Jewish leaders from across the commonwealth are responding to a Jewish Insider story that implies state Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, is antisemitic. The leaders defend Hashmi, who is Muslim, saying she is a “champion against hate and violence.”
“As the first Jewish woman elected in Chesterfield County, within Senator Hashmi’s district, I’m deeply proud of her unwavering commitment to stand against antisemitism,” said Dot Heffron, a member of the Chesterfield County School Board. “Having worked alongside her since 2019, I’ve witnessed firsthand her dedication to interfaith dialogue and her strong support for combating all forms of faith-based discrimination and hate.”
The backlash that JI mentioned in their story centers around Hashmi’s decision to call a hearing of the Senate Education and Health Committee last year after protests took place on college campuses across the commonwealth in support of Palestine.
During the wave of protests last year, campus police used force to remove students who said they were gathering to protest the bombings taking place in the Gaza Strip by Israel.
Hashmi called the meeting in September so the committee could hear from the public and university representatives who shared information about their responses to the demonstrations and details about the involvement of law enforcement and campus police.
Republicans pushed back on the arrangement of the meeting, expressing their displeasure with being unable to directly question the university representatives at the meeting. Hashmi directed the senators to submit their questions to the universities after the meeting.
Here is some reporting from the Virginia Mercury of the meeting:
The committee also heard from multiple speakers in person and online who shared their negative experiences at the demonstrations, including some people who were arrested. The committee heard from 30 speakers in total.
Republicans said that the meeting, which was organized mostly by Democratic senators, was one-sided. They pointed to speakers’ remarks about “police brutality,” “genocide,” and claimed none of the speakers were Jewish, despite several speakers being from the Jewish community.
JI wrote in their story that the Jewish community was criticizing Hashmi for not conferring with them ahead of the meeting.
Hashmi responded to the JI, saying, “Anytime committee meetings are called, we don’t actually go through any outreach to any specific groups.”
The story also points to one instance when Hashmi “took a walk” while her chamber voted on a Republican-sponsored bill.
On the vote, which was a bill to protect Virginians against hate crimes, Hashmi voted in favor of the Democratic-sponsored House version but did not vote at all on the Senate version.
The JI criticized Hashmi for the non-vote on the Senate version while also pointing out that the House version she supported was identical.
Hashmi provided JI with a quote, saying she often votes against Republican-sponsored legislation as Democrats do not have as much control over the bill.
“We lose control when legislation is in the hands of a Republican member,” Hashmi explained of her reasoning, adding, “I typically vote against many of my Republican colleagues’ bills just because of the nature of the patron and what they are intending to do.”
JI also published comments from Michael Schewel, who says he is a supporter of one of Hashmi’s primary opponents, former Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney.
Schewel, who has served as Virginia’s secretary of commerce and trade under Gov. Mark Warner, replied to an email from Hashmi with a picture of her at the 2021 cease-fire event. He told JI that he received the photo from one of Hashmi’s primary opponents and did not receive a response from her when he asked by email about her attendance.
Here is what Hashmi told Ji about the 2021 event:
Hashmi said on Wednesday that she had attended the event after some constituents reached out to ask if she would be willing to call for a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. “I just made general comments that I hope that we can move toward a solution and a resolution to the conflict that was ongoing at that time,” Hashmi said of her involvement, noting that she left the protest before a subsequent march and has since then not joined any other related rallies. I typically do not engage in anything that has to do with foreign policy” because “I have no control over foreign policy,” Hashmi clarified. “I don’t have any internal briefings on U.S. foreign policy decisions.”
In response to these accusations, Rabbi Dovid Asher of Keneseth Beth Israel spoke out in support of Hashmi.
“Senator Hashmi is a strong voice against white supremacy, nazi ideology, and religious bigotry,” Asher said in a statement. “The senator has shown a sincere willingness to learn how anti-Zionism often morphs into antisemitism and how Virginia Jewish communities are regularly threatened by related bigoted activities.”
Asher praised Hashmi for attending an event in support of victims of the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel.
“Above all else, Senator Hashmi shows up to stand alongside us at our local community events, such as the most recent memorial ceremony for victims of October 7th, and has made great efforts in connecting with leadership like our Federation’s Jewish Community Relations Council,” Asher said.
Irvin Varkonyi, the chair of the Fairfax Democratic Committee’s Jewish Caucus, released a statement in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the caucus. He said the JI’s characterizations of Hashmi have not been apparent in his interactions with her.
“I have heard her speak to Jewish groups, expressing her full support for them when others have threatened us,” Varkonyi said. “She has conducted hearings as chair of the State Senate Committee on Health and Education regarding campus demonstrations where Jewish students felt threatened, while also acknowledging the rights of all students. The insinuations I have read about her record on antisemitism or Israel are not supported by my interactions with Sen Hashmi.”
Hashmi is running against several other Democrats for the nomination for lieutenant governor.
“Fighting hate and bigotry have been a clear focus of my life’s work,” Hashmi said in a statement to Virginia Scope Monday. “It’s why I joined the board of the Virginia Center for Inclusive Communities, an organization founded to combat antisemitism, and it’s why I ran for office in the face of rising bigotry following Trump’s first election. I’m proud to stand united against antisemitism and against violence that targets this, or any, community of faith.”
The primary is June 17.