Nearly 100 New Jersey rabbis wrote to now-former Gov. Phil Murphy and members of the New Jersey Assembly this week expressing concerns about reporting from Jewish Insider that Murphy and other Democratic leaders had blocked passage of legislation to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism.

A source had told JI that Democratic leaders in the state were concerned that lawmakers who supported the legislation would be vulnerable to progressive primary challengers.

“This is a deeply troubling failure of leadership that places political calculations above the safety of the Jewish population,” the 95 rabbis wrote, highlighting a string of violent antisemitic incidents in the state and a report indicating that New Jersey was the state with the highest number of antisemitic incidents per capita in 2024.

“Prioritizing politics over antisemitism signals that Jewish safety is negotiable and subjects our community to further cases of harassment and violence,” the letter reads. “Therefore, we call on our political leaders in New Jersey to immediately revisit and pass legislation that adopts the IHRA definition of antisemitism, and applies that definition to training, education, and hate-crime response systems.”

The letter was first reported by NJ.com and organized by The Jewish Majority.

“Already in 2026 demonstrators have gathered outside Jewish institutions to support Hamas’ murder of Jews, and a synagogue has been burned,” the letter continued. “Now is not the time to play politics with our safety.”

The rabbis also said that the recent mass shooting at a Hanukkah event in Sydney, Australia, shows the “lethal consequences of ignoring such hate” and the necessity to provide “clarity around what constitutes Jew-hatred.”

“We spent a lot of time working on this issue in the legislation, and then when Gov. Murphy killed it very late in his term, [it] was really deflating and hurtful and frustrating,” one signatory, Rabbi David-Seth Kirshner of Temple Emanu-El in Closter, N.J., told JI.

He emphasized that the “worst event to happen in our modern era since the Holocaust [the Oct. 7 attacks] … was met in the diaspora, outside of Israel, with increased hatred towards Jews, and vilification and threatening of Jews” and that “what made it even worse is that when we started to wag a finger in the face of those who were threatening and hurting and intimidating the Jewish people, they were claiming it’s not antisemitic.”

New Jersey lawmakers are likely to pursue efforts to pass the IHRA bill again this year.

Kirshner said that the path forward is clear: “We did all the work, all the legislation. It was all put in front of us. Just put the bill out, and let’s pass it. New Jersey has the largest population of Jewish people outside of New York City. It’s the second largest out of our 50 states. We need to act like it.”

He emphasized that nothing about the bill would silence criticism of the Israeli government, as some critics have claimed. 

“It will give us guardrails, and it will give us a sense of protection that we are desperately seeking for the last 24-plus months since the worst day since the Holocaust,” Kirshner said.

He said that an executive order implementing the IHRA definition, “especially if it has all the nuts and bolts of the IHRA legislation” would be a “good stopgap measure” and would “engender some good will” for the new governor, Democrat Mikie Sherill, but said that it cannot be a replacement for the state legislature passing the bill.

A source told JI that such an executive order had been drafted and presented to Murphy’s office before the end of his term, amid outcry over the failure of the IHRA legislation, but it was not signed.

A high-profile New Jersey bill adopting the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism is not expected to pass in the current New Jersey Assembly session, four sources familiar with the situation told Jewish Insider. 

Two sources familiar with the legislation said that Gov. Phil Murphy opposed the legislation and was a key obstacle to its passage.

Assemblyman Gary Schaer, the Democratic lead sponsor of the legislation, told Politico on Thursday that he had been told by the assembly speaker that the legislation would not be on the docket for the assembly’s final session next week because it did not have “the necessary votes to get where we wanted to.”

“Leadership in the assembly, in the Senate and in the governor’s office have tried significantly to get it done, but they have not been able to get it done,” Schaer told JI. “My office worked closely with any number of agencies and organizations, but the effort was just — cannot get it done. Do I think the bill can pass at some point? The answer is yes, but it requires a political will which does not seem to be evident.” 

The legislation was cosponsored by a significant majority of the assembly, but — assuming any Democrats not cosponsoring the bill would have voted against it — it would not have been able to pass with Democratic votes alone.

The bill would have instructed law enforcement to take the IHRA definition into account when determining if violations of state or federal anti-bias law have occurred or whether criminal acts were motivated by antisemitism, and to use it for training public officials and responding to antisemitic incidents. 

The legislation, which has been a priority for Jewish state leaders, became a flashpoint among Democratic gubernatorial candidates and in Democratic politics last year. After much debate, it moved through committee in the state Assembly, but hasn’t received a full-chamber vote in either the Assembly or the state Senate. The legislature’s session ends on Monday, and Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill will be sworn in the following week.

Two sources familiar with the legislation blamed Murphy, the outgoing governor, for its failure, alleging that he did not want to be forced to make a decision whether to sign it.

One source familiar with the situation emphasized that the legislation had the support to pass, but that Democratic leaders were reluctant to move the bill forward to a full vote — concerned that support for the bill would place some Democratic members in danger of progressive primary challenges in the future. Concerns about such primary challenges are already widespread, and leaders were concerned that the IHRA bill could give challengers additional ammunition against Democratic incumbents.

The legislation has been attacked by progressive Democrats as an attempt to silence free speech and criticism of Israel, despite provisions in the legislation protecting free speech and its narrow application in criminal matters.

The Murphy administration declined to comment on pending legislation, but emphasized that Murphy “unequivocally condemns all forms of violence and discrimination based on religious belief” and pointed to past statements and initiatives he has supported to combat rising antisemitism in the Garden State.

Rep. Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ) told Politico that Murphy would have signed the bill had it passed the legislature.

Another source familiar with the situation said that there had been significant finger-pointing between Murphy, Senate President Nicholas Scutari and Assembly Speaker Craig Coughlin, with each blaming the others for the legislation’s failure to pass. Scutari and Coughlin did not respond to requests for comment.

Assemblyman Mike Inganamort, the lead Republican sponsor of the legislation, told JI he’s “disappointed” the legislation has not made it into law.

“This has been going on for a long time now, preceding even my time in the legislature,” he said. “I think advocates are tired of getting jerked around. Frankly, what I’m hearing from them is they’re tired of the lip service … all we’re asking for is a simple up-or-down vote.”

He emphasized that the legislation is co-sponsored by approximately three-quarters of the Assembly but votes have repeatedly been postponed — “so does the majority rule or not?”

He said that he’s not involved in internal discussions among Democrats about the bill, but said, “the reality is, it’s highly likely that there is a very vocal fringe that is opposed to this legislation. And I sure hope they’re not the ones calling the shots.”

Inganamort said that he’ll work with his fellow sponsors to “fight again in the new term,” though he said that he’s not “terribly optimistic that we’re going to achieve more success in a new term under a new governor,” saying he had been “cautioned to re-read” Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill’s “exact words” on the subject.

Gov.-elect Mikie Sherrill told JI in February 2025 that she “supported the IHRA definition in the U.S. House, and would support the current state Senate bill to combat the alarming rise of antisemitism in New Jersey.” Some Jewish leaders told JI that she made comments later in the campaign that included caveats about free speech concerns — which is protected in the existing legislation — but ultimately clarified and strengthened her position.