New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed an executive order on Tuesday establishing the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism as the state’s legal standard for determining when unlawful discriminatory conduct is motivated by antisemitism.
New Mexico is the first state to integrate the IHRA definition into law via executive order, and the sixth state overall to incorporate it into law. Florida, South Carolina, Iowa, Arizona and Tennessee enacted laws using the definition through legislation. Twenty-two other states (Alabama, Alaska, Connecticut, Idaho, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and Wyoming) have endorsed the IHRA definition as an educational tool through resolutions or executive orders.
“All State agencies within the Executive Department of the State of New Mexico shall adopt and use the IHRA’s Working Definition of Antisemitism, including its contemporary examples,” the executive order stated.
“In reviewing, investigating or deciding whether there has been a violation of any relevant policy, law or regulation prohibiting discriminatory acts, state agencies shall take into consideration the definition for purposes of determining whether the alleged act was motivated by discriminatory antisemitic intent.”
The most widely accepted definition of antisemitism worldwide, the IHRA definition states that while not all criticism of Israel is antisemitic, some criticism can cross the line when delegitimizing, demonizing or applying double standards to Israel.
Some 865 governments and major public entities have endorsed the IHRA definition in recent years, including the US Education, Justice and State departments. Fifty-one of the 53 Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations members have also endorsed the definition.
Together with StandWithUs and legal experts, IAC for Action helped lead the development of this legislative model and helped implement its adoption in Florida, Iowa, South Carolina, Arizona and Tennessee.