California state Sen. Scott Wiener, a Democrat running in a crowded primary to replace retiring Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), has spent the last week navigating the political fallout of a Gaza-related exchange at a candidate forum that lasted no more than 30 seconds but has since gone viral in progressive Bay Area political circles.

All three candidates who appeared at the forum last week — Wiener, San Francisco Board of Supervisors member Connie Chan, and Saikat Chakrabarti, former chief of staff to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) — were asked if they believed Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, by lifting a “yes” or “no” placard. The other two said yes; Wiener did not answer at all. 

In the days that followed, Wiener was slammed by far-left activists. He posted, then deleted, a message on X saying the Israeli-Palestinian conflict “demands more discussion and certainly more time.” Finally, four days later, he released a video on Sunday where he somberly explained that he has changed his position and now does believe Israel’s actions amount to genocide.

“I’ve stopped short of calling it genocide, but I can’t anymore,” the post said.

“For many Jews, associating the word genocide with the Jewish state of Israel is deeply painful and frankly traumatic,” Wiener said in the video. “But despite that pain and that trauma, we all have eyes and we see the absolute devastation and catastrophic death toll in Gaza inflicted by the Israeli government.” 

It was a shocking about-face for one of the most prominent Jewish lawmakers in the state, a progressive who has sharply criticized Israel’s actions in Gaza but who has reiterated his support for the U.S.-Israel relationship as the co-chair of the California Legislative Jewish Caucus. He took a delegation of lawmakers to visit Israel in 2024. 

Hours before he posted the video, The Atlantic published a lengthy interview with Wiener where he declined to use the term “genocide” to describe Israel’s actions — and where he said such rhetorical purity tests sort Jews into “good” and “bad.” 

“If you’re not willing to use the exact language that we want you to use, then you’re a bad Jew,” Wiener said in the Atlantic interview, describing the tactics of those seeking ideological purity. 

The geopolitical reality in Gaza and Israel did not change in the four days between the candidate forum and Wiener’s video. What changed, according to two political activists in the Bay Area, was politics. 

Wiener took a great deal of flack from the anti-Zionist left over his refusal to distance himself from the Jewish state, even though he has called Israel’s actions in Gaza “indefensible” and has been a staunch critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But as Wiener runs for Congress, the political stakes have only increased. 

“Scott was faced with this reality that he was actually, literally losing supporters over this position,” one Jewish Democratic activist in San Francisco told Jewish Insider. The people turning away from his campaign were not the hard-left activists who have been agitating against Wiener since soon after the Oct. 7, 2023, terror attacks that sparked the war in Gaza. Instead, they were progressive activists who supported Wiener for his stances on the LGBTQ community and housing, but who use the word “genocide” as a litmus test, the activist said.

“Folks have been talking to me, saying this was a gut punch, to see Scott do this,” said the activist. “And I said, ‘Well, for me, it’s more of a gut punch that it’s actually politically necessary for him to do this.’”

Wiener was also facing pressure from his own campaign staff, according to the activist. 

After Wiener posted the video on Sunday, his communications director, Erik Mebust, re-posted it to his own personal Instagram account.

“Israel has committed genocide in Gaza and must be stopped,” Mebust wrote in a post on his private Instagram story, a screenshot of which was obtained by JI. “[Sen.] Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and [Rep.] Becca Balint (D-VT) are the only two Jewish members of Congress with the courage to say that. Scott Wiener joins them today.” Mebust did not respond to a request for comment. 

Several California Jewish organizations, including the Bay Area JCRC and JPAC, a lobbying org that represents Jewish communities across the state, released a joint statement slamming Wiener’s rhetorical shift. 

“Senator Wiener’s newly stated position is both incorrect and lacks moral clarity,” the organizations said. “The diminishment and weaponization of the term ‘genocide’ in this context has been deeply painful for our community, given our own historical experiences with the Holocaust.” 

JCRC CEO Tyler Gregory told JI that Wiener’s new stance is “deeply disappointing and disheartening.” 

“I don’t believe that he believes this. I believe he felt he had to do this,” Gregory said. “I don’t believe in burning bridges. We’re in the community relations business and relationships matter, and he still has a great shot of winning this seat, and we’re going to need to figure out how to work with him and repair [the relationship] if he wins. But this is also deeply damaging to the Jewish community, and words matter, and it’s not a genocide.”