Michelle Lujan Grisham, New Mexico governor, on Tuesday signed an executive order that adopts the working definition of antisemitism established by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) as the state’s legal standard.
According to the text of the order, “Jewish people continue to be a targeted minority in the United States and New Mexico, for instance, data shows that Jews are consistently the most likely of all religious groups to be victimized by incidents of hate.”
The IHRA’s working definition adopted in 2016 will be used to “determine contemporary manifestations of antisemitism and includes useful examples of discriminatory anti-Israel acts that can cross the line into antisemitism,” the document stated.
If “a violation of law occurs” all state agencies in New Mexico “will consider IHRA when making an assessment as to whether the discrimination was motivated by antisemitic intent.”
New Mexico is the sixth US state to incorporate the IHRA definition into its legislation and the first one to do so through the executive order. Another 22 states adopted the IHRA wording as an educational standard.
