A group of 21 House Democrats is accusing critics of Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel of antisemitism, amid a political firestorm over Nessel’s decision to charge some anti-Israel demonstrators at the University of Michigan with a slew of crimes, including several felonies.

The House lawmakers’ statement comes amid a controversy over recent comments by Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) alleging that Nessel’s office is biased in the case. The Democrats’ statement doesn’t explicitly mention Tlaib, though her comments have been at the center of discussion about the charges in recent days.

“Casting doubt on Attorney General Nessel’s impartiality or implying these cases are being handled unfairly due to her religious background is antisemitic, deeply disturbing, and unacceptable,” the lawmakers said in a joint statement shared with Jewish Insider, adding, “we owe it to our constituents to model methods of disagreement that do not invoke hateful tropes or false charges of unfair bias.”

The statement was led by Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) and Haley Stevens (D-MI).

They were joined by Rep. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI), the Democratic Senate candidate in Michigan, as well as Reps. Hillary Scholten (D-MI), Shri Thanedar (D-MI), Brad Schneider (D-IL), Lois Frankel (D-FL), Dan Goldman (D-NY), Josh Gottheimer (D-NJ), Greg Landsman (D-OH), Kathy Manning (D-NC), Norma Torres (D-CA), Jimmy Panetta (D-CA), Jared Moskowitz (D-FL), Ritchie Torres (D-NY), Juan Vargas (D-CA), Tom Suozzi (D-NY), Susie Lee (D-NV), Marilyn Strickland (D-WA), Steve Cohen (D-TN) and Donald Norcross (D-NJ).

“Dana Nessel has distinguished herself as a just, discerning, and effective Attorney General,” the lawmakers said. “Michigan voters selected her to keep all communities safe, empowering her to faithfully exercise discretion and enforce the law.”

The Democrats said that Nessel has fulfilled her elected responsibilities in the cases charged at the University of Michigan, emphasizing that the actions of those charged involve violence and “go far beyond free speech,” and that those charged “will enjoy the same rights of due process as anyone else.”

Tlaib said in an interview with the Detroit Metro Times last week, “It seems that the attorney general decided if the issue was Palestine, she was going to treat it differently, and that alone speaks volumes about possible biases within the agency she runs.”

Defenders of Tlaib, including the reporter who conducted that interview, have insisted that she wasn’t referring to Nessel’s Jewish heritage. The Metro Times, a progressive alternative weekly newspaper asserted in a story on Monday that Tlaib “was referring to anti-Palestinian attitudes.”

But a range of Michigan leaders have interpreted the comments as an attack on Nessel’s faith. Tlaib’s office didn’t respond to an inquiry seeking to clarify her remarks.

Nessel, responding on Friday to a cartoon implying Tlaib was an affiliate of Hezbollah, said, “Rashida’s religion should not be used in a cartoon to imply that she’s a terrorist. It’s Islamophobic and wrong. Just as Rashida should not use my religion to imply I cannot perform my job fairly as Attorney General. It’s anti-Semitic and wrong.”

In a statement on Monday, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer said that “the suggestion that Attorney General Nessel would make charging decisions based on her religion as opposed to the rule of law is antisemitic. Attorney General Nessel has always conducted her work with integrity and followed the rule of law. We must use all our platform and voices to call out hateful rhetoric and racist tropes.”

Whitmer initially declined to weigh in on the situation in a Sunday interview on CNN.

Prior to the joint statement, Stevens issued a solo statement defending Nessel on Sunday.

“These charges are a reflection of [Nessel’s] deep commitment to the rule of law and her duty to uphold it. It is antisemitic to assert that Attorney General Nessel is letting bias due to her Jewish heritage determine who she prosecutes,” Stevens told JI. “This cannot stand, particularly as too many Jewish elected officials are being targeted by hate and harassment simply because of their identities.”

Some colleagues are coming to Tlaib’s defense.

Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN) said that “the smear campaign against Rashida is absolutely reprehensible” and accused critics of “spreading blatant misinformation.”