Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) urged voters in her district not to vote for East Brunswick Mayor Brad Cohen, one of the 17 candidates running to replace her, accusing him of being a “hardline supporter” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Cohen, the top fundraiser in the field, was singled out for criticism by Watson Coleman, who declined to endorse a candidate in the 12th Congressional District primary, according to the New Jersey Globe.

“He’s a hardline supporter of Netanyahu, who is a despot, a corrupt leader,” Watson Coleman, a longtime critic of Israel, told the news outlet.

Cohen currently holds a substantial fundraising lead in the race to replace Watson Coleman, with $279,000 raised and $263,000 cash on hand as of the end of 2025.

Cohen told the Globe that Watson Coleman’s characterization of him is false, and that he disagrees with certain actions of the Israeli government.

“I have a lot of respect for Congresswoman Watson Coleman. She spent her first Passover at my house when she became a congresswoman, so our history goes back a long time,” Cohen said. “On most issues, we’re completely on the same page. But I think she’s mischaracterizing me when she calls me a hardliner.”

He did not respond to a request for comment from Jewish Insider.

Cohen is a prominent figure in the local Jewish community and a self-described AIPAC member, who also testified in support of legislation codifying the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s working definition of antisemitism in the state legislature and pushed back against efforts to adopt a ceasefire resolution in the East Brunswick town council, according to the Jewish Link, a regional Jewish news outlet.

He and Watson Coleman clashed in 2019 after she voted against a resolution opposing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement targeting Israel, though he defended her from accusations of antisemitism a year later.

Cohen urged the East Brunswick public school district to investigate whether an antisemitic hate crime had occurred in 2024 when a picture of a Jewish student group was erased from the high school yearbook and replaced with a picture of Muslim students.

During a visit to Israel in 2022, Cohen signed a sister city agreement between East Brunswick and Yavne, Israel.

Other notable candidates in the race include Sue Altman, the former state director for Sen. Andy Kim (D-NJ), a progressive activist who ran for Congress on a pro-Israel platform in 2024 in a neighboring district, and Adam Hamawy.

Hamawy is a physician and veteran who gained prominence as a vocal critic of Israel after he volunteered as a doctor in Gaza in 2024. He’s endorsed by Sen. Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), whose life he saved after her helicopter was shot down in Iraq, and he was Watson Coleman’s guest to President Donald Trump’s address to Congress in 2024.

Watson Coleman praised five of the 17 candidates in the race, including Altman and Hamawy, as “hardworking, good people,” but said she would otherwise not “[put] my finger on this in any way, shape, or form.”

Cohen has already faced antisemitic attacks during his congressional campaign, including an Instagram page dedicated to attacking him that portrays him with devil horns and drinking blood, and derisively characterizes him as “Israel first” and a “Zionist … destroying usa.”