and associate professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Stockton University, spoke against the IHRA’s definition of antisemitism.
“I think the state should engage in the struggle against antisemitism, but you don’t do that by actually adopting a definition whose purpose is to protect a state from criticism, rather than a people from prejudice, persecution, discrimination,” Segal said.
