Florida Senate - 2024                                     SB 148
       
       
        
       By Senator Berman
       
       
       
       
       
       26-00196-24                                            2024148__
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to antisemitism; creating s. 1.015,
    3         F.S.; providing legislative intent; defining the term
    4         “antisemitism”; providing contemporary examples of
    5         antisemitism; providing an effective date.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, in 1998, Swedish Prime Minister Göran Persson
    8  initiated the Task Force for International Cooperation on
    9  Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research, and
   10         WHEREAS, an international forum was held January 27-29,
   11  2000, and was attended by representatives of 46 governments,
   12  including 23 heads of state or prime ministers and 14 deputy
   13  prime ministers or ministers, and
   14         WHEREAS, the task force issued the Declaration of the
   15  Stockholm International Forum on the Holocaust, also known as
   16  the Stockholm Declaration, and
   17         WHEREAS, the Stockholm Declaration is the founding document
   18  for the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA), the
   19  successor organization to the Task Force for International
   20  Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance, and Research,
   21  and
   22         WHEREAS, in 2016, the IHRA adopted a working definition of
   23  antisemitism to assist governments, organizations, and
   24  individuals in their efforts to identify antisemitism, and
   25         WHEREAS, as a part of this working definition, the IHRA
   26  included contemporary examples of antisemitism from around the
   27  globe, and
   28         WHEREAS, IHRA’s adoption of a working definition has
   29  empowered many governments, organizations, and individuals to
   30  identify and address the rise in hate and discrimination against
   31  Jewish individuals, NOW, THEREFORE,
   32  
   33  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   34  
   35         Section 1. Section 1.015, Florida Statutes, is created to
   36  read:
   37         1.015 Antisemitism.—
   38         (1) It is the intent of the Legislature to adopt the
   39  working definition developed by the International Holocaust
   40  Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) of the term “antisemitism” to assist
   41  in the monitoring and reporting of anti-Semitic hate crimes and
   42  discrimination and to make residents aware of and to combat such
   43  incidents in this state.
   44         (2) As adopted by the IHRA on May 26, 2016, and as used in
   45  these statutes, the term “antisemitism” means a certain
   46  perception of Jewish individuals which may be expressed as
   47  hatred toward such individuals. Rhetorical and physical
   48  manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish and
   49  non-Jewish individuals and their property and toward Jewish
   50  community institutions and religious facilities.
   51         (3) Contemporary examples of antisemitism include, but are
   52  not limited to, all of the following:
   53         (a) Calling for, aiding, or justifying the killing or
   54  harming of Jewish individuals in the name of a radical ideology
   55  or an extremist view of a religion.
   56         (b) Making mendacious, dehumanizing, demonizing, or
   57  stereotypical allegations about Jewish individuals as such or
   58  the power of Jewish people as a collective, such as, the myth of
   59  a worldwide Jewish conspiracy or of Jewish individuals
   60  controlling the media, economy, government, or other societal
   61  institutions.
   62         (c) Accusing Jewish people as a collective of being
   63  responsible for real or imagined wrongdoing committed by a
   64  single Jewish person or group or for acts committed by non
   65  Jewish individuals.
   66         (d) Denying the fact, scope, and mechanisms, such as gas
   67  chambers, or the intentionality of the genocide of the Jewish
   68  people at the hands of Nazi Germany and its supporters and
   69  accomplices during the Holocaust.
   70         (e) Accusing Jewish people as a collective, or Israel as a
   71  state, of inventing or exaggerating the Holocaust.
   72         (f) Accusing Jewish citizens of being more loyal to Israel,
   73  or to the alleged priorities of Jewish individuals worldwide,
   74  than to the interests of their respective nations.
   75         (g) Denying the Jewish people their right to self
   76  determination, such as claiming that the existence of a State of
   77  Israel is a racist endeavor.
   78         (h) Applying double standards by requiring of the Jewish
   79  state of Israel a standard of behavior not expected or demanded
   80  of any other democratic nation.
   81         (i) Using the symbols and images associated with classic
   82  antisemitism, such as claims of Jews killing Jesus or blood
   83  libel, to characterize Israel or Israelis.
   84         (j) Drawing comparisons of contemporary Israeli policy to
   85  that of the Nazis.
   86         (k) Holding Jewish individuals collectively responsible for
   87  actions of the state of Israel.
   88         Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2024.