Lawmakers in Virginia raised varying degrees of concern about the safety of Jews in the state in statements to Jewish Insider after a George Mason University freshman was charged on Thursday evening with plotting a mass casualty attack at Israel’s consulate in New York. 

The state’s Republican governor, Glenn Youngkin, told JI that the thwarted terrorist attack “serves as yet another wake-up call that antisemitism and the threat to Jewish students and the Jewish community in Virginia, and across America, is very real.” 

“We must remain vigilant against hatred and violence in all its forms,” Youngkin said. “My administration has been fully committed to safeguarding the safety of every Virginian, and we will continue working hand in hand with law enforcement to combat extremism wherever it appears.” 

Statements from prominent Virginia Democrats indicated that the incident had awakened a greater sense of urgency to combat antisemitism after a separate incident earlier this month involving GMU students drew little reaction from many lawmakers. In the earlier incident, two sisters were disciplined over their anti-Israel vandalism of school property, which led to a search of their home where pro-terror and antisemitic paraphernalia was found along with unsecured firearms.. They were later expelled from school.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-VA) said on Friday of the attempted terrorist attack that the “horrifying incident underscores the fear felt by many in the Jewish community as antisemitism continues to rise across the country and around the world.” 

“These charges are extremely serious,” Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) told JI. “The reporting I’ve seen about violent and antisemitic posts this individual was involved with are deeply troubling. I will continue to use my platform as a U.S. Senator to fight against all forms of bigotry, including antisemitism.”

Rep.-elect Eugene Vindman (D-VA) said, “We need to fight antisemitism and ensure our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have everything they need to stop serious foreign and domestic terrorist threats, like this one, that we face as a nation. I trust that law enforcement will continue to investigate this incident including any foreign connections.” 

Neither Rep. Abigail Spanberger (D-VA), who is running for governor, nor Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, the Republican candidate in the Virginia governor’s race, responded to requests for comment from JI. 

The case involves GMU student Abdullah Ezzeldin Taha Mohamed Hassan, an Egyptian national, who shared his plans with an FBI agent posing as a terrorist sympathizer. “Two options: lay havoc on them with an assault rifle; or detonate a TATP [suicide] vest in the midst of them,” Hassan reportedly told the agent. 

The 18-year-old faces one count of demonstrating how to manufacture an explosive with intent to murder internationally protected persons, which carries a maximum possible sentence of 20 years. 

He reportedly praised Osama bin Laden frequently on social media while boasting about the antisemitic and terrorist propaganda he was spreading, according to the Washington Post.

The previous incident this semester followed a police search into the family home of GMU Students for Justice in Palestine leaders, where officers found firearms, scores of ammunition and pro-terror materials, including Hamas and Hezbollah flags and signs that read “death to America” and “death to Jews.”

In response to the propaganda found earlier this month, most Virginia elected officials — with the exception of Youngkin, who said in a statement to JI that SJP poses a threat to the Jewish community in Virginia — didn’t say much about the presence of pro-terror sympathizers on the prominent Virginia college campus. 

The university’s response to both developments has been muted and avoided any mention of the suspect’s Islamist sympathies. “As criminal proceedings progress, the university will take appropriate action on student code of conduct violations,” George Mason University President Gregory Washington wrote Thursday in a message to the campus community.

In a statement to JI on Friday, a university spokesperson said that the school could not “speculate on broader implications.” 

Following the news of the thwarted attack, George Mason law school professor Adam Mossoff shared on X that for the past year, a permanent police presence has been stationed on the school’s law school campus to protect two Jewish law school professors. “I have greater clarity now why this had to be done. It’s shameful that GMU has fostered an environment where this is needed for its profs,” Mossoff wrote on Thursday.

Guila Franklin Siegel, associate director of the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington, told JI on Friday that the group is “in the process of reaching out to George Mason University to have a conversation about the deep concerns that our community has about what has transpired.” 

After Mossoff divulged that Jewish professors have required additional security on campus, Franklin Siegel said that Jewish leaders have additional “concerns about the climate at the university and the safety of the Jewish community on campus.”

“It’s something we will really need to be looking into and making an assessment about whether enough is being done,” she said. “If the university feels that Jewish professors need that level of security then we need to look at the climate at the school. Jewish faculty should not need security when they go to work.” 

Jewish Insider’s congressional correspondent Emily Jacobs contributed reporting.