OLYMPIA (VINnews) – A Washington State Human Rights Commission member is under fire for dismissing concerns about antisemitism during a meeting on a resolution condemning Jew-hatred, with Jewish groups and others demanding his immediate resignation.

Commissioner Luc Jasmin made the remarks during a March 27, 2025, meeting as commissioners debated a resolution on antisemitism. Video of the session was posted publicly by the commission last week.

“This word antisemitism has been around since the Jews got trampled by Hitler, and it seems like the Jewish people keep on crying, and crying, and crying and crying, always crying over the antisemitism,” Jasmin said, according to a transcript and video of the meeting.

He added: “Today, there are many other groups who are subject to mistreatment, or even subject to mistreatment by the Jewish, and they’re not crying so much. Why is antisemitism carrying on until the century 2000, and everybody’s folding down to that?”

“Wherever I’ve been throughout my life, it’s Jewish always crying, and now they’re trying to get the Human Rights Commission to write special conditions for them,” Jasmin continued.

Critics condemned the comments as invoking antisemitic tropes and demonstrating a profound misunderstanding of Jewish history and suffering. The Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews were murdered, gave rise to the modern international human rights framework.

“Jews have been the victims of some of the worst recent human rights abuses and continue to face high levels of bigotry and abuse,” said one statement circulating in response to the remarks. “Anybody who purports to represent the cause of human rights while ridiculing a group of people that has endured some of the worst human rights abuses is unfit for service and must immediately resign.”

In a 45-minute phone call with JNS, Jasmin apologized for the first time — and then four more times — for the antisemitic remarks. During that same conversation, he said he isn’t sure if Hamas is a terror organization.

Jasmin, a Spokane pastor appointed by then-Gov. Jay Inslee in 2023, serves a term through June 2028. Gov. Bob Ferguson, who appoints commissioners, has the authority to remove them for cause.

The commission ultimately adopted the antisemitism resolution unanimously on April 17, 2025.

Jewish advocacy organizations, state lawmakers from both parties and community members have urged Ferguson to initiate removal proceedings if Jasmin does not step down.

To contact the governor’s office, call 360-902-4111 or use the online form at governor.wa.gov.