Bill to add ethnicity in hate crimes
Amid growing reports of anti-Semitism and continued widespread discrimination, Del. Dan Helmer, D-Fairfax, has filed a bill in hopes to add ethnicity to Virginia’s hate crimes and discrimination law.
“We need to make sure that the law in Virginia protects Jews and other ethnicities from attacks,” Helmer said.
He noted that the bill comes at a “critical time where there are unprecedented attacks on Americans for being Jewish.”
Helmer
In the months since an Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel, bias incidents against Muslims and Jews have been on the rise. Hamas is a political and military organization that governs the Gaza strip, where many Palestinians live. About 1,200 Israelis were killed in Hamas’ October attack and over 17,000 Palestinians have been killed in attacks from Israel since, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
Virginia law already includes protection against discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, pregnancy, childbirth or related medical conditions, age, marital status, sexual orientation, gender identity, military status or disability.
This year the state legislature passed a bill to adopt a definition of antisemitism. The definition, already embraced by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance, is not legally binding.
Helmer said adding ethnic origin will be helpful particularly for Jewish people — who may not necessarily identify with the religion but whose heritage is connected to the ethnicity and culture.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesperson with the Council on American-Islamic Relations agrees that religion and ethnicity can be conflated.
Virginians call for an end to the violence in Gaza, Israel
“People are often targets for their ethnicity or their perceived ethnicity or their perceived religion,” he said, and noted how people who are Sikh are often perceived as Muslim due to the turbans they wear.
He said that CAIR is “generally in favor of any legislation that strengthens anti-discrimination laws.”
The matter is also personal to Helmer, who is Jewish and has family in Israel. He has said he was subject to an anti-Semitic campaign flier during his 2021 campaign for the House of Delegates. The flier purported to show Helmer looking at stacks of gold coins — a stereotype levied at American Jews.
“This is a problem I’ve been aware of, and I’m ready for the General Assembly to take meaningful steps to combat anti-Semitism,” he said.
Though the Republican Party of Virginia funded the mailer two years ago, the GOP has taken steps in recent years to address the rise of anti-Semitism. Gov. Glenn Youngkin established a commission studying anti-Semitism and Attorney General Jason Miyares created a task force to monitor and investigate reports.
On Monday night, Youngkin attended a menorah lighting at the Weinstein Jewish Community Center and announced that he will propose a $2 million boost to Virginia’s hate crime security grant program in the next state budget. The money would boost the fund to $5 million.
Helmer said he thinks there could be an appetite for passing his bill in the upcoming legislative session.
“This takes meaningful steps and I hope that we can get bipartisan consensus on doing the right thing,” he said.
Related
This incident comes amid a rise in hate crimes directed at Jewish individuals following the start of the Israel-Hamas war.
