Murtaza Khwaja said that the Hamas-linked Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) opposed the bill because it would restrict criticism of (and no doubt propaganda against) Israel, but there is also this: the Jews in the Qur’an are called the strongest of all people in enmity toward the Muslims (5:82); they fabricate things and falsely ascribe them to Allah (2:79; 3:75, 3:181); they claim that Allah’s power is limited (5:64); they love to listen to lies (5:41); they disobey Allah and never observe his commands (5:13). They are disputing and quarreling (2:247); hiding the truth and misleading people (3:78); staging rebellion against the prophets and rejecting their guidance (2:55); being hypocritical (2:14, 2:44); giving preference to their own interests over the teachings of Muhammad (2:87); wishing evil for people and trying to mislead them (2:109); feeling pain when others are happy or fortunate (3:120); being arrogant about their being Allah’s beloved people (5:18); devouring people’s wealth by subterfuge (4:161); slandering the true religion and being cursed by Allah (4:46); killing the prophets (2:61); being merciless and heartless (2:74); never keeping their promises or fulfilling their words (2:100); being unrestrained in committing sins (5:79); being cowardly (59:13-14); being miserly (4:53); being transformed into apes and pigs for breaking the Sabbath (2:63-65; 5:59-60; 7:166); and more. They are under Allah’s curse (9:30), and Muslims should wage war against them and subjugate them under Islamic hegemony (9:29).
“Antisemitism bill falls to pass Georgia assembly after lobbying effort by CAIR,” Israel National News, March 30, 2023:
A bill that would have added the IHRA definition of antisemitism to Georgia’s hate crimes law failed to pass the state assembly early Thursday, the day the legislature adjourned for 2023, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The bill was opposed by anti-Israel groups, who claimed it would limit criticism of Israel, including the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). According to the Shore News Network, CAIR have been actively lobbying for several years to prevent the legislature from adopting the IHRA definition, claiming in a petition that the bill would ”attempt to stifle our First Amendment rights.”
The bill, HB144, didn’t pass after Senate leaders on Wednesday did not call a vote.
It would have added the IHRA definition to the state’s hate crimes law, and opened the door to stiffer penalties for those who commit antisemitic incidents.
Rep. Esther Panitch, Georgia’s only Jewish lawmaker, who has been pushing for the bill’s adoption, and had co-sponsored previous bills with similar proposals that failed to pass, told the Journal-Constitution: “I’m disappointed that Jews under assault weren’t a priority. But I’m not going anywhere and am more determined than ever.”
Murtaza Khwaja, CAIR’s Georgia chapter executive director, agreed that “antisemitism is a very real problem.”
But Khwaja told the news outlet that “HG 144 is not the way to do [it]. What this bill does is conflate antisemitism with critiques of the state of Israel.”…
