(JTA) — In its closing session, Ohio’s legislature handed a legislation imposing penalties of as much as 180 days in jail and a $1,000 superb for “zoom-bombing” non secular companies, a follow that antisemites have used to intimidate Jews.
The legislation, “Rising Penalties for Disturbing a Non secular Service,” handed final week unanimously within the state Senate. It had beforehand handed within the state Home, 95-1.
Ohio Lawyer Common Dave Yost sought the legislation after discovering that disrupting a spiritual service was solely thought-about a “class 4 misdemeanor,” incurring penalties of as much as 30 days in jail and $250 fines. A Republican who was elected in 2018, Yost made the invention whereas seeking legal action against abortion rights activists who have targeted anti-abortion clinics for the reason that U.S. Supreme Court docket ended federal abortion rights final summer time. Whereas anti-abortion protesters have for many years focused abortion clinics, generally with lethal violence, some pro-abortion protesters have more recently sought to disrupt church services as a part of their activism.
Yost wished to make the offense a first-degree misdemeanor, which incurs harsher penalties. The Republican legislators Yost requested to advance the laws consulted with non secular communities, and because of talks with Jewish teams added into the laws zoombombing, which antisemites used multiple times to target Jewish services that went online because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Howie Beigelman, the manager director of Ohio Jewish Communities, which represents the state’s Jewish organizations on the state stage, labored carefully with the sponsors on the invoice and credited the state’s Jewish federations, its Jewish group relations councils, its Jewish group safety administrators, and the state places of work of the Anti-Defamation League and the American Jewish Committee for lobbying for the invoice.
“They wished to do the invoice,” Beigelman stated of the sponsoring legislators. “After which they talked to us and we stated usually the invoice is essential, however we additionally need you to be very particular about zoom bombing. They usually like what’s that? I used to be like, Nicely, let me inform you, it’s taking place lots to our group.’”
The Ohio legislature final week additionally handed unanimously the “Testing Your Religion Act” which requires public schools and universities to accommodate non secular observance when it conflicts with exams and assignments.
Ohio Jewish communities advocated for this laws as nicely, and credited Convergence on Campus, a chaplaincy group, in addition to Jewish teams engaged on and off campus for his or her advocacy.
