Charlottesville, Virginia, resident counter protesting local neo-Nazis’ “Unite the Right” rally in 2017. Photo: Stephen Melkisethian/Flickr.

A commission created by Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to study antisemitism in the state issued its final report on Monday.

“Though Virginia is certainly not among the worst states for antisemitic incidents, it is also not among the very best,” wrote the Commission to Combat Antisemitism, established through an executive order in January. “In recent years, Virginia has had fewer incidents than neighbors in Maryland and DC, but the national trend of increasing antisemitic incidents has not spared Virginia, and some of the most high-profile antisemitic incidents in recent history have occurred in the Commonwealth.”

The commission noted that despite there being no antisemitic assaults in Virginia since 2018, 411 antisemitic incidents, including harassment and vandalism, occurred in 2021, a 71 percent increase when compared to data for 2020, when 292 were reported.

In other incidents, a swastika was graffitied on a Jewish family’s home in Burke and a student in Arlington airdropped a swastika image to his entire class and proceeded to play an online quiz game “using a swastika and a racial slur.” Most notable, however, was an incident from five years ago, the Unite the Right Rally, which took place in Charlottesville in 2017 and led to death of 32-year-old Heather Heyer, who was killed when a white supremacist attending the rally intentionally crashed into dozens of counter-protestors.

“The painful memory of the Charlottesville tragedy significantly impacted both national and Virginia politics in the following years,” the report added. “References to Charlottesville persist in the national discourse on race, hate, and extremism in the US, which is constitutionally committed to Enlightenment ideals, including freedom from persecution.”

The commission recommended several steps for fighting antisemitism in Virginia, including a state law to adopt the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA) definition of antisemitism, the establishment of an official operation for processing complaints of antisemitism in K-12 schools and universities, and expanded standards requiring that students receive a comprehensive education in Jewish history.

A ban on academic boycotts was also proposed, citing their potential for “depriving students or faculty of the ability to study or conduct research in or about a foreign country or interact with its scholars and representatives.”

“The recommendations set forth in this report merit rapid adoption,” the report concluded. “The commission expects reports and recommendations in the future will be well positioned to take further steps to make Virginia an even safer and more welcoming place for people of all faiths, traditions, and backgrounds.”