Agudath Israel of America, a leading national Orthodox Jewish organization, thanks New York Assemblyman Sam Berger and Senator Kevin Parker for their leadership regarding the Honoring Our Pledge to Eliminate Antisemitism (HOPE) Act (A.2139/ S.7034A).

Now it is time for this bill’s swift passage.

While Agudath Israel has supported this bill since its inception and appreciates Assemblyman Berger’s outreach to collaborate on its language during its formation, with each passing day, and each passing incident, we have new, searing reminders of why the HOPE Act is so needed.

The HOPE Act provides that all NY agencies, departments, and subdivisions shall take into consideration the broader IHRA definition of antisemitism when evaluating if an act was so motivated. In addition, it mandates that statewide anti-bias trainings use this definition.

This is the standard we need in a world in which, this week, while yelling “Free Palestine!,” an individual allegedly publicly set fire to a dozen Jewish Americans in Boulder, Colorado using Molotov cocktails and a homemade flamethrower. The burn victims, including an 88-year-old Holocaust survivor, were peacefully raising awareness for the captives of Hamas.

The attacker subsequently told police that he “had no regrets and wanted to kill them all.”

On May 21st, a young couple was gunned down in cold blood, after emerging from a humanitarian event at a Jewish museum in Washington, DC. The alleged killer was filmed similarly shouting “Free Palestine!”

Nor is this flavor of antisemitism restricted to Holocaust survivors or Jewish museum attendees. On the first night of Passover, an arsonist allegedly hopped a gate at the residence of Pennsylvania’s Gov. Josh Shapiro and set fire to the building. According to call logs provided by authorities, the man told 911 dispatchers hours after he allegedly set the fire that, “Shapiro needs to know that he will not take part in his plans for what he wants to do to the Palestinian people.”

This trend is as disturbing as it is growing.

The IHRA (International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance) definition of antisemitism includes, as an example, “holding Jews collectively responsible for actions of the state of Israel.” It should be self-evident that burning or attacking random Jews, because they are Jews, and have some real or imagined nexus to actions of the state of Israel, is antisemitism.

The HOPE Act explicitly includes free speech protections, and the IHRA definition mandates that any finding must “take into account the overall context.” The HOPE Act’s intent is for the IHRA definition to be a tool that agencies “shall take into consideration” when evaluating if an act was motivated by antisemitism.

“It is high time that New York, the state home to more Jews than other state in the country, joined the majority of states and countless countries, entities, and government agencies that have already embraced this definition of antisemitism,” said Mr. Avrohom Weinstock, Chief of Staff of Agudath Israel of America.

“We support this important work spearheaded by Assemblyman Berger and Senator Parker, and urge passage by the legislature and the Governor,” concluded Rabbi Yeruchim Silber, Agudah’s Director of New York Government Relations.

Photo Credits: Agudath Israel of America/Moshe Gershbaum