The three leading candidates vying to fill Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s seat in Congress have embraced harsh criticism of Israel, though a recent debate revealed certain policy differences among them on the subject.
Former tech entrepreneur and political staffer Saikat Chakrabarti, S.F. Supervisor Connie Chan and state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-S.F.) all claim that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza, a position they reiterated at the Tuesday debate moderated by KQED journalists.
The claim is one that Israel strongly rejects, pointing to efforts such as warning and evacuating civilians during the Israel-Hamas war and facilitating humanitarian aid and vaccinations in the Gaza Strip.
The three candidates, all Democrats, faced a more specific question at the event at the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco: whether they believe the United States should “rethink” its relationship with Israel.
Their responses revealed distinctions about how each candidate would approach the U.S.-Israel relationship.
Wiener broadly agreed, saying that Israel’s response to the Hamas attack on Oct. 7, 2023, “went quickly beyond self-defense and inflicted a level of catastrophic destruction in Gaza that I do believe constituted a genocide.”
That belief has led him to decide he will not support the sale of offensive arms to Israel, but he also made a point to distinguish between offensive and defensive military funding.
“I support the Iron Dome. I think there is, to me, a clear distinction,” Wiener said at the debate.
For Chakrabarti, the distinction does not exist. He explicitly stated Tuesday night that he does not believe the U.S. should fund the Israeli military, whether for “offensive or defensive weapons.”
“Defensive money can be used for offensive weapons. Money is fungible,” said Chakrabarti, former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
A portion of the U.S. government’s aid to Israel is designated for missile defense systems, including the Iron Dome. The most recent memorandum of understanding between the two countries, signed by the Obama administration, set aside $5 billion over the following 10 years for missile defense programs. In total, the memorandum committed $3.8 billion per year to Israel in military assistance, with the vast majority of the money spent in the U.S. The memorandum expires in 2028.
While Chan stated that “there should be no offensive military weapons funding to the Israeli government,” her overall response was more ambiguous.
Unlike Wiener, she did not explicitly qualify that she would support defensive funding for the Iron Dome and other anti-missile systems. And unlike Chakrabarti, she did not double-down on withholding aid regardless of its intended use.
“We need to stop and hold that funding. We should have done that long ago,” Chan said. She added that on top of stopping military funding, the U.S. should prioritize sending humanitarian aid to Gaza and ensure that Israel complies with its current cease-fire with Hamas.
This portion of the debate attracted the most vocal responses from audience members, some of whom cheered after each candidate reiterated their decision to call Israel’s war in Gaza a “genocide.” One heckler yelled, targeting Wiener directly. According to KQED, the heckler accused Wiener of “promoting genocide.” That heckler continued shouting over Chakrabarti’s response before she was eventually removed from the theater.
“She has a right to her opinion, even if it’s not true,” Wiener said during the disruption.
The three candidates are leading over seven others, all vying for the House seat that will be left vacant when Pelosi retires after serving in Congress since 1987. During California’s primary election on June 2, the top two candidates, regardless of party affiliation, will advance to the general election.
Wiener’s position in the race remains strong. According to March 12 polling from Chakrabarti’s campaign, Wiener leads the pack with 32 percent of voters supporting him and Chakrabarti sits in second place at 20 percent.
In late February, Wiener received an endorsement from the California Democratic Party following its convention in San Francisco.