The law adopts the US State Department definition of antisemitism and mandates that discrimination against Jewish people be considered similar to acts of racial discrimination in Florida’s public-education institutions.
“The bill sends a strong signal that Florida will not tolerate antisemitism, a cancer that continues to grow and threaten the fabric of society well beyond the Jewish community,” said the American Jewish Committee in a statement.
The political arm for the Israeli-American Council also applauded the law.
“Data indisputably shows that Jews are the most likely of all minority groups to be victimized by incidents of hate, and that antisemitism is continuing to rise at an alarming rate,” said IAC for Action’s Director of Policy and Government Affairs, Joseph Sabag, in a statement. “We are pleased to see that Jewish and Israeli Americans are not left to contend with incidents of antisemitic hatred alone.”
Jews are the most targeted for hate crimes among religious groups annually, according to the FBI.
