Arkansas Becomes 31st US State to Adopt IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism

The State Capitol Building in Little Rock, Arkansas.

March 1, 2023

Arkansas Governor Sarah Huckabee Sanders has signed a bill making the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) Working Definition of Antisemitism the state’s official definition of anti-Jewish bias and discrimination, The Jerusalem Post reported on Monday.

This makes Arkansas the 31st state to adopt or endorse the definition, according to the CAM Antisemitism Research Center.

A full CAM database on U.S. state adoptions of the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism is accessible here.

The definition says, “Antisemitism is a certain perception of Jews, which may be expressed as hatred toward Jews. Rhetorical and physical manifestations of antisemitism are directed toward Jewish or non-Jewish individuals and/or their property, toward Jewish community institutions and religious facilities.”

The definition’s accompanying list of examples details 11 specific discriminatory behaviors targeting the Jewish people.

Arkansas Governor @SarahHuckabee signed into law a bill making @TheIHRA definition of antisemitism the state’s official definition of anti-Jewish bias and discrimination. 👏https://t.co/eBKRD1yXg7 pic.twitter.com/njK9oH7ZV2

— Combat Antisemitism Movement (@CombatASemitism) February 28, 2023

A comprehensive data report published in January by CAM and Center for the Study of Contemporary European Jewry at Tel Aviv University found that a total of 1,116 entities — including international institutions and organizations, governments at the national, regional, state, and local levels, NGOs, universities, athletic clubs, and corporations, among others — across the globe had adopted or endorsed the definition as of the end of 2022.

Last week, the Virginia legislature passed a measure to adopt the IHRA Working Definition of Antisemitism and the examples.