South Carolina Is First State To Adopt Uniform Definition Of Anti-Semitism
South Carolina State Flag. Image by wikimedia commons
(JTA) — South Carolina became the first state to adopt a uniform definition of anti-Semitism, but it is only on the books for the next year.
The definition is contained in a proviso to the annual state budget bill, which was signed into law on July 6.
Under the measure, universities must take the definition into account when reviewing charges of discrimination or bias.
Efforts earlier this year to pass a permanent version of the law were frustrated when concerns about an impingement on free speech hindered its advance in the Senate.
The proviso uses as its template the State Department definition of anti-Semitism, which includes as anti-Semitic calls for violence against Jews, advancing conspiracy theories about Jewish control and Holocaust denial. It does not target speech, only unprotected conduct such as harassment, assault, and vandalism, according to StandWithUs, an Israel education organization that operates on college campuses, which in a statement praised Gov. Henry McMaster for signing the proviso.
“We need to define Anti-Semitism in order to defeat it. Thankfully, South Carolina is leading the way,” Roz Rothstein, CEO of StandWIthUs, said.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
