Indiana lawmakers pass bill defining antisemitism, with compromises
INDIANAPOLIS — Indiana lawmakers reached a compromise Friday to pass a bill that would define anti-Semitism in the state education code.
The bill — intended to address anti-Semitism on college campuses — stalled this month due to ongoing disagreements among lawmakers in the final days of the legislative session. The final version accepted by both the House of Representatives and the Senate made concessions in language that critics of Israel opposed.
Indiana House Republicans passed House Bill 1002 two months ago after listing it as one of their five priorities for the 2024 session. The legislation would broadly define anti-Semitism as religious discrimination, claiming it would “provide educational opportunities free from religious discrimination.”
This is the second time the House of Representatives has tried to pass the legislation, but an identical bill died last year after failing to reach a committee hearing in the Senate. The legislation took on new importance this session in light of the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas.
The House of Representatives bill used the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of anti-Semitism and explicitly included “contemporary examples of anti-Semitism” provided by the alliance that referenced Israel. These have been taken over by the US Department of State.
However, state senators passed an amended version of the bill on Tuesday, removing language that critics of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza opposed. The amended version still included the IHRA’s broad definition of anti-Semitism, but deleted the name of the alliance and examples containing explicit references to Israel.
Opponents argued that such direct references would stifle criticism of Israel in academic settings and campus advocacy for Palestinians in a worsening humanitarian crisis. Support for the bill changed almost as soon as the changes were made.
Some Jewish organizations called on lawmakers to change course and include the entire original House bill.
The disagreement between the chambers prompted the bill to go to the conference committee. Republican Rep. Chris Jeter, the bill’s author, told the committee Thursday that he would prefer lawmakers add the IHRA name back to the bill but leave out the clause about its examples.
The conference committee, a body made up of lawmakers from both chambers, reached an agreement Friday to add the IHRA name back to the bill. The clause about examples remained removed from the final version.
The bill passed both chambers of the General Assembly with bipartisan support on Friday evening. It now goes to Republican Governor Eric Holcomb for final review.
Caryl Auslander, spokesperson for the Indianapolis Jewish Community Relations Council, told reporters that the group supports the final version of the bill. She said the examples are incorporated into the meaning of the bill through the IHRA name, even if they are not explicitly cited in the bill’s language.
“We are grateful to the Indiana House and Senate for listening to our community and protecting Jewish Hoosier students across the state,” Auslander said. “We urge Governor Holcomb to sign this critical piece of legislation into law as quickly as possible.”
The bill’s sponsor, Republican Senator Aaron Freeman, called it a “strong statement” against anti-Semitism.
“Hopefully it’s a guide to live by in our state in the future,” he said.
The Indiana Muslim Advocacy Network, which testified against the House’s original version over concerns it would stifle criticism of Israel on college campuses, released a statement in support of the final bill.
“We are grateful to the members of the Indiana General Assembly who spent time listening to and working with multiple communities to ensure that contemporary examples, accompanied by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism, are removed from the bill were deleted,” the statement said.
Daniel Segal, a coordinating committee member for Jewish Voice for Peace Indiana, said the final version of the bill is an improvement on the original House bill, but not as clear as the Senate version.
In the final week of the legislative session, prominent conservative figures in Indiana politics made statements in support of reinstating the IHRA credential, including Attorney General Todd Rokita, Lt. Governor and gubernatorial Republican candidate Suzanne Crouch and several U.S. state representatives, including GOP candidate for U.S. Senate. Jim Banks.
The push to define anti-Semitism in many states predates the October 7 attacks in which Hamas killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, sparking a war that has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians. But the war gave the followers another motivation. This year, governors in Arkansas and Georgia signed measures, and a proposal is still awaiting review by the governor in Florida. South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem signed a bill Wednesday that defines anti-Semitism.