At the Ohio Statehouse December 17, a gathering of Pro-Palestine advocates demonstrated against the codifying of the IHRA (International Holocaust Reembrance Alliance) definitions in the Ohio Revised Code. The IHRA definition states that to criticize the State of Israel for its actions in the genocidal murdering of over 45,000 people or its decades of apartheid, is an act of anti-semitism.
A second point on the definition is that “Holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel” is also an act of anti-semitism. If criticizing Israel is anti-semetic, then by conflating the global jewish population with Israel, the definition itself is anti-semetic and therefore self-contradictory. The only way out of this quagmire of blind accusation of hate is to do what many politicians in the west have done, deny the reality of what Israel is doing, eradicating a people and their culture from the face of the planet.
These additions to the law have been rammed through at the last minute of the lame duck session of the Ohio legislature. But why all of a sudden does the General assembly care to codify these definitions? Governor Dewine two years ago already signed an executive order enforcing these very definitions on state and local institutions including colleges.
On November 14, a group of Neo-Nazi thugs brazenly marched down the street in daylight, calling bystanders slurs and expressing hateful views. This canary in the coal mine for how far-right organizations are emboldened by the prospect to enforce their hate in the upcoming Trump administration, sparked outrage by the Columbus community and demanded that action was taken. Of course this is where the Ohio legislature stepped in, not wanting a good opportunity to go to waste. The bill’s sponsor Senator Terry Johnson (14th - R) couldn’t even address the issue of having neo-Nazis parading with swastika flags without prior, and in significantly more detail, expressing the “concerning wave of extremist demonstrations across several college campuses.” It is clear by the language of the bill that the intent of its sponsors is that the goal is not to curb the rise of ethnic hate from right-wing organizations, but rather to make it a felony to organize against Israel’s eradication of an entire people.
When these Neo-Nazis marched through the shopping district of the Short North, it drew ire on the national stage with even the White House chiming in. But the response from local officials were only cookie-cutter condemnations, with Columbus Chief of Police Elaine Bryant going so far as to hide behind the First amendment to explain why no tangible action was taken that day or since. When student protestors at Ohio State were demonstrating against the cleansing in Gaza, where was the clamor about the First amendment protections?
If these IHRA standards of anti-semitism are codified into law, even demonstrations such as the recent sit-in at the Statehouse to oppose S.B. 297 could be considered an aggravated riot with a felony charge. This was a demonstration that saw an elderly woman recount her time in the land of her ancestors and how her family had been killed and dispossessed by the State of Israel. Another speaker, a young woman who was born to Palestinian Immigrants, talked about how she will never be able to go visit her grandmother who lives in an Arab village in Israel because of the laws preventing her.
Codifying these definitions is a direct violation of the First amendment. Make no mistake, anti-semitism must be squashed and rooted out at every opportunity, but to be clear anti-genocide, anti-apartheid, and even anti-zionist arguements are not anti-semitic. To broadly declare all the genuine activism that is attempting to push back against the largest violation of humanity since the second world war as anti-semitic is, per the IRHA definitions, holding jewish people responsible for the actions of Israel and is itself anti-semetic.
