diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 6ad0c304..49b3ebf4 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -9,6 +9,7 @@ and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](https://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0
 
 ### Fixed
 - Added `py.typed` markers
+- Fixed semantic error handling
 
 ## [4.6.1] - 2024-09-30
 
diff --git a/azure-kusto-data/azure/kusto/data/exceptions.py b/azure-kusto-data/azure/kusto/data/exceptions.py
index d4afd1ad..134affbb 100644
--- a/azure-kusto-data/azure/kusto/data/exceptions.py
+++ b/azure-kusto-data/azure/kusto/data/exceptions.py
@@ -27,6 +27,9 @@ class KustoTokenParsingError(KustoStreamingQueryError):
     ...
 
 
+SEMANTIC_ERROR_STRING = "Semantic error:"
+
+
 class KustoServiceError(KustoError):
     """Raised when the Kusto service was unable to process a request."""
 
@@ -40,6 +43,8 @@ def __init__(
         self.http_response = http_response
         self.kusto_response = kusto_response
 
+        self.message_text = messages if isinstance(messages, str) else "\n\n".join(repr(m) for m in messages)
+
     def get_raw_http_response(self) -> "Union[requests.Response, ClientResponse, None]":
         """Gets the http response."""
         return self.http_response
@@ -47,7 +52,7 @@ def get_raw_http_response(self) -> "Union[requests.Response, ClientResponse, Non
     def is_semantic_error(self) -> bool:
         """Checks if a response is a semantic error."""
         try:
-            return "Semantic error:" in self.http_response.text
+            return SEMANTIC_ERROR_STRING in self.message_text
         except AttributeError:
             return False
 
diff --git a/azure-kusto-data/tests/test_e2e_data.py b/azure-kusto-data/tests/test_e2e_data.py
index e2c445d0..f2bce2a4 100644
--- a/azure-kusto-data/tests/test_e2e_data.py
+++ b/azure-kusto-data/tests/test_e2e_data.py
@@ -386,3 +386,16 @@ async def test_no_redirects_fail_in_client_async(self, code):
             with pytest.raises(KustoServiceError) as ex:
                 await client.execute("db", "table")
             assert ex.value.http_response.status == code
+
+    def test_semantic_error(self):
+        with self.get_client() as client:
+            with pytest.raises(KustoServiceError) as ex:
+                client.execute(self.test_db, "Nonexistent")
+            assert ex.value.is_semantic_error()
+
+    @pytest.mark.asyncio
+    async def test_semantic_error_async(self):
+        async with await self.get_async_client() as client:
+            with pytest.raises(KustoServiceError) as ex:
+                await client.execute(self.test_db, "Nonexistent")
+            assert ex.value.is_semantic_error()