Multiple Loudoun County residents addressed the Board of Supervisors on Oct. 7 and urged the board to publicly condemn antisemitic speech and threats following the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attacks and a reported surge of antisemitic incidents locally.

Speakers described a range of incidents they said had occurred in Loudoun: posters left near private homes and a sukkah, verbal harassment in public spaces, reported denials of rideshare service, and inflammatory public comments at prior board meetings. Speaker Wendy Golden said, "Unequivocally, condemn the hate speech targeting my community," and told the board she felt "forced" to speak because she believed board leadership had been silent.

Several speakers singled out the board's handling of public comment and the chair's refusal, in their view, to directly condemn specific antisemitic statements made in the boardroom. Gary Katz told the board: "You went and made condemnations of Charlie Kirk ... but you didn't hide behind First Amendment rights in order to condemn him. And yet you hide behind First Amendment rights with respect to the Jewish community." Others asked for a rule change to limit public comment to agenda items so the board could cut off comments that speakers said drift into hateful rhetoric.

Why it matters: speakers said the incidents make Jewish residents feel unsafe in Loudoun. Several called for a public, unequivocal board statement condemning antisemitism and for clearer limits on public-comment content. Board members and the chair were asked to act publicly to reduce harm and restore trust.

Discussion (summary): speakers included religious leaders, students and parents, and longtime residents who described both community-organizing work and personal incidents. Multiple commenters thanked supervisors who had publicly spoken in support of the Jewish community. Several said they had suffered or witnessed harassment in the weeks and months following the October 7 attacks and urged the board to act.

Ending: Commenters asked the board to adopt explicit condemnations and to consider procedural changes to public-comment rules that would prevent the boardroom from becoming a platform for inflammatory or hateful rhetoric.