Georgia Democratic Party counsel’s wife seems to call for congresswoman’s death after pro-Israel vote

Serene Varghese, whose husband Sachin Varghese is general counsel for the Democratic Party of Georgia, appeared to call for the death of the party’s chair—a U.S. congresswoman—on Saturday after the latter voted for Israel funding.

“Have you thought about booking a Boeing 737 for your next flight to Atlanta?” she wrote in response to a post from Rep. Nikema Williams (D-Ga.) about voting for a package that included funding for Israel. “I highly recommend.”

Some Boeing 737 aircraft have been grounded this year following safety issues, and “Boeing now faces renewed questions over its ability to meet quality and safety standards,” NPR reported last month.

“Why would you like her to take a Boeing 737? So it crashes or parts come off while she’s in flight?” responded Esther Panitch, a Georgia state representative and the only Jewish member of the state legislature. “What is wrong with you?”

Panitch added that she is “so disturbed” by Varghese’s “wish for death/injury of Rep. Williams. Serene is the wife of the general counsel for the Democratic Party in Georgia.”

Varghese doubled down when others pointed out that she was threatening a congresswoman’s safety.

“Just in case you haven’t heard, Boeing 737s are the most sold planes in history and still actively flying every day,” she wrote to one person. “Google is such an amazing resource.”

“Sorry I must’ve missed that when I was mourning the loss of entire branches of my family that have been killed off in Gaza,” she said in another response. “But surely, our congresswoman isn’t responsible for funding Israel.”

She added in a post, in which she used an obscene misogynistic term, that “to be fair, I am definitely guilty of calling her a [expletive] and a terrible human being and a garbage human.”

When someone tagged the FBI, Varghese responded, “Yes. Please call the FBI, so they can attend to urgent matters like recommending the most sold aircraft ever that is still actively used today. It’s a Zionist emergency.”

In response to somone’s post about her husband, Varghese wrote, “It is not a secret. My husband is the general counsel to the Democratic Party of Georgia. And his deputy general council is a proud Zionist whose wife works for AIPAC. What a beautiful melting pot.”

To Panitch, who told her that she is not well, Varghese wrote, “Y’all this is so sweet. Even though we don’t agree on the Israel and Palestine conflict, she’s concerned about me. A reminder for all of us suffering with mental health issues that there is no stigma in getting help.”

She added, “I am disturbed by Rep. Esther Panitch’s face, and I wouldn’t have said anything, but she started it.”

“Rep. Nikema Williams is a sitting U.S. congresswoman, and chair of the Georgia Democratic Party, who voted to help Israel and provide needed humanitarian assistance, so she should not face a death wish by anyone, let alone from a member of her own party,” Panitch told JNS.

“We would never tolerate this from far-right Republicans,” the state representative added. “We can never normalize this from the far-left Democrats. I support Nikema and hope that Georgia’s Jews on both sides do so as well.”

On Monday, Williams wrote on social media that Varghese could disagree with her and even refer to her with expletives.

“But saying I should take a Boeing 737 on my next flight home, was a veiled way of wishing for my death. It’s not ok,” she wrote. “We should not normalize this in political discourse.”