Democratic tensions over Israel are intensifying in Pittsburgh just weeks before the November election in a crucial swing state, with Sen. Bob Casey (D-PA) issuing a rare rebuke of three top public officials whose joint statement on the one-year anniversary of Hamas’ Oct. 7 attacks was widely condemned as offensive in the local Jewish community.

The statement from Rep. Summer Lee (D-PA), Pittsburgh Mayor Ed Gainey and Allegheny County Executive Sara Innamorato was accused by Jewish leaders and elected officials of equivocating over the attacks while blaming Israel for the massacre as well as a widening war in the Middle East.

“Over the past year, we’ve seen how continued escalation, a lack of diplomacy and a drive for power by right-wing leaders have pushed the region to the brink of regional war,” the elected officials wrote in their statement, which made no mention of Hamas. “This violence did not start on Oct. 7,” they added, “but it can end now if we all commit to peace and diplomacy.”

On Tuesday, Casey, a pro-Israel Democrat facing a competitive reelection, weighed in to voice his disapproval with the joint statement, saying that he “could not disagree more.”

“Hamas is a terrorist organization and its horrific attack which resulted in the murder of 1,200 innocent Israeli civilians must be categorically condemned,” he wrote on social media. “While we must all strive for an end to the conflict in Gaza for Israelis and Palestinians alike, this was an insensitive and inappropriate statement on a difficult day for so many Jewish Pennsylvanians.”

The strongly worded response from Casey, who has faced criticism for endorsing Lee in her primary, underscored a growing rift between the anti-Israel left and the pro-Israel center in heavily Jewish Pittsburgh — where Jewish community activists recently beat back a controversial effort to establish a proposed ballot measure that would require the city to cut ties with companies that do business with Israel.

The roiling intraparty divisions have alienated some Jewish Democrats in Pittsburgh who have felt that Casey, despite his disavowal, has failed to distance himself from Lee, a prominent Squad member who is among the most outspoken critics of Israel in the House.

Casey’s Republican opponent, Dave McCormick, has sought to seize on such discontent, as he has aggressively courted Jewish swing voters who are turned off by the Democratic Party’s far-left flank and its approach to Israel’s war with Hamas. 

In a comment posted to social media on Tuesday, McCormick, who had also condemned the joint statement, criticized Casey’s reaction as “all talk and no action,” adding: “If you were strong, you would revoke your endorsement of antisemitic Summer Lee. But you’re not. So you won’t.”

A spokesperson for Casey did not respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, and McCormick’s team declined to comment, referring to his social media statement. Representatives for Lee did not return a request for comment.

Democratic divisions in Pittsburgh have also reverberated locally in the wake of the statement, with many Jewish leaders expressing discomfort that Gainey and Innamorato had signed on with Lee — who is seen as more vocally anti-Israel than the two other officials.

At an Oct. 7 commemoration ceremony on Monday evening hosted by the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh, for instance, participants were surprised to see Gainey in attendance, according to a Jewish activist who had joined the event.

“I was shocked to see Mayor Ed Gainey there after he had signed on to that message,” the activist said. “Everyone I talked to that knew he was there wasn’t happy about it and he was not announced.”

In a lengthy statement to Jewish Insider on Tuesday, Gainey doubled down on the statement and did not address criticism from fellow party members. “Our tears are abundant enough to mourn all of the lives lost, and our hearts are big enough to care for all of those who continue to suffer because of this conflict,” he said. “And I fervently believe that we need one another to be safe.”

“That is why yesterday I joined with Congresswoman Lee and County Executive Innamorato in amplifying the calls for peace being made by Palestinians, Israelis, and millions of people of good conscience across the world,” he added. “I will continue to prioritize safety, equality, and justice for everyone,  and to advocate for an end to violence and hatred of every kind.”

In August, Gainey’s office was embroiled in another controversy over Israel, when his communications director resigned from her role after she had signed a petition to establish the referendum calling for boycotts of companies doing business with Israel.

Innamorato’s office did not respond to a request for comment on the statement.

But Jeremy Kazzaz, the executive director of the Beacon Coalition, a local Jewish advocacy group, said he was particularly unnerved by Innamorato’s endorsement of the joint statement without seeking input from the organized Jewish community.

Just last week, Kazzaz said, Innamorato had joined what he described as a productive and encouraging meeting with Jewish students at the University of Pittsburgh, where recent antisemitic assaults have rattled the campus. 

“This is part of a pattern of behavior we’ve been seeing, which is not only about Israel but about antisemitism more broadly and how some of these local officials understand and interact with the Jewish community,” Kazzaz said in an interview with JI on Tuesday. “It is unclear if there is any trust left in the community. It feels like there is not.”

“These statements,” he warned, “can have electoral consequences down the road.”