D.C. City Council member and mayoral candidate Janeese Lewis George, speaking on a panel at a Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington breakfast on Thursday, committed to standing up for the Jewish community and taking proactive steps to ensure its security.

Lewis George’s presence at the event and comments are particularly notable given that she’s a self-identified democratic socialist. Many DSA-aligned elected officials across the country, including incoming New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani, have had combative or nonexistent relationships with mainstream Jewish organizations in their cities and districts.

“I learned at a very young age how important it was to loudly condemn and loudly stand up for our Jewish neighbors,” Lewis George said. She said that she learned through education programs in D.C. schools “how important it was that we support each other in solidarity, in our connected struggles, our connected history.”

She said that, as a member of the city council, she has seen a rise in antisemitic activity in her district, and that it is critical to call it out. She committed to providing security for educational institutions and synagogues and emphasized the importance of having proactive plans to protect the community.

Lewis George also expressed support for security funding the city has provided to Jewish and other nonprofit institutions, acknowledging that those costs are high. The JCRC is pushing for a significant increase in the funding available.

“Overall, we have to be more proactive, and we have to not wait to be react[ive] in this moment when we have seen such a rise [in antisemitism],” Lewis George said. “More than just the words, we have to back them with action. That is really showing up and creating the funds and creating the spaces to protect our Jewish neighbors.”

Outgoing Mayor Muriel Bowser, who took office more than a decade ago, said that she did not anticipate the rise in antisemitism that she saw and had to confront in office, but said that she felt it was important for her to learn more about the Jewish community and visit Israel. 

She said she hopes for a day when she won’t have to receive calls after yet another antisemitic attack and that the city is again adding security around Jewish institutions. She also emphasized her administration’s efforts to bring together faith and community leaders across the city to speak out against antisemitism.

D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb, who is Jewish, drew a comparison between the Maccabees and the D.C. fight for home rule, saying that “we are also fighting back” against long odds and what he described as government overreach.

He also praised Bowser for her response to the Capital Jewish Museum shooting, in which two Israeli Embassy employees were killed.

“The Bondi attack [in Sydney, Australia,] is, unfortunately, another example of antisemitic violence, targeting Jews for being Jews. It has spiked in recent times, whether it’s on the other side of the world, whether it’s across town at the museum, whether it’s from the left or from the right, threats of violence directed at Jewish people for being Jewish and Jewish organizations for being focused on Jewish issues — those threats are real and they are on the rise,” Schwalb continued. “It affects all of us. It’s harder for me to get into my synagogue here for the high holiday than it is for me to get into the Supreme Court.”