ATLANTA — The Georgia Senate Committee on Judiciary unanimously voted in favor of passing a bill to define anti-Semitism on Monday following a contentious hearing.
Sen. John Kennedy (R-Macon) said the bill could deter people's behavior that could harm or harass someone because they're Jewish.
"But, just as this substitute bill doesn't change what's in someone's heart, it does not interfere, criminalize, or in any way make someone liable for their speech," Kennedy said.
There was a previous version of this legislation seen in the Georgia House of Representatives. However, House Bill 30 stalled in 2023 in a debate over how the measure should be worded.
Since then, the pressure to act has only grown with strong Republican support for Israel in its war with Hamas.
A group of prominent evangelical Christians, including Pastor John Hagee of Christians United for Israel, Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and Jentezen Franklin of megachurch Free Chapel, wrote to Georgia lawmakers in December urging them to adopt the IHRA definition.
However, the question of free speech is drawing criticism from a handful of groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Georgia Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).
First Amendment policy advocate for ACLU Georgia, Sarah Hunt-Blackwell, said that although it's unsettling, hate speech is protected under the First Amendment.
"The government may not silence speech it doesn't agree with, no matter how despicable that speech might be," Hunt-Blackwell said. "The government may not criminalize political expression, no matter how polarizing a position might be."
Megan Gordon, policy manager for CAIR-GA, raised similar concerns.
"Protecting people from anti-Semitism is a goal worthy of pursuing, and I'm really glad that this body is doing that. This legislation is simply not the way to accomplish it," she said. "It's going to chill politically protected free speech about a foreign government."
The measure will go before the Senate for a full vote.