Washington State Human Rights Commissioner Luc Jasmin has stepped down after a recently surfaced video showed him belittling concerns about antisemitism, asserting that Jews are "always crying" about discrimination, and falsely alleging that Jews have killed "millions" of Palestinians and Arabs.
His departure comes only days after Jewish organizations across Washington State demanded that he either resign or be removed from his post. According to The Post Millennial, the Washington State Human Rights Commission announced on Thursday that Jasmin had vacated his position, stating, "As of July 1, 2026, Commissioner Luc Jasmin resigned from the Washington State Human Rights Commission," and adding, "WSHRC currently does not have any further details."
The controversy erupted after the commission published video from a March 2025 meeting in which commissioners debated a proposed resolution specifically addressing antisemitism. During that meeting, Jasmin openly questioned why the commission was considering a resolution focused on antisemitism at all.
"This word, anti-Semitism, has been around since the Jews got trampled by Hitler," Jasmin said during the recorded session. "And it seems like the Jewish people keep on crying, and crying, and crying, and crying, always crying over the anti-Semitism."
He went further, asserting that Jews were seeking special treatment under the law and falsely accusing "the Jewish" of killing "millions" of Palestinians and Arabs. Those remarks, echoing long-standing antisemitic tropes and anti-Israel propaganda, triggered immediate and widespread condemnation from Jewish organizations across the state.
StandWithUs Northwest denounced Jasmin's comments as "unacceptable," demanded his resignation, and urged Democrat Gov. Bob Ferguson to remove him if he refused to step down. The Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle likewise condemned the remarks, with its president and CEO, Solly Kane, declaring, "We are appalled by the comments by Washington State Human Rights Commissioner Luc Jasmin."
"At a time when the Jewish population is 2 percent of Americans but the target of approximately 70 percent of all religious-based hate crimes, for Commissioner Jasmin to suggest that Jews are always 'crying and crying' about antisemitism reveals a stunning lack of understanding and awareness of the real threats the American Jewish community faces." The American Jewish Committee Seattle echoed that criticism, with Regional Director Regina Sassoon Friedland saying Jasmins remarks were "dismissive of the lived experiences of Jewish people and inconsistent with the responsibilities of someone charged with protecting human rights."
Under mounting pressure, Jasmin sat for a 45-minute interview with Jewish News Syndicate (JNS), where he repeatedly apologized and admitted he had wrongly conflated Jewish people with the State of Israel. "I own my mistake," Jasmin told JNS. "I want to apologize to the Jewish community for what I said."
Yet he also attempted to normalize such rhetoric within the commissions proceedings, suggesting that harsh and offensive language is routine in those discussions. "Some people say a lot of hurtful things about groups," he said. "But we don't take people's mistake and throw it out on the street for everybody to hear."
Jasmin further inflamed criticism when he refused to say whether Hamas is a terrorist organization, claiming, "I have no access to the information of who they are." His son, Luc Jasmin III, a Democrat legislative candidate who also serves in Gov. Ferguson's office, likewise declined to label Hamas a terrorist organization during the same interview, raising additional concerns about the ideological leanings within the governors orbit.
The Washington State Attorney General's Office, led by Ferguson, responded to the uproar by affirming that "the public's concerns about rising antisemitism are well-founded," and describing antisemitism as "a real and growing threat." Shortly after the commission formally announced Jasmin's resignation, Ferguson confirmed the vacancy on social media, writing, "I will be making an appointment to this vacancy soon," and inviting applicants by adding, "If you're interested in serving on the Washington Human Rights Commission, or any of our other boards and commissions, here's how to apply."
Jasmin had been appointed to the Human Rights Commission by former Democrat Gov. Jay Inslee in June 2023, with his term originally set to run through 2028. His abrupt exit now leaves state leaders with the task of filling a key civil-rights post at a time when antisemitic incidents are rising nationwide and when many citizens are questioning whether progressive institutions are capable of defending Jewish communities with the same vigor they claim to extend to other minority groups.
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