JEI Celebrates Hostages’ Return from Gaza

August 8,2025 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Steve Rabinowitz Email: steve@bluelightstrategies.com Phone:202-265-3000 JEI Denounces Deeply Concerning Comments by VA House Education Chair Washington, DC — The Jewish Electorate Institute denounces the deeply concerning statements by Virginia Delegate Sam Rasoul (D-Roanoke), who also serves as the appointed Chair of the Education Committee in the Virginia House of Delegates, and who labeled Zionism “evil” and a “supremacist ideology.” Zionism represents the Jewish people’s fundamental right to self-determination in our ancestral homeland—framed within the context of democratic legitimacy and moral clarity. This mischaracterization undermines Jewish identity and distorts a core democratic value. As a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization dedicated to understanding and empowering the American Jewish electorate through research, polling, and civic engagement, we urge Virginia’s leadership to reaffirm standards of responsible public service and to reject rhetoric that fuels division. Political discussion should challenge policies, not legitimate identity or core values. ###  ABOUT THE JEWISH ELECTORATE INSTITUTE (JEI) JEI is an independent, nonpartisan 501(c)(3) organization that surveys, interprets, reports, and educates policymakers and the public about the perspectives, voting behaviors, and motivations of the American Jewish electorate. JEI undertakes all its work and reports its findings without bias or favor concerning any political group or particular ideology. Through its polling, studies, seminars, focus groups, and educational programming, JEI is the leading non-partisan voice explaining the positions and voting behaviors of the American Jewish electorate.