By Grace Hills, Kansas Reflector
TOPEKA — A new Kansas law adopts the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism — a definition that has been criticized for conflating criticism of the state of Israel with antisemitism.
The legislature passed and Gov. Laura Kelly signed the bill that declares antisemitism, as defined by IRHA, is “against the public policy of this state, including, but not limited to, the purposes of public educational institutions and law enforcement agencies in this state.”
David Soffer with the Combat Antisemitism Movement said that a clause in the definition prevents conflation of criticism of Israel with antisemitism.
“It does differentiate the fact that criticism of Israel is perfectly OK, as long as it is held to the same standard that you would criticize another country,” Soffer said. “We know that there are criticisms of Israel’s own government amongst its people because it is a democracy, no different than here in the United States.”
The definition reads that “manifestations might include the targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity. However, criticism of Israel similar to that leveled against any other country cannot be regarded as antisemitic.”
Jack Goldstein with the Jewish Voice for Peace of Kansas City said the clause is vague.
One example of antisemitism the IHRA provides is “denying the Jewish people their right to self-determination, e.g., by claiming that the existence of a State of Israel is a racist endeavor.”
“We’ve seen the definition be leveraged to silence voices that are dissenting against Israel for reasons that would be fair to critique other countries,” Goldstein said. “For example, their aggression in the Middle East.”
Goldstein is referencing the Israel-Hamas war that sparked campus protests last May, which notably led to the detainment of Columbia University student Mahmoud Khalil.
President Donald Trump recently adopted the IHRA’s definition in an executive order, which has been used to strip funding from Columbia University over claims that the school failed to address antisemitism.
“The main purpose of a bill like this is to shut down opposition to Israel on college campuses,” Goldstein said. “Especially with the Republicans in power right now, that is within their interest, to silence dissent like that. Especially when our country is tied to Israel and still sending lots of money and weapons to the country.”
Senate Bill 44 passed the Kansas House and Senate with bipartisan support. A similar bill in Missouri faced more pushback from Democrats.
Soffer said the main purpose of the bill is to ensure Jewish students are not threatened or harassed. He referenced the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas on Israel. The 1,200 Israeli deaths and 250 hostages taken that day triggered an intense war.
“There was an event at (the University of Kansas) where they held a survivor from Oct. 7th, and groups stormed that event and harassed the individual that was there and the students themselves,” Soffer said. “So the question one must ask is, ‘Why can’t they even hold an event?’ ”
The new Kansas law states the definition is “non-legally binding,” meaning it’s not enforceable in court.
Michael Rebne was on the Roeland Park City Commission when it passed an ordinance adopting the IHRA definition, and he heard supporters point to the fact that it’s not legally binding.
“It ends up actually having the force of something that’s legally binding,” Rebne said. “As the mayor said, in Roeland Park, this will be a way to advise the police of any potential acts of antisemitism within Roeland Park.”
With the new state law, Rebne, who is a teacher in the Kansas City, Kansas, public school district, said he is worried for his students — both Jewish and Palestinian. Rebne said the law makes teachers fearful to teach about the subject at all, even stating data about the number of people killed.
“It doesn’t allow students to really wrestle with geopolitics, and decide for themselves what they see,” Rebne said. “Because if teachers are afraid, whether it’s legally binding or not, to bring up the topic of Israel because even touching on it may be seen as antisemitic then students also miss out on it. They’re our seeds of our democracy, if we hope to have a multi-racial democracy, that we have to educate.”
Last updated 9:01 a.m., Apr. 16, 2025
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