Parkland City Hall
Taking a stand against a nationwide surge in anti-Jewish bigotry, the Parkland City Commission voted unanimously on Wednesday to formally adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) working definition of antisemitism into the city’s municipal code.
The move makes Parkland the latest in a growing number of Florida municipalities to adopt the IHRA standard, aligning the city with state law. The Obama administration was the first U.S. administration to incorporate the IHRA working definition of antisemitism into federal civil rights guidance — and every presidential administration since has kept it in place.
The Parkland legislation adopts the IHRA definition as well as Florida’s definition of hate crimes, and includes contemporary examples of antisemitism. It also directs city departments and officials to consider those definitions when evaluating whether an act was motivated by discriminatory antisemitic intent.
The ordinance explicitly states it does not infringe on rights protected under the First Amendment or the Florida Constitution.
The IHRA definition has become the most widely adopted framework for identifying antisemitism worldwide. It has been adopted by 47 countries, including most Western democracies, and by 37 U.S. states. The definition is also used by many universities and international organizations to identify contemporary forms of antisemitism.
The Parkland ordinance comes amid a national surge in antisemitism following the October 7, 2023, Hamas attacks on Israel, with Jewish communities across the United States reporting sharp increases in harassment, intimidation, vandalism, hateful demonstrations, and violence.
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Author Profile
- Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.
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