CAIR-Ohio: GOP Ohio Senator introduces legislation to define ‘antisemitism’ – WEWS
But Faten Odeh worries in an effort to protect one marginalized group, Johnson’s measure may be missing an opportunity to protect several others. Odeh heads up the Council on American-Islamic Relations, or CAIR, of Ohio.
“While we support efforts to combat antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Palestinian racism and other forms of hate,” she wrote, “this bill as drafted wrongly conflates legitimate criticism of the Israeli government, its actions and its founding ideology with antisemitism.”
“Conflating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism,” she continued, “undermines fundamental constitutional rights, threatens protected political expression and risks discriminatory enforcement.”
Odeh added that narrowly focusing on criticism toward one community “neglects the broader need to combat all forms of hate and discrimination.” She argued state lawmakers would do better by strengthening existing hate crime laws.
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